LABOUR MEASURES

Economic activities that continues operating during the State of Emergency:

To date, Lima is on a very high alert level, therefore the following economic activities are available:

• Casinos and slots, gyms, cinemas and performing arts: 20%
• Performing arts in open spaces: 30%
• Shopping centers, galleries, department stores, general stores and conglomerates: 30%
• Necessities sourcing stores, supermarkets, markets, itinerant markets, warehouses and pharmacies: 50%
• Restaurants and related in internal areas (with ventilation): up to 30%
• Restaurants and related with outdoor areas: up to 40%
• Temples and places of worship: 20%
• Libraries, museums, archeological monuments, cultural centers and galleries, protected areas, botanical gardens and zoos: 40%
• Club activities and outdoor sports associations: 30%
• Cultural teaching in open spaces: 40%
• Banks and other financial entities: 50%
• Interprovincial passenger transport: 50% to 100% regulated by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

Likewise, we should point out the State of Emergency is in force until 2 September 2021.

• Remote work:  Public and private sector employers were empowered to modify the place of service provided for all of their subordinate workers (who do not engage in activities considered essential during the State of Emergency) to the places where they are doing their home isolation during the period of the health emergency.

*According to Emergency Decree No. 127-2020, the State extended the remote work modality until 31 July 2021 and established the right of workers to digital disconnection.

• Perfect suspension of work:  Involves the temporary cessation of the obligation of the worker to provide the service and of the employer to pay the respective remuneration, without extinction of the work link, applicable to private sector enterprises that cannot implement the remote mode of work or apply the work license with perceiving remuneration due to the nature of their activities (i.e. not able to reintegrate working hours any longer) or the level of economic impact caused by the health emergency caused by   COVID 19.

FINANCIAL MEASURES

In order to counteract the negative economic effects caused by the national state of emergency as a result of COVID-19, the following measures are available:

• State-guaranteed loans: The National Government created the REACTIVA PERU program to provide guarantees that allow companies access to working capital credits of up to 36 months term at preferential rates so that they can meet payments and short-term obligations to workers and service suppliers.
• REACTIVE rescheduling: According to Emergency Decree No. 026-2021 issued on 6 March 2021, the possibility of rescheduling the payment dates of those credits was approved, the maximum term to request rescheduling is on 15 July 2021, it also extended the grace period for up to 12 more months.
• Subsidy from company payroll: In order to preserve the employment of private sector workers, it was established that the employer exceptionally receive a subsidy of 35% to 55% of the salaries of workers who earn less than S /. 2,400.00 provided that the conditions established in Supreme Decree No. 003-2021 are met.
• Monetary subsidy for vulnerable populations: It was approved to provide monetary subsidies for vulnerable households in conditions of extreme poverty or poverty.

TAX MEASURES

Compulsory social isolation during the State of National Emergency has a major impact on the national economy, so the State in order to reduce it has provided for the following tax measures:

• Faculty of the Tax Administration not to sanction tax debtors: It was arranged that during the State of National Emergency, the commission of tax violations incurred by tax debtors is not administratively punished.
• Modification of default interest rates: It Is arranged to reduce the default interest rates applicable to tax debts in domestic and foreign currency, corresponding to taxes administered and /or collected by the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration.
• Extension of the taxable carry forward loss-taking period under system (a) for the loss compensation utilization against future annual taxable profits as provided for in Article 50º of the Law: Total taxable net  losses  per determination in the annual income tax (third category) for Corporations of Peruvian source to be established in the year 2020 financials shall be offset by year-to-year, until their amount is exhausted, in the five (5) immediate years subsequently, counted from the fiscal year 2021.

The uncompensated balance at the end of that period may not be computed in subsequent years.

This measure applies to taxpayers domiciled in the country to generate third-grade income tax that they have elected or will elect for system (a).

• Creation of the Bureau of Virtual Parties of the National Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT, the Peruvian Tax Administration): The Bureau of Virtual Parts of SUNAT was created in order to guarantee the exercise of the rights of taxpayers, whose objective is to facilitate the presentation of documents in a virtual way, as well as to consult the status of the files linked to those documents through the SUNAT Portal.

It established that claims will be entered from the SUNAT Portal through Online Operations using the SOL Code.

• Obligation of Financial System Companies (ESF): Financial entities will have to provide SUNAT with the following financial information on a monthly basis regarding the liability operations they have with their clients, when certain items such as balances, accumulated amounts, averages, higher amounts, and / or the returns generated in a certain account, during the reporting period, exceed 7UIT, which amounts to S /. 30,800.

The information on passive transactions that financial entities must provide to SUNAT is that corresponding to the transactions or operations carried out as of January 1, 2021.

• Deduction of interest expenses: Since 1 January 2021, it has been in force a new rule / limit for the deduction of interest expenses, applicable even to interest on indebtedness granted prior to the date.

By virtue of the same, the net interests in the part that exceed 30% of the EBITDA of the previous year are not deductible; being that EBITDA should be understood as the third category net income plus net interest, depreciation and amortization, less compensation for losses from previous years.

• Extension of IR exemptions: The exemptions contained in article 19 of the IR Law are extended until 31 December 2023; including, among others i) income from religious societies or institutions, affected foundations and non-profit associations, ii) interest from development credits granted by international organizations or government institutions, iii) royalties for technical advice, economic, financial or another nature, provided from abroad by state entities or international organizations; iv) interest and other earnings from external credits granted to the National Public Sector, among others.
• Extension of VAT exemptions: Extends until 31 December 2021, i) the VAT exemption for the issuance of electronic money carried out by the Electronic Money Issuing Companies indicated in article 7 of Law No. 29985; and ii) the exemptions contained in Appendices I and II of the IGV Law, which deal with the sale or imports of certain goods and the provision of certain services.
• Refund of ITAN 2020: The deadline for SUNAT to resolve requests for refund of the ITAN for fiscal year 2020 and proceed to return said tax is reduced. In effect, the norm provides that the return of the ITAN will be made within a period of no more than 30 business days after the application has been submitted, by means of a credit account.
• Suspension of fourth category income tax withholdings: The guidelines were established for the suspension of fourth category income tax withholdings during 2021, as long as the projected gross income does not exceed S /. 38,500 (7UIT x 4,400 plus 20% of S /. 38,500).
• Schedule of expiration of monthly tax obligations 2021: The expiration schedule was established for the presentation of the monthly sworn statements during 2021 of the IR, IGV, ISC and others.
• Sunat extended the deadline for the incorporation of taxpayers in the electronic invoicing system: SUNAT extended the terms for the incorporation of small taxpayers to the electronic invoicing system, which should have been carried out as of January 1, 2021.