Amexipac Newsletter October 2015

OCTOBER 2015

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A M E X I PA C . O R G

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NUMBER 12

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AMEXIPAC NEWSLETTER E L E C T R O N I C TA X AT I O N E X P E R T S

CONEXION Ecosystems that enable government and e-commerce

P. 5 JOURNAL ENTRIES Begin in September P. 1

DIGITAL MEXICO Figures of Interest P. 2

ARE YOU READY TO OPERATE WITH RECEIPT PROVIDERS? P. 11

TAXES IN THE WORLD P. 17

Article 1

JOURNAL ENTRIES Begin in September Manuel Antonio Flores Paz D FACTURE

As part of the new provisions set forth in the 2014 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution (Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal or RMF), which were maintained in the 2015 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution in order to regulate the legal obligation to send accounting information electronically, the obligation to send in XML format all journal entries generated by the management of the company created singular unrest among taxpayers and accountants.

Events for Filing To being with, it is important to remember that the obligation to submit tax entries via XML file does not apply generally; this obligation only arises in any of the following events: when required by the authority as a result of the exercise of verification authorities from january 2015, or when requested as part of the process for requesting a refund or compensation notice.

from the month of September, is with all reason cause for concern,

Information of Checks and Transfers

since under International Financial Reporting Standards, journal entries must represent each transaction or operation of an economic entity, not only those related to expenses or expenditures or with income, but also internal transactions of the entity; for example, transportation of merchandise between branches, allowances, or reserves for future contingencies, etcetera.

Annex 24 to the 2014 RMF does not establish criteria on how to add information corresponding to checks or transfers, thereby raising doubt among taxpayers with respect to whether this obligation applies only to payments or also to collections. Therefore, this has been clarified in the same Annex 24 to the 2015 RMF, by establishing that the inclusion of this information is only required where there is an outflow of resources.

The obligation to send journal entries as part of the electronic accounting

In addition to sending the journal entries, the authority establishes the obligation to include additional information in the entries as part of the file to be sent, such as in the case of checks: the number, bank issuer (national or foreign), account of origin, date, beneficiary, tax identification number (in Mexico: Registro Federal de Contribuyentes or RFC, for its acronym in Spanish), amount, currency, and exchange rate; and for transfers, in addition to the obligations above: the account of destination and the destination bank (national or foreign), and in all cases, the UUID code of the receipt.

Before the apparent complexity of these obligations, the authority has established certain criteria to clarify the regulations; however, the taxpayers still have doubts.

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Conclusion Clearly, information related to the journal entries represents a significant personal and economic effort for companies, but at least this obligation only applies in particular events, and the regulations have been clarifying controversial points, thereby lightening such obligation.

Article 2

DIGITAL MEXICO Figures of interest José Luis Ayala DIVERZA

Throughout the past 20 years, the “digitization” phenomenon in Mexico, or, perhaps it would be better to call it “internationalization” in Mexico – given the level of penetration that this platform has had- has undergone an uneven process that could not be explained without the existence of government initiatives that have driven it from time to time.

While 1998-2000 recorded an exponential growth on initiatives from private entities, the public sector held on to the paper culture, notwithstanding that the “national development plans” addressed big digitization initiatives, such as public tenders, public registry of property and commerce, digital signature, etcetera.

It is not until 2004-2007 that the public sector – after a necessary change in the legislationpromotes a mayor digitization project that triggered the appearance of a whole industry, passing from a kind of experiment to a model that today is a mandatory benchmark for other governments: the electronic invoice.

Presently, that industry has marked significantly the course of public policies on electronic taxation, thus perceiving the opening of a whole universe of new opportunities, which otherwise would have not had a chance to materialize.

The scenario is perfect: opening of the public sector to execute initiatives in conjunction with the private sector and sufficient penetration of information technologies – and their manifestations- in the private sector. The following are figures for reference.

According to the 11th Edition of the Study on Internet User Habits in Mexico published by the Mexican Internet Association (AMIPCI), by the end of 2014 the population connected to the Internet reached 51%, which represents just under 54 million people —the lack of infrastructure and penetration was one of the reasons why the electronic invoice was not promoted as mandatory — and this figure is expected to reach just over 66 million

people by the end of this six-year Presidential term of office.

“Mexico ranks number 9 in entrepeneurship in Latin America” If we take into consideration these figures and make an appropriate correlation with the number of existing technological ventures today, the question no longer is: “will this be a profitable business?”; the question should rather be: “How fast do we insert our own entrepreneurship into this scenario?”.

The figure of entrepreneurs in Mexico increased from just over 6 million in 2011 to just over 12 million in 2015, and although there is still a lot to do and achieve —Mexico ranks number 9 in entrepreneurship in Latin America— the truth is that the figures cannot be less favorable… because there is talent, interest, and openness for the feasibility of any digitization project, but above all, its profitability.

Another relevant figure is that Internet exposure time has changed from 5 hours 36 minutes in 2013 to 6 hours 11 minutes by the end of 2014.

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SAT article

MY ACCOUNTS A tool that simpliямБes your accounting

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Complying with your tax obligations is very simple, since the Mexican Taxing Authority (Servicio de Administración Tributaria or SAT) puts at your disposal tools that facilitate the registry of your income and expenses, such as My Accounts, which is available at the SAT’s website:

https://rfs.siat.sat.gob.mx/PTSC/RFS/menu/

EThe following persons can record their income and expenses:

NATURAL PERSONS Registered with the Tax Incorporation Regime who provide services that do not require a professional degree or who conduct business activities that do not exceed two million pesos.

Who conduct business and professional activities.

Lease.

LEGAL PERSONS Religious Associations Authorized Donees

It is important to mention that those who use My Accounts are not obligated to send their information by Electronic Accounting, since the authority receives their accounting information when they use My Accounts.

As part of some amendments to the tax regulations published by the SAT, natural persons who provide professional services or conduct any business activity, with income over 2 million pesos, have to comply from january

2015

with the delivery of the E-Accounting, that is, they cannot use My Accounts and, those with income under 4 million pesos in 2013, from

january 2016.

Therefore, taxpayers within this range of income must send their E-Accounting via the Digital Tax Inbox Buzón Tributario), hence it is necessary to confirm the email they provided and have a valid Digital Signature.

To assist in the generation of the files they will send, the same can be reviewed in the form and syntax validation tool in the SAT’s website.

Taxpayers that elect to do so have the option to submit their information through authorized third parties known as invoicing assistants; the list of the invoicing assistants is also available in the SAT’s website.

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Main article

CONEXION Ecosystems that enable government and e-commerce Nelly V. Maldonado AMEXIPAC

I.

SAT Precursor of E-government in México

I.

SAT Precursor of E-government in Mexico

II.

Tax Digitization in Mexico

III.

Global E-tax Outlook

IV.

Gob.mx

V.

CONEXION Window to Ecosystem Development

The exemplary case of the migration of tax services to the digital plane achieved by the SAT, places the SAT as a precursor of electronic government in Mexico.The importance of this entity in the country’s business and economic transactions has triggered a scatter of business and government digitization projects. Therefore, it is only natural that the SAT set up the Foro CONEXION (Connection Forum). Its leadership role in the use of information technologies and example of collaboration models between the public and private sectors is a perfect example for the use of electronic means.

The “Foro CONEXION 2015” held last August 25-26 in Mexico City has its roots in the initiative lead by Aristóteles Núñez Sánchez, Head of the SAT, who from his arrival to the deconcentrated body of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Secretaría de Hacienda y Crédito Público or SHCP), has been an energetic promoter of the application of information technologies in favor of private and government users.

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II.

Tax Digitization in Mexico

Juan Manuel Galarza y Mercado, Information Technologies General Manager, stated that the SAT will have 100% of its systems in the cloud by june 2016, thanks to reengineering projects currently underway.

This supposes a fundamental change for the SAT’s internal management, as well as for the automation of the tax cycle of the taxpayer

Fernando Martínez Coss, Quality Management Central Manager of the SAT, presented the tax cycle in Mexico during the Forum, emphasizing that the current legal framework is the enabler of each of its elements.

1.

Registry with the RFC

2.

Issue of an e-invoice

3.

Use of e-accounting

4.

Tax returns and e-payments

Adrián Guarneros Tapia, Planning General Manager of the SAT, esaid that data mining is presently used to predict taxpayer behavior. He mentioned that a comprehensive sense of the data analysis is obtained through coherence locks to the tax information processed.

Guarneros Tapia emphasized that today it is also possible to offer taxpayers pre-filled electronic forms, the identification of inconsistencies in tax calculations through third party information, and valued-added services for end users through the PACs. As from 2015 , all transactions resulting in the determination of taxes will be received by the SAT in real time, thus promoting timely tax self-correction, without need for any authority intervention.

The Planning General Manager stated that the SAT’s next challenge is to create tools that build from micro to macro data and which can identify specific transactions that do not conform to the activities, profile, or business of a taxpayer.

TAXPAYER REGISTRY in Mexico at June 2015: Large Taxpayers

5.

Online refunds

27,755

6.

E-audits

Legal Persons

1,716,842

Martínez Coss said that the e-invoice model in Mexico is based on PAC companies that offer the generation of receipts through multiple solutions for the market, which in addition to the free tools of the SAT, broaden the options to facilitate taxpayer compliance.

Natural Persons

Thanks to the sum elements that currently enable electronic taxation, such as: advanced digital signature, e-invoice, PACs, and Digital Tax Inbox, among others, with only 37,000 employees the SAT is able to audit almost 50 million active persons registered with the taxpayer registry.

Salaried Persons

Roberto

Márquez Vasco, Vice-President of AMEXIPAC, A.C.

mentioned that beyond the implementation of the e-invoice, currently PACs also assist in payroll certification and withholdings, which form part of the universe of Digital Tax Receipts Issued Through the Internet (Comprobantes Fiscales Digitales por Internet or CFDIs), processed through PACs. However, he highlighted that the SAT has already implemented, through the legal concept of service providers that receive electronic documents, the option for taxpayers to seal e-accounting and VAT statements. In the medium term, multieps and declaranot will also be incorporated among other processes, totaling around 37.5 million transactions a year with the possibility of carrying out such transactions through such service providers.

18,924,780 28,890,589 Total

49,619,966 taxpayers

AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER 6

E-invoice Statistics

14 million invoices stamped per day

420 million invoices processed per month

Over

5,000 million invoices processed per month 90%

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of all stamped invoices are processed by Authorized Providers of Digital Tax Receipts

McBride also shared the work experience in laboratories for the conception and testing of special projects developed by the tax authority in collaboration with private experts.

Michael Hewetson, , Senior Advisor - Tax Administration at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), pointed out that three years ago no tax administration had mobile applications, and that today, only eight tax authorities have this kind of apps that offer online services. Can you imagine the progress we will see in the next five years?

On his part, Newton Oller, Tax Revenue Agent of the Department of Finance of the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil, presented the tax electronic domicile, analogous figure to the Mexican Digital Tax Inbox, where the taxpayer can be notified online. The next objective for Brazil is to capitalize the amount of tax services available online through information treatment smart systems that use the digital signature, guaranteeing the quality and security of the processed data.

Carlos Vargas Durán, Tax Administration Director of Costa Rica, expressed the importance of remembering that tax administrations are service entities with respect to the taxpayers and the State. A study conducted by the tax administration of Costa Rica showed that 67% of taxpayers resort to an external advisor to comply with their tax obligations.

In 85% of cases, the external advisor is a public accountant who makes his searches online. This requires public officials to have the ability of adapting to the constantly changing current needs; therefore, today it is essential for the organizational culture to be based on professional versatility and management of online communication abilities.

III.

Global E-tax Outlook

Countries like Spain, have been working on spreading the Latin-American e-invoice model, as Rufino de la Rosa, Tax Management Office Director of Spain’s Tax Authority State Department (AEAT) mentioned. They begin as from 2016 with a pilot program focused on the user which will display in the AEAT website the invoices issued and received by companies required to issue e-invoices by law, in such a way that data of companies and third parties will be compared, thus reducing the obligations to submit provisional returns. Efforts such as Spain’s have an impact beyond the tax universe, benefiting businesses because of the acknowledgement of business transactions by electronic means in tax platforms.

In the case of the United Kingdom, the relation with third assisting parties for the development of tax compliance tools is strengthened daily thanks to the satisfaction threshold of taxpayers estimated at 82%. The foregoing according to Brigid McBride, Third Party Digital Services Manager of HM Revenue & Customs, who mentioned during the Forum the program of commitments to increase the tools available for third parties that support the development of applications for the government tax system.

Arturo Herrera, Governance Global Practice Manager of the World Bank, had an interesting participation in the Forum regarding the relation between psychology applied to the tax field. Herrera stated that strategies have been studied to identify the circumstances that favor the compliance of the taxpayers around the world. Preliminary conclusions point to radical differences between taxpayer behavior in countries like the United Kingdom and Mexico: In the first, invitation letters that refer to the punctual performance of other citizens and that underlined the benefits of complying with a social welfare guideline, had the best success; while in Mexico letters indicating that the tax authority has identified the non-compliance and resulting debt, caused the payment with more frequency.

Christiaan van der Valk, , member of the Executive Committee of the European E-invoicing Service Providers Association (EESPA) and representative of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), emphasized the urge of working together to homologate international standards of critical business documents for the global supply chain, such as: e-invoice, import/export documents, and other non-regulated documents. Bilateral relations between clients and providers are increasingly being observed by tax controls. With such a diverse current regulatory outlook of each country in relation to the e-invoice, Van der Valk stressed the critical need to create international alignment standards to enable foreign trade electronic transactions that respond to current economic activities.

AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER 8

IV.

Gob.mx

In spite of its roots in the tax field, the Foro CONEXIÓN went beyond treasury topics and related to core issues of e-government.

Gathered in one place, key federal public administration players agreed on a core baseline, common to all subjects presently exposed to the need for online services: change of paradigms.

Alejandra Lagunes Soto, National Digital Strategy Coordinator, mentioned that we are experiencing a technological revolution in Mexico, where 50% of the population is connected to the Internet, and today there is a government whose purpose is, thanks to the transversal strategy lead by her office, to connect the government and the citizens via electronic means.

The enablers contemplated by the National Digital Strategy are:

1.

2.

The ecosystems fostered by the National Digital Strategy are already a reality in the tax field, where the following roles are assumed:

Taxpayers / Citizens

End users, core of the services

SHCP/SAT

Connectivity

Open government

Digital Inclusion and Skills

Authorized Provider of Digital Tax Receipts, PACs

3.

Interoperability

4.

Legal Framework

5.

Open Data

V.

In this regard, María del Rocío Ruiz, Undersecretary of Competitiveness and Regulations of the Ministry of Economy, said that they are working on modeling the necessary regulations to foster electronic identification means that provide information technology security and legal certainty to all parties involved in online commerce.

CONEXION Window to Ecosystem Development

Two of the goals sought by means of the enablers above are government transformation and digital economy.

The government transformation presumed by an Open Government is already accomplished by the gob.mx, portal, single window for filings and services. It also seeks the implementation of an information technology policy that is sustainable for the federal public administration and that envisions citizen-centered digital communication.

On its part, the purpose of digital economy consists of developing the digital goods and services market and promoting the development of e-commerce.

Both objectives are fundamental for the progress of the public administration and for the continuity of economic development in Mexico.

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Multiple windows of the private initiative regulated by the authority, which offer technical and legal solvency guarantees.

The vision of Aristóteles Núñez Sánchez, Head of the SAT, stands out; his vision acknowledges the variety of services where third party providers, such as PACs, can increase the government’s operating capacity through innovation and interoperable developments for different applications such as, among many others, processing passports, obtaining transportation licenses, registering vehicles, driver’s license.

Another example of the public-private relationship can be found in NAFIN’S Guarantee program, Jacques Rogocinski, Chief Executive of Officer of NAFIN, described the operation the institution sells in real time with respect to financial institutions to small and medium enterprises (PYMES, for its acronym in Spanish: pequeña y mediana empresa) with a credit history that want to obtain better credit conditions, thereby offering the PYME the best offer available with up to 20% reduction in interest rates.

It is necessary to set up development laboratories of the certified digital communication model in Mexico. The government and the private sector must participate in discussing and defining critical digital structures for applying information technologies in the relevant field:

Connecting citizens and government and their peers, main purpose for the efficiency of the public sector and the country’s productivity.

CONEXION 2015 leaves topics open that require coordination between the authorities of the three branches of government and the private sector, from which we can isolate two fundamental ideas:

1.

Availability, security, and efficiency of digital governmental processes and services.

2. Tools that provide legal certainty to e-commerce and online financial transactions.

In this line of thinking and following the stand of the speakers of the CONEXION Forum, the priority of homologating the advanced electronic signature and making it interoperable for all governmental services and processes stands out.

With over 13 million digital signatures issued, the SAT is currently the agency that concentrates the largest volume of digital personal identification certificates.

It is worth reflecting on the coverage of the universe of holders of advanced electronic signatures which now supports the SAT’s public key infrastructure, considering that:

Natural Persons a. All Mexican citizens over 18 years with a Unique Population Registry Code (Clave Única de Registro de Población or CURP) are automatically registered with the federal taxpayers’ registry, thus guaranteeing that the personal identification of all citizens of the National Population Registry is associated with a tax registry number which will be a key element for economic activity. b. The process to obtain the Advanced Electronic Signature (FIEL, for its acronym in Spanish: Firma Electrónica Avanzada) is free at the SAT’s offices once a citizen actually starts his economic activities.

c. The association of the CURP with the RFC enables the unique identification of a citizen-taxpayer, thus allowing the legal certainty of the actions of the holder by means of a digital certificate: one single digital signature for each citizen.

Legal persons As core entities for Mexico’s economic activities, legal persons are required to register with the federal taxpayers’ registry in order to start their operations, which directs this group directly to the SAT for the issue and renewal of their digital signatures.

The convergence of all economic agents of the country in the SAT positions this governmental agency as the ideal manager of the single digital citizen identification platform.

Should the foregoing become a reality, the SAT would turn from an e-government precursor to the foundation of government development and e-commerce in Mexico. We would then have to ask the following questions: “What challenges does the establishment of the SAT’s advanced electronic signature imply to become the digital citizen identification means? What are the alternatives for standardizing the secure identification in electronic transactions in the country? How can we contribute to the determination and implementation of the strategy that solves the need for homologating online identification? It is clear that we are dealing with a fundamental issue to ensure the sustainability of public and private communications.

We invite the participants of the CONEXION forum to continue promoting the use of information technologies and to use this space again as a window of the efforts, progress, and challenges of certified digital communication and online government services available in Mexico.

Sources: Foro CONEXION website, www.foroconexion.org Memoria 2015.

SAT’s website, www.sat.gob.mx

AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER 10

Article 3

ARE YOU READY TO OPERATE

WITH RECEIPT PROVIDERS? Rafael Zanรณn Fernรกndez EDICOM

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The list of Service Providers that Receive Electronic Documents (PSRDD, for its acronym in Spanish: Prestadores de Servicios de Recepción de Documentos Digitales) authorized by the SATto validate, certify, and send digital tax documents that have been electronically defined by the SAT will soon be published. If you are already using the SAT’s website to submit your tax documents, you are ready to use the services of a PSRDD to automate and optimize your processes. You can choose to continue doing things as you have until now, or use one of these providers which will provide greater added value.

Below is an explanation of some issues to take into account when considering a PSRDD as an intermediary in your submission process of tax documents.

The 2015 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution announced that the figure of the Service Provider that Receives Electronic Documents, more commonly known as PSRDD, would be created this year. These authorized providers will be responsible for validating, certifying, and sending electronic documents in a secure form to the SAT, in addition to providing to the taxpayer proof of the process. The goal is to: increase service

Document validation by PSRDDs grants greater security and is faster. Besides, we have to consider that these providers will offer more expeditious solutions; hence all tax processes will be shortened and simplified. One of the main added values will be the automatic integration with management/ERP systems, which will avoid manual processes, as it occurs today.

availability, offer more advanced solutions for companies, and ultimately, facilitate the direct electronic communications processes of taxpayers.

First, response times will be reduced. In fact, PSRDDs will be required to deliver the document to the taxpayer with the digital seal of the SAT affixed thereto, the XML of the acknowledgement of receipt, and the graphic representation instantly. Then, the same provider will be in charge of verifying the delivery and entry of the document in the SAT, which must be made within the hour.

Ensure that the solution for the submission of documents is easy to use and adapts to your needs.

• Value Added Evaluate the technological capabilities of the PSRDD. It is possible to implement integrations with your accounting system to automate the issue and submission of documents to the SAT.

• Global Service Why not leave all your communications with the SAT in the hands of one single service provider?

Interacting with one single company will help you be more efficient.

PSRDD will act as “electronic windows”.

That is, the SAT’s website will cease to be the only receipt means for electronic documents. As Jorge López Chapa, Chairman of AMEXIPAC, explained in the July newsletter, PSRDDs will be authorized to receive and certify VAT returns, e-accounting, or annual tax returns of salaried persons, among other documents.

For now, the SAT has not published the list of authorized PSRDDs. Once said list is published, companies may continue using the SAT’s services or they may start operating with these external providers without need for any prior process. This is an optional measure, although taxpayers that opt to use it will gain significant advantages.

• Usability of the Platform

• Technical Support Request that the provider respond quickly and responsibly in the event of any problem. You can verify this through the certifications of the provider and the Service Level Agreement (SLA) it offers.

How to choose yout PSRDD?

Even though all PSRDDs will comply with the requirements of the SAT, the technological capabilities of each provider will be different. To determine the provider that best suits your company, it is advisable to take into account these characteristics:

• Commitment of Availability

Soon, you will be able to check the authorized receipt providers in the SAT’s website. Once again, the tax and the technological worlds will join hands to enhance service and to facilitate compliance to the taxpayers, making companies more efficient and competitive, whether large, medium, or small.

Sources: http://dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5377710&fecha=30/12/2014 http://issuu.com/amexipac/docs/boletin_julio_2015_n11 http://www.sat.gob.mx/Paginas/Inicio.aspx

Some companies contractually guarantee a commitment of availability in their solutions greater than 99%.

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News

PRE-FILLED ELECTRONIC TAX RETURNS Javier Centeno STO Derived from all the information available to the Mexican Taxing Authority (SAT), taxpayers will be able to obtain their annual tax return pre-filled and ready to be sent in a term no later than two years, said Aristóteles

Núñez.

He also announced that there is already in place an institutional framework for taxpayers to file their annual tax return under a regulated technological standard, this through mobile devices; There will be a third party facilitator between the SAT and the taxpayer that will allow the taxpayer to file a pre-tax return; this third party will send such information to the

Tax Authority.

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Another option will be for the taxpayer to carry out the process in the SAT’s website through a free tool enabling compliance of Tax obligations. Regarding the payment of taxes, banks’ IT development and referenced payment service with a payment code are being used; therefore, the use of technology will generate major advantages for both the taxpayer and the authority.

Using this platform will definitively facilitate the registry of the taxpayer’s invoices when the taxpayer files its tax return, since its information will be automatically recorded upon accessing the application. It is worth noting that the taxpayer will be able to obtain customized information, which will enable the filing of its payment statements, informative statements, and tax returns, improving information quality and strengthening its trust.

We want to thank the Head of the SAT,

Aristóteles Núñez Sánchez, for his support to the Foro CONEXION 2015 initiative.

We also want to express our most sincere gratitude to

Guillermo Valls Esponda, Taxpayer Services General Manager,

who made this effort possible.

We especially recognize the work of Sandra América Rodríguez Peña, Germán Tavera Zacout and Fernando Martínez Coss, who directly and through their teams carried out, in an exemplary manner, the planning and development of the Forum.

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In brief

RECEIPT PROVIDERS Selling electronic taxation Mauricio Reyes EDIFACT

Who is the Receipt Services Provider of Electronic Documents (PSRDD)?

An easy analogy of the new figure would be: “The SAT is a mercury drop and spilled mercury creates new mercury drops; these would be the PSRDDs”.

This means that the PSRDD adopts certain regulated autonomy for the receipt of electronic filings currently provided by the SAT through its various digital services in its official webpage www.sat.gob.mx, and this figure broadens the scope with more possibilities for the taxpayer.

On the other hand, the SAT will still be the central link that regulates all technical, tax, and legal mechanisms that arise; meanwhile, the new strengthened figure will be able to offer more alternatives and usability for taxpayers, generating more competitiveness in the industry and to the SAT. In this way, the taxpayer will be able to choose to use the digital services window of the receipt provider (PSRDD) that offers more services, greater ease of use, and availability that allows the taxpayer to reduce its administrative and operating workload, whose activity lies in the compliance with tax obligations.

Receipt services will evolve in many filings that are currently made at the SAT; all integral services for taxpayers offered by PSRDDs, which are still flourishing, are still to be known.

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In a first stage, PSRDDs will be able to send VAT returns, e-accounting, and annual tax return of salaried persons, and the taxpayer will obtain a receipt of delivery or proof of the information provided by the taxpayer.

The PSRDD will act as recipient validating and certifying electronic documents in a responsible manner.

In summary, the PSRDD figure will be the opportunity that many taxpayers have been waiting for in order to be more efficient in their processes, with the opportunity of integrating their IT systems and connecting them with this service provider.

Are you prepared to have a better service, more speed, more flexibility, more options, reduced costs, and, above all, be more efficient?

The challenge will be to allow access to and analyze the different options of the Receipt Services Providers of Electronic Documents that will soon be published in the SAT’s webpage, and to make the most of the efficiency and diversity for submitting tax filings, electronic documents, and tax receipts.

For more information visit the SAT’s website

www.sat.gob.mx

Did you know?

BRIEF APPROACH TO ELECTRONIC CONTRACTS Gil Ramírez Angulo

PEGASO

Presently, the tendency to globalization and its immediate consequences, such as technology development, Internet, and new business models, is greatly influencing aspects such as commerce, which causes an increasing use of new ways of contracting that, given the technology dynamics and equivalence presented by its formulation, as well as its easiness with respect to its execution and storage, allow the contracting parties to be absent, not having the document evidenced in paper, and to omit a hand-written signature.

Thus, the main transactions executed by consumers, suppliers, and businessmen are made with the help of contracts, which also extend to any purpose such as: goods and services, as provided by our legislation.

With respect to Mexican Law there is no specific definition of this type of contract. Therefore, we have to abide by the general definition provided by the Federal Civil Code with respect to Contracts. Additionally, or in other words, considering the fact that it is formulated and accepted by electronic means.

Conversely, for the Spanish Law on Information Society Services and E-Commerce (Ley Española de la Sociedad de la Información y de Comercio Electrónico), its paragraph h) defines it as: “any contract in which the offer and the acceptance are transmitted by electronic equipment for data handling and storage, connected to a telecommunications network”.

a computer-to-computer electronic data interchange. Accordingly, it encompasses all contracts executed by electronic means.

As we can observe, ICTs give us a series of benefits that allow the formalization of legal instruments of any kind between absent persons, thus placing us within the so-called functional equivalence of the electronic form to the written form (traditional form, to call it in some way).

A series of forms with respect to the execution of this type of contracts are implemented in other countries, modalities that may be cutting edge or maybe more evolved, and same that we could discuss in another article, as the case of the:

“Click Wrap”.

Taking into account the aforementioned, it is possible to generally define the Electronic Contract, as a contract that is formalized through

AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER 16

Tax culture

TAXES AROUND THE WORLD Stefania Cervantes

E KOMERCIO

Almost all citizens in the world have the same concern: paying taxes. We Mexicans feel that most of our salaries go to the payment of taxes; however, Mexico is country number seven in America that pays taxes.

EUROPE Canada

29%

Denmark

55.56% United Kingdom

45%

USA

39.6%

Germany

45%

Greece

Mexico

42%

30%

Italy

43%

Guatemala

7%

France

45% Spain

52%

Venezuela

34%

Portugal

48% Colombia

33%

AMERICA

Peru

30%

Brazil Chile

40%

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27.5% Argentina

35%

One of the problems in our country is that most Mexicans feel that

more likely to pay. However, it is to stress that achieving equity of

their taxes are wasted in extraordinary luxuries of the authorities

payment is easy when the economy grows, the employment market is

or they simply believe that this obligation is unfairly divided. It is

active, there is low unemployment, and authorities collect enough.

worth emphasizing that in Mexico the Income Tax rate is paid, on average, with 30% of our salaries (depending on how much each person makes).

On the other hand, there are countries or even continents where all citizens pay taxes, but that money returns to the citizens in several ways: with good highways, strong infrastructure, high level of education, publicly held companies, pensions, high salaries, maternity aids, among others.

Countries where the money is reinvested in the society have the

Below, the percentage of each country in the world.

lowest corruption rates, a better quality of life, and citizens are

ASIA

AFRICA

Japan

50.84%

Egypt

25%

China

45%

Republic of Korea

Nigeria

24%

38%

Taiwan

45%

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Thailand

35%

30%

Vietnam

35%

Tanzania

India

30%

33.99%

South Africa

40%

Fiji

20% Samoa

OCEANIA

Australia

45%

Papua New Guinea

42%

New Zealand

27%

33%

AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER 18

Information of interest

2

Journal Entries

According to the Kohler dictionary for accountants, journal entry is defined as “the form used in a receipt system to which invoices, receipts, and other proofs of debt are attached, indicating the authorization to make the payment, the details of the settlement, and other relevant details”.

1-2-3 JOURNAL ENTRIES Daniel Medina QUADRUM

For the purposes of e-accounting, journal entries have to meet the following requirements: they must be analytical; they must be made by the last calendar day of the month following the date on which the activity or transaction was carried out; they must differentiate the tax folios of the tax receipts that support the transaction, allowing for the identification of the method of payment, the various taxes, rates, and fees, including transactions, acts, or activities not subject to taxes according to the transaction, act, or activity in question; where it is not possible to identify the tax folio assigned to the tax receipts in the journal entries, the taxpayer may, through an auxiliary report, list all tax folios, the code in the RFC, and the amount included in the receipts that cover such entry, pursuant to Annex 24, Section E, which is very useful for generating global entries, mainly with outsourcing or service payroll, or invoicing providers. (Article 33 of the Federal Tax Code Regulations, Rules 2.8.1.17 Section II, 2.8.1.4 Section III of the 2015 Miscellaneous Resolution). It is important to mention that journal entries must include the Tax Receipt Unique Number, known as (UUID_CFDI) since in many cases only the XML of the CFDIs is mentioned, but not necessarily the universally unique identifier (UUID).

3

Events for filing journal entries

Journal entries will only be sent to the Mexican Taxing Authority (SAT) in the following three events: 1) Where a return or compensation is requested or processed.

2) Where verification authorities are exercised.

1

Background

Pursuant to the Miscellaneous Resolution for 2015 published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación or DOF) on December 30, 2015, and the first resolution of the amendments to the 2015 Miscellaneous Tax Resolution published in the DOF on March 3, 2015, the period to send the journal entries starts from September 3, 2015, with information of the month of July 2015, for taxpayers (natural or legal persons) with income greater than 4 million pesos in 2013. Remember that legal persons have to send their account balance on a monthly basis within the first 3 days of the second month following the month that corresponds to the information that is to be sent, for each month of the relevant tax year, and natural persons within the first 5 days of the second month following the month that corresponds to the information that is to be sent.

19 AMEXIPAC NEWSLET TER

3) Where information of third parties related to the taxpayer is request (certification), resulting from the exercise of verification authorities; in all cases, the journal entries must be generated in XML format and in compliance with the technical specifications mentioned in Annex 24, paragraph D, of the 2015 Miscellaneous Resolution.

In the event balances are netted in favor of previous years, in addition to the file of the entries of the year that is being netted, the SAT may request to submit for one time only, the ones that correspond to the year in which the credit balance that will be netted originated, provided the netting corresponds to credit balances generated from January 2015 or following months and until the remaining balance corresponding to such year is netted or if the return of such balance is requested (Rule 1.2.8.1.8. of the seventh resolution of amendments to the 2014 Miscellaneous Resolution).

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