The effect of the quarantine continues: in July, the collection fell 13.1% in real terms

08/04/2020 - 17:48

• Clarín.com
• Economy

The tax collection reached in July 559,091.9 million pesos, which means a fall of 13.1%. 

As reported by the AFIP, the figure represents an increase of 24 percent compared to the same period last year. Throughout the first seven months of 2020, tax revenues totaled 3.4 trillion pesos.

During June, tax collection had registered a year-on-year drop of 15.2%, discounting the impact of inflation. In May, that drop had been 22.3%.

Through a statement, the AFIP said that "the drop in the level of activity and the different measures of tax policy aimed at alleviating the situation of taxpayers are the main explanatory factors for the variation in tax revenue" and stressed that in July the dynamics of collection evidenced " a deceleration in the rate of contraction in real terms " compared to previous months.

"A relevant element when evaluating the performance of the collection is the high level of acceptance of the different payment facilities plans for current debt. This behavior, which translates into a decrease in tax revenues, is not only explained due to the size of the crisis but also due to the different regulatory changes and the expansion of the tools available to regularize past due obligations, "they added.

One of the taxes where the effects of the drop in the level of activity and the greater acceptance of payment facility plans are evident is the Value Added Tax (VAT). This determined that in July VAT collection increased 10.1% in relation to the same month of 2019.

In turn, income from Income Tax registered an 8.7% increase compared to the same period last year. Among the factors that attenuated the collection for this concept, the new extension in the term for human persons to present their sworn statements and pay the balances corresponding to the fiscal period 2019 stands out.

Although the extension operated in the same sense on the Personal Property Tax, in July this tax registered an outstanding behavior when it reached $ 9,240.2 million, with an increase of 338.4% in relation to the same month last year.

The outstanding fact in this case is that in July payments corresponding to the maturities for holding shares and company participations entered.

Meanwhile, the resources linked to the Social Security System rose 18.5% in July compared to the same month last year, with a performance that reflected the effects of the two-month delay in paying the component SIPA of employer contributions in the framework of the Emergency Assistance Program for Work and Production (ATP), as well as the validity of the payment facilities plan to regularize said maturities.

AFG