By Elisa Kaminsky, BaseFirma, Miami
On December 27, Panama’s tax authority issued an extension to multinational taxpayers that must file the country-by-country report and its notification. The extended due date for the filing is due January 31, 2020, for fiscal years ending 2018.
This follows Panama’s publication of the notification requirement, introduced in Resolution N. 201-9117 of December 19, 2019.
Panama country-by-country report
After signing the multilateral competent authority agreement on the exchange of country-by-country reports during 2019, Panama became a BEPS member. Later that year, Panama issued Executive Decree N. 46, where it introduces the new requirement for country-by-country reporting for large multinational groups.
The filing is due 12 months after the fiscal year-end of the reporting entity; however, the due date for the first filing corresponding to fiscal year 2018 is now postponed to January 31. 2020.
Notification
Panama’s new notification requirement requires taxpayers to register on a newly available platform (demo.vizor). Designated users must upload a copy of their passport and a signed letter from the legal representative of the firm authorizing the user to operate the platform and file the notification on behalf of the company. The notification is only filed once unless the reporting entity changes. There should be one notification per legal entity of a multinational group residing in Panama.
Once registered, users must supply the usual information requested by tax authorities, such as the legal name of the local taxpayer, the multinational group, and filing entity.
The Panama tax authority also requests information on the type of business activity conducted by both the taxpayer and the multinational group and a brief description of the group.
However, the platform fails to require information on the jurisdiction of the filing entity and its tax identification number. These, are usually requested by tax authorities when filing these types of notifications.
Exchange of information
Panama does not currently have any activated exchange relationships for country-by-country reporting. This raises the question of whether Panamanian entities should file the country-by-country report instead of the notification informing the reporting entity.
However, the tax authority has emphasized that Panama signed the multilateral competent authority agreement on the exchange of country-by-country reports in 2019 and referred to the agreement when determining the requirement of filing either the country-by-country or notification form.
In summary, it is understood that Panamanian subsidiaries of a multinational group should file the notification of the country-by-country report and not the report per se, although no exchange of information relationship has been enacted as of today with any jurisdiction.
— Elisa Kaminsky is a transfer pricing manager at BaseFirma, Miami.
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