A. M. 
With the approval of the “Special and Transitory Law that Grants Facilities for the Voluntary Compliance of Tax, Customs and Other Fines Obligations” taxpayers may settle their different outstanding tax, customs and transit fines obligations through the tax amnesty program. This according to information shared by EY.
Taxpayers who wish to benefit from the tax amnesty program will have ninety days from the entry into force of the Law to settle their outstanding obligations. Those interested in applying for the benefits of the tax amnesty program must be attentive to the publication in the Official Gazette, date from which the calculation of the ninety calendar days during which the amnesty will be in force begins.
The Legislative Assembly of El Salvador approved on september 3, 2024 a tax amnesty program, which aims to allow taxpayers to voluntarily comply with their outstanding tax, customs and transit fines.
According to the “Special and Transitory Law that Grants Facilities for the Voluntary Compliance of Tax, Customs and Other Fines Obligations”, taxpayers with pending obligations related to taxes administered by the General Directorate of Internal Taxes, the General Directorate of Customs, payments under the jurisdiction of the General Directorate of Treasury and tax debts that have been determined in accordance with article 74-A of the Tax Code may apply for the tax amnesty. Outstanding municipal tax obligations are excluded from the amnesty program.
Likewise, persons with fines related to the Law of Land Transportation, Transit and Road Safety, who would be exonerated from surcharges and interests applicable to pending fines, may also apply to the program.
Likewise, the amnesty would allow the settlement of pending proceedings before the General Directorate of Internal Taxes, General Directorate of Customs, before the Contentious Administrative Jurisdiction, Constitutional Protection, before the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic or before the Court of Appeals of Internal Taxes and Customs.
The pending obligations and processes applicable to the tax amnesty program must have had an expiration date up to July 31, 2024. The General Directorate of Treasury will grant a payment plan of up to a maximum of nine monthly installments, in consideration of the amount owed, by means of the issuance of the Resolution of Payment in Installments, with a first installment of ten percent (10%) of the debt to be paid on the day the aforementioned resolution is issued and notified, the remaining eight installments must be paid on a monthly basis and successively.
Additionally, the program establishes that taxpayers that have availed themselves of any previous amnesty program and that for different circumstances have not paid their debt within the term established in such program, may enjoy the benefits established in the tax amnesty program, except for the exoneration of fines when they are liquid, firm and enforceable, which may only be paid in installments.
The fines that could be covered by the exoneration benefit established in the amnesty program are those established in articles 238 paragraphs a) to d), 246, 247, 252, 253 and 254, all of the Tax Code. The fines that are not considered within the aforementioned articles, will only enjoy the benefit of the Term Payment Resolution for up to nine months, for which purpose a first installment of twenty percent (20%) of the fine must be paid on the day the resolution is issued and notified.
Next steps
The Law must be sanctioned by the President of the Republic and subsequently published in the Official Gazette, date from which it will enter into force and the ninety calendar days during which the tax amnesty will be in force will begin to be calculated.
