• Municipalities are required to submit to the TGR, within the first 15 days of March, a list of taxpayers who are in arrears on municipal business license fees and municipal waste collection fees.
• Once the list has been submitted, the respective municipality is prohibited from collecting the outstanding debts or receiving payments directly. Any payments it does receive must be reported to the Treasury Service within five days for the respective entry to be reduced or eliminated.
• With respect to these claims, the TGR shall have the same powers and prerogatives conferred upon it by law for the collection of overdue taxes; that is, it may waive, in whole or in part, interest or penalties for late payment.
• Prior to the annual income tax reimbursement, the TGR must verify whether the taxpayer is included on the list issued by the Municipality. If so, it must withhold from the reimbursement an amount equivalent to the amount owed, including adjustments, interest, and fines, and apply it toward payment of the debt, to the extent that the amount to be reimbursed exceeds the debt.
• The amounts received by the TGR for this purpose will not be deposited into the national general revenue and will be recorded in a special third-party account as municipal administration funds.

Effective Date: The first day of the month following the law’s publication in the Official Gazette. Within 90 days after publication, the Treasury Service must issue the resolution establishing the electronic means, format, and validations for the information to be submitted by municipalities.

• Law No. 21,713 introduced two new rules applicable to exporters eligible for a VAT refund:
  • First, it established an obligation to repay the refund at the end of the business cycle. Under this rule, if the exporter fails to demonstrate that it has made exports with an FOB value equivalent to at least the amount of VAT refunded during the 36 months preceding its last export, it must return the amounts received in proportion to the shortfall in exports.
  • Second, it addressed the situation involving corporate reorganizations when a refund is pending. In such cases, the successor company retains the authorization to request the refund, and there is no requirement to demand the return of amounts that had already been refunded by the original entity.
• The effectiveness of both provisions is contingent upon the issuance of a supreme decree by the Ministry of Economy that will replace Supreme Decree No. 348 of 1975, which must be issued within 24 months following the publication of the law. The obligation to reimburse upon termination of business operations will take effect three months after the publication of said decree, while the provision on corporate reorganizations will take effect upon its publication in the Official Gazette.