Report on the amendment to the law creating the wealth tax and seniat diretive on determining the value of assets

BENSON, PEREZ MATOS, ANTAKLY & WATTS

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TAX REPORT

Caracas, Agust 29, 2019

ON THE AMENDMENT TO THE LAW CREATING THE WEALTH TAX AND SENIAT DIRECTIVE ON DETERMINING THE VALUE OF ASSETS

As was reported at the time, on July 3, 2019, the National Constituent Assembly enacted the Constitutional Law Creating the Wealth Tax. Owing to material errors, this law has now been reprinted in Official Gazette No. 41,696, dated August 16, 2019, to correct the following errors.

  1. Purpose: To levy a tax on the net assets of special taxpayers whose assets are worth
    150,000,000 TU or more, i.e. Bs. 7,500,000,000.00 based on a Tax Unit rate set at Bs.50.00.
  2. Time frame: The law provides that the taxation date will be September 30 each year.
    All articles dealing with determination of value, set that date as September 30.
  3. A new exemption has been added for assets located in the country that belong to diplomatic and consular missions.
  4. Tax Base: The value on which the tax is to be based will be the sum of all assets and interests, minus liabilities and the value of levies and encumbrances on the assets, as well as any assets and interests that are exempt or exonerated.
  5. Taxation period: Levied annually on the value of net assets as at September 30 every year.
  6. The Transitional and Final provisions provide that taxation will begin on September 30, 2019.

In the case of Directive No. SNAT/2019/00213, dealing with the Rules for Updating the Value of Assets and Interests, and the formal requirements and steps for filing returns and paying the wealth tax, published in Official Gazette No. 41,697 dated August 19, 2019, it merely  states that  the rules  to be followed for determining the value of the assets and for

filing  returns  and  paying  the  tax  shall  be  those  published  on  the  tax  authority’s portal between October 1st and November 30th each year. It also states that Municipal Authorities are under the obligation to keep the values of properties within their jurisdictions up to date on the property rolls.

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Yours truly,

BENSON, PÉREZ MATOS, ANTAKLY & WATTS

Ysabel N. Figueira G.

All rights reserved. This work is a contribution of BENSON, PEREZ MATOS, ANTAKLY & WATTS to its clients on legal topics of their interest for purposes of providing orientation. It must not be interpreted as a specific legal opinion.