The Peruvian Commodity Communication Graduality Regime
Background
The Peruvian tax legislation regulates the formal obligations of taxpayers carrying out export or import operations of goods with known quotations in international markets. These obligations are detailed in numeral 1 of paragraph e) of Article 32-A of the Income Tax Law, which establishes that taxpayers must file a communication to the SUNAT (Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y Administración Tributaria – National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration) providing specific information about each operation. According to the regulations, the communication must be filed up to the date of the beginning of the shipment or disembarkation, containing the complete information according to the terms.
Report No. 000063-2024 – SUNAT/7T0000
According to the fifth paragraph of numeral 1 of subsection e) of Article 32-A of the Income Tax Law, if such communication is not filed, is incomplete, or is filed late, the date of the end of the shipment, in the case of exported goods, and the date of disembarkation, in the case of imported goods, will be considered as the date of the quotation value. Conversely, the publication of Report No. 000063-2024 – SUNAT/7T0000 on September 6 of this year mentions that the penalties applicable to an infraction in the submission or not of the referred communication would be subject to the Graduality Regime (according to numbers 2 and 4 of Article 176 of the Peruvian Tax Code).
Graduality Regime
The Graduality Regime, regulated by Superintendence Resolution No. 063-2007/SUNAT, allows the reduction of penalties to taxpayers who correct the omission or error in the communication filing despite having incurred an infraction. Several cases could lead to infractions, such as:
- Failure to file the communication.
- Filing it out of time.
- Filing incomplete information.
- Providing information not according to the transaction terms.
This flexibility is essential due to the encouragement of voluntary regularization and contribution to mitigate the risks of non-filing or sending incomplete information. Conversely, although the financial penalty may be reduced, the legal effect does not disappear: In case of late filing, the quotation date will be the end of the shipment (for exports) or the disembarkation (for imports).
Objectives of the Transfer Pricing Regulations
The Transfer Pricing regulations aim to prevent tax evasion through mispricing among related companies. By requiring the submission of a detailed formal communication before the shipment or disembarkation of goods, the SUNAT aims to obtain accurate information on the transactions and verify that the prices applied truly reflect the market value. In this regard, it is not only an administrative formality but also a control mechanism preventing companies from inflating or reducing the prices of their operations for tax benefits.
