Telefónica del Perú paid 218 million soles (about 59 million euros) to the National Superintendence of Tax Administration (Sunat) of Peru for taxes and fines after losing a litigation that dragged on for more than a decade.
The Peruvian Treasury Administration explained in a statement that with this amount, the amount charged in legal proceedings won by the tax administration to Telefónica totals 255 million soles (about 69 million euros).
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"The debts paid by the telecommunications company correspond to the Income Tax of Non-domiciled and fines of the years 1999, 2000, 2003 and 2004, which were determined by the Sunat in control procedures," said the state entity.
For its part, the Spanish multinational said in a statement that "has complied with the payment of 59 million euros to the Sunat, according to the decision of the court" despite being "in disagreement with the decision."
He also said that the dispute originated with a decision by Telefónica to hire "a satellite operator not domiciled in Peru to broadcast signals 36,000 kilometers from Earth, outside of Peruvian territory, in order to bring connectivity to remote areas."
Origin of the conflict
As indicated in the same text, "in due course, the Sunat and the Fiscal Court - with information from the Ministry of Transportation and Communications - concluded that this type of satellite capacity service is provided outside the national territory and therefore there was no taxation in Peru ".
With these references, Telefónica "paid the service to the satellite operator without tax withholding, following the provisions of these institutions," he added.
However, Sunat said that Tuesday's payment "corresponds to a portion of the amounts at issue that are pending in administrative and judicial proceedings," and those that will continue to defend their position. Therefore, if favorable results are obtained, it will imply the collection of additional amounts.
Precisely this Wednesday, Telefónica announced that it will create a business unit to bring together all its operations in Latin America except Brazil, in order to "strengthen" its operations in the region, without ruling out "reducing" the business, "if necessary."
The objective is to "dose" Telefónica's exposure in the region's markets and become stronger in the other markets where it obtains benefits such as Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany and Brazil.