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Puerto Morelos to request 20 million loan to pay SAT back taxes

Puerto Morelos, Q.R. — Puerto Morelos City Council has voted in favor of requesting a 20 million peso loan to cover SAT back taxes. On Tuesday, the council met to discuss the more than 33 million owed to the Tax Administration System (SAT).

During the meeting, an agreement was drawn up that authorizes Mayor Blanca Merari Tziu Muñoz and Treasurer Ana Isabel Luna García, to request an advancement from the state government for 20 million peso of their shares to settle the debt.

The money is going toward an outstanding tax debt from the previous administration. In a statement, the Government of Puerto Morelos reported the original amount of the debt, which is for the omission in income tax payments corresponding to the period July-December 2020, amounted to 31,770,000 pesos, but reached 33.1 million since SAT did not grant them discounts or waive fines. SAT also would not agree to an agreement to cover the debt in installments.

“The difference of 13,121,000 pesos will be covered freely with available own resources,” the government reported.

In this way, the risk that at any time the tax authority makes the collection effective by seizing shares, bank accounts and intervention of the treasury coffers until the amount of the debt is covered, will be avoided, the government added.

Mayor Blanca Merari Tziu Muñoz says the 20 million pesos will be requested from Sefiplan.

“The agreement authorizes the mayor to request the state government, through the Ministry of Finance and Planning, the advance on account of the General Participation Fund of Branch 28, which would be covered in a period of seven months with discounts of 500,000 pesos each month in the shares as of July. The amount outstanding in January 2024 would be settled that month.

She also explained that the complaints filed against the former municipal officials who failed to pay the tax obligations does not solve the debt that the municipality has, it does not exempt it from payment and does not prevent the tax authority from exercising its powers to collect that debt.