SANTO DOMINGO.- "That's a topic I'm not going to address at this time... It's a matter that's on hold; the institution will announce it later,"declared Luis Valdez Veras, Director General of the DGII (General Directorate of Internal Taxes), on Tuesday.
Finance Minister José Manuel (Jochi) Vicente declared at the end of last September that although he does not know when it will come into effect, next year's budget includes taxing these platforms and that "Not going is a sacrilege.".
When asked by reporters as he left the presentation of the new board of directors of the National Association of Young Entrepreneurs (ANJE) , Valdez Veras said that he would later give more details to the public about the impact of these taxes on digital services such as Airbnb, Netflix, Amazon, Spotify, and others used in the country.
On page 75 of the draft General State Budget Law, which contains 242 pages, it is established that for that year, there is an action group and administrative regulations that will have a decisive effect on the sustainability of resources and the fulfillment of internal and external obligations.
What the finance minister said
That's going to happen (the tax collection). Not going is sacrilege. Airbnb is unfair competition to our hotels, to Dominican-owned hotels, to Dominican workers,” Vicente stated in a meeting with journalists from the economic sector, referring to the international platform that allows online rentals of accommodations offered by their own hosts.
However, he acknowledged that defining the taxation mechanism “is not so easy.” “Because you can’t impose an income tax on Airbnb, because it’s not here (in the country), and what we’re doing is, based on international experiences, looking for ways to ensure that these digital platforms, for the income they generate from Dominican sources, receive reasonable taxation.”.
