The Direccion General de Impuestos Internos (DGII) announced it has authorized credit card intermediary companies to retain 30% of the ITBIS on commercial transactions. With the retention of this 30%, the plan is for the tax department to be able to determine exactly how much the business should have paid in ITBIS and check this with what the business actually pays.
The credit card companies will pay the tax bureau directly in the name of each affiliated company on Friday or rather they will reimburse their affiliate 0.83% of the consumption, minus the charge for the service. The measure, says DGII director Juan Hernandez, can be expected to reduce ITBIS evasion.
Exempt from the tax of January 2005 are pharmaceuticals, books, newspapers, magazines, fuel, health services, electricity, water, garbage collection and educational services.