CURRENT TAX REGIMES IN BOLIVIA

Tax System.- The Tax System determines the concept and classification of taxes in
Bolivia. Taxes are the monetary obligations that the State imposes in order to obtain
resources that allow it to satisfy the needs of the Bolivian population, improving their
quality of life.

 Classification.- Taxes are classified into: taxes, fees, special contributions and
Municipal Patents. In Bolivia, the Ministry of Economy and Public Finance is the
competent fiscal authority; being responsible for the formulation and design of
policies to obtain resources for the State, through taxes. Said Ministry governs the
national Tax Administration, made up of the National Tax Service and the National
Customs of Bolivia, who collect, supervise and guarantee the correct application of
the rules; making it easier for taxpayers to pay their taxes.
 Tax.- The tax is a monetary contribution that people make according to the
economic activity they carry out. This allows the State to have the necessary
resources to develop programs and works that improve the quality of life of
Bolivians.
 Benefits.- The Plurinational State of Bolivia redistributes the resources generated
by tax collection to different sectors, in order to meet the different needs and
demands of the population. Thus, health services, education, social programs,
infrastructure, security, productive and technological development projects, among
others; They are possible thanks to taxes.
Therefore, responsibly assuming the citizen's duty to pay taxes will allow us to sustain the
expenses of our home, Bolivia.
Who should pay? The contribution for tax purposes is made in accordance with the
income of each person or institution, and must be taxed in proportion to their economic
capacity as established by Law. The tax must be paid by the people called taxpayers, who
can be:

 Natural Persons: They are men and women who have their own business or
practice their profession, for example: plumber, doctor, lawyer, etc.
 Legal Entities: These are those formed when several people join together in a
company or society to undertake a specific economic activity. Whether they are
natural or legal persons, they must register in the records of the National Tax
Service, in order to comply with their tax obligations.
Tax Regime.- These are the categories under which a Natural Person or Legal Entity that
owns or is going to start a business must be registered with the National Tax Service
(SIN). The tax regime establishes the way in which taxes are paid and the payment levels
thereof.
When opening a business or registering in the biometric National Tax Registry, it is
necessary to verify the classification of the existing tax regimes, since in relation to these
the obligation to invoice is established.
When a business is opened or registration is made to the Biometric National Tax Registry,
the tax regime to which the company will belong is classified and can be classified into the
following:
1. General Regime.- All taxpayers who have their Tax Identification Number and issue the
corresponding invoice correspond to the General Regime. The contributors will be:

 Natural Persons: People who generally practice liberal professions or trades, as

well as anticretists, savers and others.
 Sole Proprietorships: Natural persons who carry out business economic activities.
 Legal Entities: These are companies identified by a company name, they are
companies formed in accordance with the Commercial Code (with a certificate of
incorporation or testimony) or according to the Civil Code (associations,
foundations, among others).
In other words, within this regime are all natural and legal persons that carry out economic
activities such as:

 Regular sale of personal property (appliances, clothing, cement, vehicles, alcoholic

beverages)

 Rental of movable and immovable property (dishes, costumes, vehicles, houses,

apartments and others).

 General Services (Restaurants, karaoke bars, doctors, accountants and others)

 Final imports.

 The capital of the business or company is greater than 60,000 Bs.

 Annual income is greater than 184,000 Bs.
 If the unit price of the products exceeds 480 Bs. if the merchant is a retailer; 640
Bs. when he is a craftsman; and 148 Bs. if he is a farmer.

In this sense, any economic activity that has generated a sale of a good or service equal to
or greater than 5Bs to the taxpayers of this regime, must be issued through an invoice.

Within the regimes, the following taxes are paid, according to the activities carried out:

 VAT (Value Added Tax)

 IT (Transaction Tax)

 IUE (Business Profits Tax)

 RC-VAT (Complementary Regime to Value Added Tax)

 ICE (Specific Consumption Tax)
 TGB (Free Transfer of Assets)
 ISAE (Tax on Air Departures Abroad)
  IEHD (Special Tax on Hydrocarbons and their Derivatives)
 IDH (Direct Tax on Hydrocarbons)
 ITF (Financial Transactions Tax)
 IJ (Gambling Tax)
 IPJ (Gambling Participation Tax)
 IVME (Foreign Currency Sales Tax)
2. Special Regime.- The special regime created so that small producers can pay their
taxes.
2.1. Simplified Tax Regime (RTS).- The Simplified Tax Regime (DS 24484 and
27924) is intended for natural persons who carry out activities as tenant farmers,
artisans and retail traders. Within this regime are the following people:

 Artisans, people who carry out a manual trade on their own in their workshops or at
home. Ex.: Embroiderer, Weaver, Tinker, etc. The unit price of your products sold
must not be greater than 640 Bs.
 Vivanderos, all those people who sell drinks and food in kiosks and small stores.
Ex.: Sale of food in small snacks, kiosks, etc. The unit price of your products sold
must not be greater than 148 Bs.
 Retail merchants, all those people who carry out activities of buying/selling
merchandise in public markets, fairs, kiosks, small stores and stalls located on a
public street. Ex.: A small neighborhood store, retail sellers in kiosks or stalls, etc.
The unit price of your products sold must not be greater than 480 Bs.
People who are within this regime must not issue an invoice for the economic activity they
carry out.

Maturities
The presentation of form 4500 is the obligation of taxpayers of the Simplified Tax Regime
and must be done on the following dates:

 First Bimester: January and February Until March 10

 Second Bimester: March and April Until May 10
 Third Bimester: May and June Until July 10
 Fourth Bimester: July and August Until September 10
 Fifth Bimester: Sep. and October Until November 10
 Sixth Bimester: Nov. and december Until January 10
2.2. Integrated Tax System (STI).- The Integrated Tax System (DS 23027, 28522): is
intended for natural persons who provide public service (maximum two vehicles) of urban
and/or interprovincial transportation.
Maturities
The presentation of form 702 is the obligation of taxpayers who belong to the Integrated
Tax System and must be done every quarter on the following dates:
First Quarter: January, February and March Until April 22
Second Quarter: April, May and June Until July 22
Third Quarter: July, August and September. Until October 22
Fourth Quarter: October, Nov. and dec. Until January 22

2.3. Unified Agricultural Regime (RAU).- The Unified Agricultural Regime (DS 24463
and 24988): it is one of the special regimes, which pay their taxes (VAT, IT, IUE and RC-
IVA) in a simplified manner once a year.

Those who belong to the Unified Agricultural Regime are:

  Carry out agricultural or livestock activities.
 Cooperatives (with agricultural or livestock activities).
 Natural persons or undivided successions (poultry farming, beekeeping,
floriculture, rabbit farming and fish farming).
Those who do not belong to the Unified Agricultural Regime are:

 Cooperatives (except those that carry out agricultural or livestock activities).

 Provide services to third parties by carrying out totally or partially one or several
activities such as: Processing plants, slaughterhouses, intensive fattening,
incubation plants, mills, sugar mills, refrigerators, warehouses, silos, milk treatment
plants, workshops, workshops or any other type of industrial, commercial or service
operation linked or not to agricultural activity.
 Natural persons or undivided successions, whose property exceeds
the maximum limits to belong to this regime
When you no longer meet any of the requirements or when it does not fit your activity, you
have to be in the General Regime. Once you belong to the General Regime, you will not
be able to request to be in the Unified Agricultural Regime.
Calculation of Taxes of the Unified Agricultural Regime RAU
The calculation of the tax you have to pay will be based on the Hectares, the entire surface
area where the agricultural or livestock activity is carried out and will be a fixed fee in
Bolivians that will be updated by national taxes.
The hectares allowed for the Unified Agricultural Regime will be:
For the Sub-Tropical zone – Santa Cruz Sub-Zone it is:

 Agricultural: From 50 to 1,000 hectares.

 Livestock: From 500 to 10,000 hectares.
For small property, the following surfaces are considered:

 Agricultural: From 1 to 50 hectares

 Livestock: From 1 to 500 hectares

Comments
Talking about the Tax Regime of our country is too complex. Several positive changes
were noted within the national tax systems since the 1986 tax reform, which helped the
country's economy in one way or another.
For the National Tax Service, controlling the entire tax system and expanding the universe
of taxpayers is complicated by the limitations it faces. There are still delays in the
application of sanctions for evaders and transferring them to the tax regime that
corresponds to them, because there are many of these types of cases.
It is clear that there is not enough personnel to carry out control operations, because there
are only a small number of officials throughout the country. For these reasons the tax
pressure in the country is above average.
Some experts on the subject suggest that it would be interesting to apply differentiated tax
rates to alleviate the burden on the consumer, such as applying lower VAT rates to
essential products, medicines and others.

It is also worth mentioning that there is a lack of tax knowledge in the Bolivian population.
As there are also people who take advantage of the poor control of the SIN, which causes
these people, natural or legal, not to pay their taxes according to the regime to which they
belong, respectively.