Yesterday I spent the whole day running around, almost finishing our taxes. "Almost" because we have to file an amended return because we did not receive a particular document and so it got left out of our original filing.
One of the business tax documents we have to get here is called a "patente," a patent. There is no equivalent I know of in the States. After you file your state business taxes, you file this form with the municipio (the city/county) and pay the amount it says. You need the patente to do business. It is not the same as the license or the commercial registration. Essentially, it is a tax you pay that gives you the privilege of paying taxes the rest of the year.
While getting our patente, the people in the municipio discovered a discrepancy between our sales tax reports and our end-of-year gross receipts. A number was mistakenly entered twice which inflated our end-of-year figures. To fix it I had to pay additional sales tax plus penalties and interest. Yes, even though it was a mistake. That's what figures on the papers said and the figures don't lie.
So part of our amended return to the state will (hopefully) correct this problem before we get hit with penalties and interest from the state as well.
But that's not the point of the story. At the end of this process at the end of a very long day, after shelling out nearly $200 extra, I sat there thanking my friend in the municipio finance office like she'd just done me a great favor!
I guess in a way she did. She did help me fix a stupid problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment