Alsea does not consider the battle lost against the SAT. The operator of fast food restaurants and cafeterias considers that it has an opportunity to win the protection it requested when requesting the payment of 3,881 million pesos, for the purchase of Vips, made by the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in February.
“We try to reach an agreement with them, knowing that we do not have to pay anything, we are the ones who buy. Walmart (which was the owner of Vips) has already paid (taxes related to the transaction). The SAT wants to win twice for the same transaction,” said Rafael Contreras, the company’s chief financial officer, during a conference call with analysts.
“(…) We plan to continue the legal process, with the confidence that we have a good chance of winning this procedure in two or three years ,” he added.
The manager explained that, on the recommendation of their lawyers, they chose to file an exclusive resolution trial on the merits before the Federal Court of Administrative Justice (TFJFA), which does not require the company to guarantee the tax credit through a bond. This led to the tax authority being ordered to unfreeze the company’s bank accounts.
Rodrigo Escartín, a partner at Escartín Abogados, explained that, in general, in this type of dispute between legal entities and the tax authority, there are three possible scenarios: plain nullity , which completely annuls the tax credit; nullity for effects , in which the authority determines that the debt is less and instructs the treasury to make a new calculation under certain parameters, and, finally, that the authority declares the firmness of the fiscal credit.
In February of last year, the SAT notified Alsea of claiming a tax payment for alleged income from the acquisition of goods for the purchase of Vips from Walmart for 3,881 million pesos, a figure that includes concepts of updating, surcharges and fines. . At that time, the Burger King operator also announced that they had sufficient elements to show that this claim was inadmissible, since they complied “in a timely manner” with their tax obligations in relation to the transaction.
The SAT began the review of the transaction, valued at 8,200 million pesos, and determined that the figure did not correspond to the value of the acquired brands, consisting of 362 Vips, El Portón, La Finca and Ragazzi restaurants.
