Newsletter May

ANORCO
Legal Newsletter from
Arosemena Noriega & Contreras
News
May 2017
www.anorco.com
anc@anorco.com.pa

02
MAY 2017
In this edition:
CREDITS
Editor
Julio César Contreras III
jcontreras@anorco.com.pa
INTERNATIONAL FISCAL
TRANSPARENCY
03
Editorial Commitee
José Miguel Navarrete
jnavarrete@anorco.com.pa
Rosalina Sam de Zambrano
rzambrano@anorco.com.pa
Raquel Mckay
rmckay@anorco.com.pa
MIGRATORY UPDATE
04
Chantall Santos
csantos@anorco.com.pa
Shanina Contreras
jcontrerasanorco.com.pa
Mario Rognoni
mrognoni@anorco.com.pa
TAKING NOTES
05
Publisher:
Edsson O. Araúz
Suscriptions:
infoanc@anorco.com.pa
www.anorco.pa

L E G A L H I G H L I G H T S
New Laws on International Fiscal
Transparency
In order to comply with the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and permit the
exchange of tax information, Panama enacted the following laws:
i) Law 47 of October 24, 2016, which ratifies the Agreement between the Government of the
Republic of Panama and the Government of the United States of America, to comply with
international tax standards and to execute FATCA, (Law 47).
ii) Law 51 of October 27, 2016, which establishes the legal framework for the Exchange of
tax information and other rules are enacted (“Law 51”).
Pursuant to Law 47, only tax information from 2014 and subsequent years can be obtained
and exchanged. The information requested and exchanged must be done through the
Ministry of Economy and Finance.
In this regard, it is expected that the first report related to FATCA
would be submitted by the Directorate of General Revenue of
Panama to the Tax Authorities of the United States of America
between June and July of 2017.
On the other hand, Law 51 authorizes the Ministry of Economy and
Finance to request and carry out in situ inspections to private
entities and financial institutions with the purpose of complying
with the exchange of tax information with foreign authorities,
FATCA and tax treaties.
C T U A L I D A D L E G A L L E G A L H I G H L I G H T S 0 3
A

Migratory Update
Executive Decree No.147 of
March 17, 2017, which establishes
that when requesting a permanent
Permit based on Self-Economic
Solvency, and the investment is
done through real estate in the
name of a corporation, the shares
of said corporation must be in
registered form.
The National Immigration Service (NIS)
established changes in relation to
immigration matters pursuant to the
following decrees:
Other updates made by the
NIS are the new online
procedures as of April 7,
2017 to with:
The Immigration Status must be
requested online visiting the NMS
website: www.migracion.gob.pa
Executive Decree No. 145 of March 17,
2017, which eliminates the need for a
lawyer to assist foreigners in the
Immigration Regularization Process.
Executive Decree No. 146 of March 17,
2017, which authorizes the Director of the
NIS to grand temporary stay or voluntary
return permit to religious leaders such as
rabbis, pastors, ministers, and missionaries
or laymen.
Registration of foreigners: only those
persons registered via web can concur
to the registry section.
L E G A L H I G H L I G H T 0 4

TAKING NOTES
(Photo courtesy of MEF)
The Republic of Panama maintains in effect
26 bilateral tax agreements that authorize the
exchange of tax information, including double
taxation agreements (DTAs) and exclusive
agreements for the exchange of information
(TIEAs).
In addition, Panama signed and ratified the
Mutual Administrative Assistance Convention
on Tax Matters, which allows the exchange of
tax information and other types of assistance
with more than 100 countries. This convention
will come into force in July 2017, but the
exchange of information will become
applicable as of January 2018.
Based on various tax agreements signed by
Panama, the tax authorities of these countries
(Directorate of General Revenue; in the case
of Panama) may exchange information in
connection with tax crimes investigations,
albeit these do not constitute a crime in
Panama, as long as the criteria established in
the respective tax agreement is met.
Information Exchange
Requirements
The main requirements to
proceed with the exchange of
information within the
framework of tax agreements
are: the existence of a formal
investigation on a particular
individual in accordance with
the laws of each country; that
the request is conducted
through the competent tax
authority; that the information
only be used by administrative
or judicial entities involved with
the collection of taxes or the
criminal prosecution for tax
evasion and that the tax crime
being investigated corresponds
to a period of time in which the
agreement was in force.
T A K I N G N O T E S 0 5

This document was published for the information
of our readers. Since our information is concise,
reader are urged to obtain legal advice before
taking action.
Panama Office:
Tower Financial Center, Piso 16, Calle 50 y Elvira Méndez, Ciudad de Panamá
Apartado postal 0816-01560 | T. (507) 3668400 | F. (507) 3668457
Chiriqui Office:
CC Plaza Real, Planta Alta, Local 11, Calle D Norte entre Ave. Domingo
Diaz y Ave. 9 de Enero, David Chiriquí,|T. (507) 7551337 | F. (507) 775-51557
www.anorco.com