ONAT is upset by non-compliance with the Tax Declaration and Payment Campaign in Cuba

TheNational Tax Administration Office (ONAT) of Cuba expressed its concern about the alarming levels of non-compliance with the Tax Declaration and Payment Campaign.

With the deadline set for February 28, the entity has called on both individual and legal taxpayers to rectify this situation, which it qualifies as an act of essential civic responsibility.

Since the beginning of the campaign, on January 8, ONAT has emphasized that the resources raised are essential for theState Budget, hoping to accumulate 338,999 million pesos through taxes, fees, contributions and other non-tax contributions.

The regime ensures that these are crucial income to finance areas such as health, education, social assistance, sports and culture.

Mary Blanca Ortega Barredo, the head of the ONAT, specified that low compliance in the payment of taxes directly threatens the quality and sustainability of social programs.

The expectation was to equal or improve the indicators achieved in the same period of the previous year. However, current compliance figures are disappointing for ONAT.

Of the 14,180 taxpayers required to declare profits tax, only 4,217 have complied so far, 29.7% of the expected total. The provinces of Havana, Matanzas, and Ciego de Ávila are the worst performing.

The sectors with the greatest delay includenational subordination companies and cooperatives of different kinds.

Even worse are the figures relating topersonal income tax (excluding the agricultural sector); Of 462,445 taxpayers, only 58,936 have submitted their declaration, which represents 12.7%.

Regarding personal income from the agricultural sector, compliance is a meager 6.3%.

The ONAT has not only expressed its concern, but also warns about the application ofsanctions for non-compliance, which can include fines of up to five thousand pesos, the closure of establishments and even the seizure of bank accounts.

These measures, according to the institution, are intended to guarantee the necessary revenue for the social well-being of the country.

Cuba has been in a state for yearsacute economic and social crisis and where the number of people dependent on the State who continue without receiving support of any kind is growing, while the regime claims to not have enough money in its coffers to deal with the situation.

In 2022 the ONAT closed withmore than a billion pesos in debts of taxpayers. The closing of 2023 seems to go the same way.

At the end of 2023 the regime warned thatwill prevent leaving the country to those Cubans who have debts with the ONAT. The entity signed an agreement with the Directorate of Identification, Immigration and Immigration to prohibit taxpayer debtors from leaving the country until they settle their debts with the State.