About This Book
Online digital intermediation platforms, particularly those associated with home delivery and transportation services, have boomed in recent years due, in great part, to the COVID-19 pandemic. These circumstances have raised questions about the application of the Venezuelan Municipal Tax on Economic Activities. As currently conceived in Venezuela, the Municipal Tax on Economic Activities is a territorial tax that requires physical presence of the taxpayer within the territory of a municipality for the tax to be generated and the income to be taxed. However, digital platforms present a challenge to the physical presence as the nexus and spatial aspect of the tax’s taxable event. This work by Ignacio Andrade Cifuentes intends to study this problem. He analyzes the hypothetical case in which Rappi, a leading Latinamerican intermediation platform, had operations in Venezuela, studying the nexus of Rappi's activities with several Venezuelan municipalities, and presenting some elements for a possible reform of the Municipal Tax on Economic Activities that does cover these activities, but does not currently have criteria to link them with a municipality. The study evaluates two scenarios. Under the first scenario, based on Rappi’s terms and conditions, the platform’s affiliated contractors are not employees, but rather independent contractors who perform as agents of the consumer who requests orders through the platform. Under the hypothetical second scenario, the contractors are employees of the platform, who directly performs as the consumer’ agent
