Screenshot of the Territorial Council session.
MARIGOT--The Territorial Council at a plenary session held via video conference on Tuesday voted unanimously in favour of exceptional aid and various tax deferments proposed for businesses affected by the COVID-19 crisis, one of three items debated on the agenda.
Twenty elected councillors participated in the session, the first ever to be held remotely in a virtual format. The second item discussed the extension of the time limits during the health period to deal with the COVID-19 epidemic and adaptation of procedures during this same period. The Council voted unanimously in favour.
The third item was about a board indemnity to the Treasury Accountant. Nineteen voted in favour of this last point with one abstention.
Aware of the economic stakes and urgent need to support local businesses, the Collectivité decided to grant exceptional tax measures to companies in difficulty in the context of the health crisis linked to COVID-19.
As of April, companies in difficulty due to the health crisis will be able to request deferment of tax payments from the Public Finance Centre of St. Martin.
Companies eligible for these exceptional tax measures are those impacted by the closures provided for by the decrees of March 14, supplemented by the decrees of March 15 and March 23, or any decree that may have been published subsequently – businesses having recorded a 50 per cent or more decrease in turnover over the period of the three months preceding the application, compared to the same period in 2019; or compared to the average monthly turnover over the period between the date of creation of the business and December 31, 2019, for businesses created after March 1, 2019.
Information on the financial and economic situation of the enterprise must be filled in and sent to the Public Finance Centre. Firms in difficulty will be able to defer payment of the following taxes until December 31, 2020: turnover tax for the months of January, February, March and April 2020; tourist tax for the months of January, February and March 2020; and tax on car rentals for the months of January, February and March 2020.
However, eligible enterprises must complete and submit the monthly or quarterly declarations within the usual deadlines.
Firms in difficulty will be able to benefit from a deferral of the payment of the 2019 Corporation Tax to December 31, 2020, as well as the cancellation of the 2020 Corporation Tax instalments due on June 15, September 15 and December 15, 2020.
However, income statements for the 2019 financial year must be filed by June 15, 2020, at the latest.
Finally, companies in difficulty will be able to benefit from a deferral until March 31, 2021, of the payment of the patent contribution due on June 30, 2020. Again, the licence fee and patent contribution returns must be filed by June 30, 2020, and the licence fee must be paid at that time. This decision was passed unanimously.
Regarding the second agenda item, on March 20, 2020, in the context of the health emergency linked to COVID-19, the government approved by ordinance measures suspending the deadlines for applications to the administrative authorities.
This concerns applications giving rise to a decision by an administrative authority and in particular implicit decisions of acceptance or rejection, as well as the deadlines set for the persons involved in the procedure for investigating these applications. This order does not apply to matters in which the Collectivité has exclusive jurisdiction pursuant to Article LO.6314-3 of the General Code of Territorial Collectivités.
It was therefore proposed that councillors vote to extend the time limits for investigations and measures that have expired or that expire between March 12, 2020, and June 24, 2020; i.e., suspend the deadlines for examining administrative decisions until June 24, 2020, postpone the starting point of the time limits for investigations that started to run during the mentioned period to June 24, 2020, and suspend the time limits imposed by the administration, in accordance with the law and regulations, on any person to carry out inspections and work or to comply with requirements of any kind until June 24, 2020.
