SCJN of Norma Piña prepares a hard blow to Ricardo Salinas Document: Process | News from Mexico
This case between Grupo Elektra and the SAT, which involves huge sums of money, is about to receive a resolution in the SCJN.
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN), under the presidency of Norma Piña, is preparing to make decisions that could seriously impact Grupo Elektra, owned by Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego, according to the newspaper Proceso. Two ministers of the SCJN, Alberto Pérez Dayán and Yasmín Esquivel Mossa, have announced that they will propose to dismiss the injunctions filed by the company with which it seeks to avoid paying tax credits that, in total, add up to more than 34 billion pesos, it indicates.
Elektra’s amparos and its involvement
According to the court lists, these appeals will be discussed on October 2 and 9 in the Second Chamber of the SCJN. The cases are divided between the two reporting ministers. Esquivel Mossa’s appeal involves a tax credit of 1,431,466,605 pesos, while Pérez Dayán’s addresses a much larger credit, of 33,306,406,349 pesos, corresponding to the fiscal years 2014 and 2015.
The process has drawn attention due to the slowness with which it has advanced. Last August, the magazine Proceso pointed out that these appeals had been in the Court for more than a month without receiving the proper processing. This delay prompted a direct intervention by the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who sent a letter to the SCJN requesting greater speed in resolving these matters.
The reaction of Ricardo Salinas Pliego and his multimillion-dollar debt
Businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego has not hidden his anger regarding tax demands. Recently, in response to a message on the social network X (formerly Twitter) by Victor Sarmiento Maldonado, Secretary of Education of Campeche, who urged him to pay his taxes, Salinas Pliego reacted with a derogatory comment: “Hahaha, fucking starving man,” which sparked a controversy on social networks.
This reaction by Salinas Pliego would have reflected the frustration of the businessman, whose companies have a multimillion-dollar debt with the Tax Administration Service (SAT). According to Antonio Martínez Dagnino, head of the SAT, the amount owed amounts to 63 billion pesos. Of this amount, more than 53 billion comes from pending tax lawsuits and more than 10 billion was generated during the current administration. This debt has grown due to adjustments for inflation and surcharges.
Fiscal consolidation and the conflict with the SAT
90% of Salinas Pliego’s debt is related to the fiscal consolidation figure, a mechanism that allowed business groups to offset their profits with tax losses of other companies in the same group. This practice was eliminated in 2013, and according to Grisel Galeano García, Federal Tax Attorney, Salinas Pliego’s companies They abused of this figure, using legal interpretations that allowed them to avoid compliance with their tax obligations.
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In particular, the case of Grupo Elektra, whose conflict centers on a tax debt of approximately 35 billion pesos, is an example of this situation. This amount is the result of adjustments and surcharges on an original tax credit of 18,455 million pesos related to Income Tax (ISR) for fiscal year 2013. The use of accumulated tax losses under the fiscal consolidation regime is the central point of the controversy.
Over the past few years, Grupo Elektra has tried to avoid paying this debt, but has faced multiple defeats in court. Recently, it lost a case before the Federal Administrative Court of Justice and was also denied the protection in a second instance. Now, Elektra is seeking to have the SCJN review the case in the hope of annulling or at least reducing the amount of the debt.
