Tax legislation and its impact on the development of the formal operations of aquaculture companies

: Peru is a country open to the world economy and to national and foreign investments; therefore, economic activities of an industrial, commercial and service nature in general are developed. It also has a wide variety of natural resources, which is why the state has chosen to apply differentiated treatment in the tax field to certain types of business activities by granting certain “benefits” and “incentives”. However, due to a lack of knowledge about tax legislation, they are not used adequately. In this context, the objective was to analyze the level of knowledge of the legislation, tax and its impact on the development of their operations in formal business aquaculture in the ring circumlacustrine of the region in 2021. It was developed under a descriptive correlational design with a sample of 80 circumlacustrine ring aquaculture companies. The results indicated that there is a low level of knowledge about tax legislation on the part of the owners of aquaculture companies, which negatively affects the development of their formal operations in the circumlacustrine ring of the Puno region. As a consequence, it has a negative impact on the formalization of companies since they do not know about the benefits and tax incentives and even less about the tax regimes to which they are subject as taxpayers; therefore, aquaculture companies are in the informality category in a high percentage.


Introduction
Aquaculture is a growing industry both globally and in Peru, and its expansion must focus on sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness (Berger, 2020).To achieve this, strategies such as smaller-scale aquaculture, the promotion of native species, the production of algae and primary consumer organisms are considered.When environmental and economic conditions allow, aquaculture diversifies towards intensive, integrated and polyculture systems, including expansion into the open sea (Berger, 2020).
Peru holds the leading position in the production and export of fishmeal, which is an important source of protein for animal feeding and fish breeding (Talledo, 2010).Furthermore, the country has vast untapped water resources, the use of which in aquaculture could generate employment and income for local communities, while improving the diet of the population, especially those with low economic resources or who are underemployed (Arroyo and Kleeberg, 2013).
In recent decades, the aquaculture industry in Peru has experienced notable growth.This is reflected in the significant increase in production, since in 1993, 4753 tons were harvested, while in 2013 this figure shot up to 105,158 tons, with an impressive increase of 22%.Furthermore, exports of aquaculture products went from US$21,223 to US$278,796,775 in the same period (Martín et al., 2015).
On the other hand, the constant conflict between mining companies and communities over access to water is a challenge that the country must address (Saade, 2013).However, this could also become a business opportunity if aquaculture projects are implemented, taking as an example nation such as Spain, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, which are already making significant investments to promote the development of aquaculture (Arroyo and Kleeberg, 2013).
In Peru, aquaculture development is mainly focused on the production of aquatic species (Ruiz, 2012).Aquaculture activity in Peru is distributed throughout the country, with greater emphasis on specific areas.According to production volumes, shrimp farming is predominant on the coast, particularly in the region of Tumbes (93.4%) and Piura (6.6%), and scallops, mainly in Ancash (79.12%) and lime (19.13%); with a production of 7311.51 tons, on the other hand, trout farming predominates in the mountains, with a production of 2,808.27tons in 2003, concentrated in the regions of Junín (40.93%) and Puno (45%).Finally, in the jungle area, the cultivation of Amazonian fish (cachama or gamitana, pacu and entangled prochilod or boquichico) occurs with a production of 126.16 tons during 2003, mainly in the Ucayali regions (42.39%) (Cárdenas, 2022).
In this regard, aquaculture activity is regulated by tax legislation that applies to the formal operations of 73 aquaculture companies.In this regard, the Law for the Promotion and Development of Aquaculture (LPDA) and its regulations is the main regulation for the sector, with the objective of guiding the regulation and promotion of the activity (PRODUCE, 2011).There are also other regulations such as the inspection and sanctioning procedure regulations, as well as the sanitary regulations.In addition, there is the Law for the Promotion of the Ammonia Region and the Law on Protected Natural Areas (Cárdenas, 2022).However, the National Aquaculture System (SINACUI) regulates the mechanisms of integration, coordination and crosssectoral interaction between the different actors; in addition to promoting aquaculture practices that contribute to the conservation and sustainable use of the environment where it is developed (El Peruano, 2016;FAO, 2016).
There are productive categories, which are: • Aquaculture of Limited Resources (AREL): It is the activity developed exclusively or complementary by natural persons, included within this category are the aquaculture activities developed by basic education centers, without commercial purposes, where the annual production does not exceed the 3.5 gross tons (Quiroz and Urbina, 2020).
• Micro and Small Business Aquaculture: activity for commercial purposes by legal or natural persons, annual production is greater than 3.5 tons and does not exceed 150 gross tons.

•
Aquaculture for medium and large companies: activity for commercial purposes by legal or natural persons, annual production is greater than 150 tons.
In Peru, there are tax regimes such as the New Simplified Single Regime (RUS), the Special Income Regime (RER) and the General Regime (RG).On the other hand, tax benefits are incentives whose objective is to fully or partially waive the tax obligation, with a motivation involved; these benefits are reflected in tax regulations (Baldeón, 2019).Tax benefits are regulatory treatments that imply by the State a total or partial reduction in the amount of the tax obligation or the postponement of the enforceability of said obligation (Baldeón, 2018).
There are different types of tax benefits, among which tax incentives, exemption, unaffectedness and immunity stand out (Ponce de Leon, 2014).Tax incentives are reductions to the tax base of the tax, granted with the purpose of encouraging certain economic sectors or activities, and even those subsidies granted by the State to certain subjects.For their part, exemptions are tax relief techniques that seek to avoid the emergence of the tax obligation, which is characterized by its temporality (Villanueva, 2011).
In this sense, and in order to promote aquaculture activity, there are tax benefits such as: i) Reduced rate of Income Tax included in Law No. 27460, they will be subject to the rate of fifteen percent (15%) on income; ii) Early recovery of VAT and iii) Exemption from the General Sales Tax (El Peruano, 2016).
The Puno Region has a vast potential for water resources, which include 354 lagoons, 316 rivers and 7 dams, with Lake Titicaca being the most notable in terms of its relevance for the development of aquaculture, according to the Regional Production Directorate (DIREPRO) report in 2009.Furthermore, the water quality in many of these water resources in the region is ideal for carrying out aquaculture activities, such as raising rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in floating cages, which is widely disseminated and accepted (Chura and Mollocondo, 2009).
The development of this trout farming activity in Puno is currently a profitable business, without the need for large investments in fish farming infrastructure, in addition to mentioning the current situation characterized by the boom in exports for which companies in this sector necessarily need to be informed with the conditions of the formal framework in which it must operate, conditions in the way it operates in the current scenario are totally negative for its sustainable development (National Aquaculture Information Network, 2022).
In that sense, in tax matters, companies involved in this economic sector are governed by the general rules of the Tax Code, the Income Tax Law and the General Sales Tax and Selective Consumption Tax Law, among other Laws. in relation to contributions by Social Laws; Likewise, through these same regulations or through others of equal hierarchy, the State has chosen to apply differentiated treatment in the tax field to certain types of business activities, granting certain "benefits" and "incentives", which are little or nothing taken advantage of by these companies as a product of their ignorance of tax legislation (SUNAT, 2022).
The lack of knowledge of the obligations and tax rights of the economic sector to which this research work is directed towards the Peruvian treasury has an impact on the limited formal development of its activities (Cabrera et al., 2021) , which is why it is very necessary to evaluation of knowledge conditions, consequently the incorporation of these small and micro informal entrepreneurs into formality raises the need to analyze the state in which they are currently operating, their characteristics in this activity and their behavior in the formal scenario, so that information channels can be established that affect the visible consequences leading to its formality that allow them to overcome the current context of their activities and consequently enter the scenario of the conditions offered by formality (International Labor Organization , 2015).

Materials and methods
The study was conducted in the department of Puno.The target population was represented by 362 organizations and/or companies in the Puno region that are in activity, and that are duly registered with the Ministry of Production (PRODUCE), to which this government entity granted concessions and authorizations by means of a Directorial Resolution (Table 1).
The inductive-deductive, descriptive and synthesis method was used (Sampieri, 2006).The research design applied is non-experimental, descriptive correlational with two study variables (Charaja, 2004), because the existing relationship between Tax legislation and its impact on the development of formal operations of aquaculture companies.The type of research is basic, determined based on surveys, direct observation and documentary compilation of current legal regulations on tax matters (Charaja, 2004).
The technique used was the survey, the instrument was the questionnaire on knowledge of tax legislation in aquaculture companies and its benefits that are contemplated in it (Ramos et al., 2021).For the analysis of the data obtained, descriptive and inferential statistics were applied, where the collected data were processed in the SPSS 15v statistical software.Likewise, the Chi-Square test was used to test hypotheses "There is a low level of knowledge that has a negative impact on the formalization of aquaculture businesses".where: Oij = observed frequency; eij = expected frequency; H0 = Null hypothesis; H1 = Alternate hypothesis The expected frequency (eij) has been calculated with the formula:

Results and discussions
The aquaculture companies of the circumlacustrine ring of the Puno Region, according to the survey applied, are registered in the Superintendencia Nacional de Administración Tributaria (SUNAT) Registries, that is, if they have a Single Taxpayer Registry (RUC) number.The results indicate that 42.50% are in the process of registering with the SUNAT, 38.75% indicate that they are not registered or do not have a RUC and only 18.75% of owners are in the Single Taxpayer Registry (Table 2).
From this it is inferred that the majority of companies are not registered in the SUNAT, in accordance with the provisions of Title IV, article 87, numeral 1 of the TUO of the current Tax Code DS 135-99-EF, consistent with the Registration Law Sole Taxpayers D. Leg.943 and RS 210-2004/SUNAT; That is to say, they are informal, so they are unaware of the benefits of being legally constituted as a company.In turn, it can be deduced that this group of companies functions as small producers, with their market being the cities of Puno and Juliaca, unable to sell their production to other cities because they do not have proof of payment, reducing their income and limiting their production.From the results it is deduced that most of the companies are not in any tax regime and those that are registered are mostly in the RUS, where they contribute only 20 new soles per month as a tax, the Legal application of which corresponds to the D. Leg.937 modified by the D. Leg.967 in the Case of Nuevo RUS and the TUO of the Income Tax Law DS 179-2004-EF in the case of Special Regime and General Regime (Table 3).The results show that the companies are oblivious to the provisions established in the TUO of the current Tax Code DS 135-99-EF and other regulations related to tax issues, such as formalizing companies and that they contribute to the payment of taxes to the State, since they are unaware of the advantages that exist when issuing payment vouchers as they are formalized (Table 4).Inferring from these results, it appears that most companies do not issue payment receipts in accordance with the provisions of section 3. Article 87 of Title IV of the TUO of the current Tax Code DS 135-99-EF, consistent with its application.with the Regulation of Proof of Payment RS 007-99/SUNAT, since the sale of trout in the markets or squares of the cities of Puno and Juliaca do not require proof of payment, since these products are sold to final consumers, as such, the issuance requirement on the part of the acquiring clients is not of interest either (Table 5).The results show that the majority of businessmen dedicated to trout farming do not have knowledge about the tax benefits with which the State protects and encourages aquaculture companies, in accordance with the provisions of article 26 of the Promotion Law.and Development of Aquaculture, Law 27460, refers for its application to the standards contained in Law 27360, therefore causing non-taxation by producers and, above all, not benefiting from tax benefits (Table 6).The data obtained indicates that the largest number of companies dedicated to the production and marketing of trout, if they are willing to formalize their operations, if they become aware of the tax benefits, on the other hand, they request that SUNAT, train and make these benefits known, so that producers can participate in these benefits and in turn formalize their operations (Table 7).
On the other hand, trout producing and marketing companies are unaware of the validity of the tax benefits, as determined by article 3 of Law 27360.a situation that puts at risk that businessmen do not decide to formalize their operations and therefore the loss of opportunities to enjoy the aforementioned benefits.
Also, a large part of the companies does not know about the exemption from the General Sales Tax (IGV) for companies in the aquaculture sector, which allows businessmen not to pay this tax, since in strict application of article 5 of the TUO of the VAT Law, Appendix I, the sale of these exploited products of aquaculture origin are within the scope of tax exemption.In contrast to the hypothesis test, it is evident that there is a low level of knowledge about tax legislation on the part of the owners of aquaculture companies, which negatively affects the formal development of operations (Table 8).We adopt that it is greater   2 = 14.08 than   2 = 9.49 aquaculture farms of the Circumlacustrine ring of the Puno Region (Figure 1).

Conclusions
There is evidence of a significant deficit in the knowledge of tax legislation among the owners of the aquaculture companies operating in the circumlacustrine ring of the Puno region.This deficiency has palpable negative consequences on the formalization process of aquaculture enterprises, as statistically supported by a hypothesis test in which a value that considerably exceeds the required threshold was obtained.
Likewise, among the taxes applicable to aquaculture companies dedicated to the raising and commercialization of trout in the aforementioned circumlacustrine ring, the annual income tax stands out at 15%, compared to other companies that pay an annual rate of 30%.
Regarding the tax regimes that apply to these companies in the Puno region, the Single Simplified Regime represents 17.50%, followed by the Special Regime, which includes 1.25% of the aquaculture companies.On the other hand, none of the companies are registered under the General Regime, which leads to the conclusion that 81.25% of the companies are not registered with the National Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT).
Therefore, it is important to highlight that the tax legislation offers specific benefits for aquaculture activities, such as income tax reduction, the option of early depreciation for the acquisition of assets and the possibility of obtaining early income tax recovery.However, the acceptance of the benefits is subject to the entrepreneur's level of knowledge of tax legislation.
For future research, the study proposes to develop applied research that seeks to introduce training or capacity-building programs for the employees of the water entrepreneurs in order to close the informality gap, which is a multi-causal problem in Peru.In this way, the impact of such an intervention will be measured and could be proposed as public policy.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Decision rule for hypothesis testing.

Table 1 .
Companies and/or organizations dedicated to aquaculture.

Table 2 .
Registration status of organizations in SUNAT.

Table 3 .
Tax regimes that are applicable to aquaculture companies.

Table 4 .
Information you will see provided to SUNAT.

Table 5 .
Compliance with the issuance of payment receipts required by the National Tax Regime.

Table 6 .
Knowledge about existing tax benefits in the Tax Legislation regarding aquaculture activities.

Table 7 .
Willingness of the businesswoman to formalize her company.