The Andrean magazine, from St. Andrew’s College in Canada, conducted an interview with Fabio Guzmán Ariza, president of the firm, for its Fall 2021 issue.
The magazine collects the experiences of St. Andrew’s College students who have stood out in their personal and professional lives. Don Fabio Guzmán Ariza graduated from this institution in 1966.
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The Andrean Interviews |
The Second Chamber of the Civil and Commercial Chamber of the Court of Appeal of Santiago annulled the sentence issued by the first-degree court that condemned the winning pitcher of the Cy Young Bartolo Colón to the payment of US $ 4.5 million, for alleged compensation on future earnings after his return to the Major Leagues, to the Dominican doctors who assisted him in the treatment of stem cells in the tissues of his right shoulder.
This decision dated September 20, 2021, also motivated that the doctors did not present elements that corroborate the existence of an alleged agreement between the parties involved in the legal conflict. In the words of one of Colón’s lawyers, Mr. John P. Seibel, “the Court judged on the basis of the facts and applied the law. Justice has been done for Bartolo and his family in the face of an unfounded lawsuit and an absurd first-instance sentence.”
Colón was represented by lawyers Alberto Reyes Báez, from law firm Guzmán Ariza; John P. Seibel and Patricio J. Silvestre, from law firm Seibel Dargam Henríquez y Herrera; Néstor Reinoso, from law firm Reinoso, Ottenwalder y Asociados and Gilberto Objío, from law firm Objío, Subero and Ledesma.
London, United Kingdom, September 22, 2021 – We are extremely proud to announce that Guzmán Ariza has been awarded two very important recognitions at the International Tax Review’s Americas Tax Awards 2021, as Caribbean Tax Firm of the Year and Caribbean Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year.
Now in its 17th year, the ITR Americas Tax Awards 2021 recognizes remarkable achievements and developments by international tax professionals from the North, Central and South American regions, over a 12-month period, celebrating the leading tax and transfer pricing firms and practitioners.
Following months of research, interviews and peer review, winners were judged for their innovation, complexity and impact.
Congratulations to our tax practice lead partners Alfredo Guzmán Saladín, Fabio Guzmán Saladín, Alberto Reyes Báez and their team, as well as our in-house Tax Advisor and CPA, Mariano Corral, for their excellent work. We would also like to acknowledge the other top firms and practitioners shortlisted for these awards, as they kept us in good company.
Playa Esmeralda, Miches, Dominican Republic, July 1, 2021. – Today we celebrate with the Viva Wyndham Resorts team and the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, the beginning of construction of what will become the 750 rooms hotel Viva Wyndham Resorts Miches, a project that represents an investment of RD$3,500 million and that will create 2,000 jobs in the region.
At Guzmán Ariza we are grateful for the trust placed on us by the Viva Wyndham management team, especially don Papo Blanco and Ettore Colussi, to manage all the permits for this project, as well as the CONFOTUR classification of the new hotel.
This project is a tangible example of PROMICHES’ compliance with the development plan signed in April 2021 with the Dominican Government within the framework of a public private partnership for the development of the Miches region. It is expected that in the coming weeks the government will begin the infrastructure work agreed upon, as a complement to these new investments.
In attendance to the ceremony were Nils Stolz-Lechner, development director for the Caribbean region of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts; the minister of tourism, David Collado; Rafael Blanco Tejera, president of the National Association of Hotels and Tourism (Asonahores); Gustavo Román, executive director of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of El Seibo and Miches – PROMICHES, along with members of the board of directors.
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, June 8, 2021. – The Dominican-German Chamber of Commerce (AHK RD) represented by its president Fabio J. Guzmán Saladín, partner at Guzmán Ariza, and Víctor Bisonó, minister of industry and commerce, signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen and promote commercial exchange, investment and knowledge exchange between the Dominican Republic and Germany, through initiatives and projects of mutual execution that promote bilateral economic and educational relations.
Fabio José Guzmán Saladín stated that: “Today is a historic moment for our institution, since with the signing of the MOU and the subsequent signing of the agreement with the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and MSMEs in our country we are taking a firm step to strengthen ties between the Dominican Republic and Germany. We reiterate our gratitude for the signing of this memorandum of understanding and we thank Minister Ito Bisonó and all his team for their support and for all the opportunities that the agreement will generate for German and Dominican businessmen, the Dominican Republic and the Federal Republic of Germany.”
This for us is more than a memorandum of understanding, it is an important alliance for the future, which can no longer be exempted from solidarity and genuine interest in promoting investmentbopportunities between partners, as is the case of the Dominican Republic and Germany ”, said Minister Ito Bisonó.
Also in attendance were: Katrin Werdermann, Deputy Head of the German Embassy, Karsten Paul Windeler, Vice President AHK RD, Iovar Medina, Member of the Board of Directors AHK RD, Carlos Flaquer, Vice Minister of Free Zones and Special Regimes and Frauke Pfaff, Director AHK RD.
Guzmán Ariza is proud to announce that it has been chosen as the exclusive member for the Dominican Republic of the legal platform Merger Control from Legal Cross Border, an international information platform specialized in cross-border transactions, mergers and acquisitions and antitrust law, joining some of the world’s most elite law firms and lawyers.
With more than 20 years of combined legal experience and more than 58 partners in 63 jurisdictions, the international online platform at legalcrossborder.com is committed to simplifying and innovating the way that companies access and use legal information in different jurisdictions. The affiliation of Guzmán Ariza to this network helps expand the reach of the platform and the firm.
Merger Control allows users to automatically research the jurisdictions in which merger control is required, while providing them with a detailed description of the outcome of the investigation.
This information, highly specialized and provided by the world’s leading lawyers, allows legal professionals and companies to obtain a complete and in-depth view of local legal standards, to achieve a good and efficient execution, while optimizing time and resources.
We invite you to discover the benefits of this new platform by visiting the following link: https://legalcrossborder.com/knowledgebase/dominican-republic.
Local promoters, hotel operators, and prominent landowners from the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic recently created the Hotel and Tourism Association of El Seibo and Miches –PROMICHES, with the aim of positioning Miches as an environmentally-responsible and inclusive tourist destination.
PROMICHES will promote the development and growth of innovative and socially-responsible businesses that protect and enhance the environmental and cultural diversity of the area, aimed at differentiating the country’s tourism offering.
Alfredo Guzmán Saladín, partner at the Guzmán Ariza Law Firm, and Giselle Pérez, senior counsel, are proud to have been part of this initiative since its inception and to have been chosen as members of the Board of Directors of PROMICHES, on behalf of its founding members: Club Med Miches Playa Esmeralda and Rivera del Yásica Corporation. For years the firm has focused on attracting important tourism and real estate investments in the area and in successfully assisting its clients in their real estate acquisitions, as well as in obtaining tourism, construction, environmental, operating permits, and tax exemptions. Under tourism development law 158-01.
PROMICHES is comprised of Yamil Isaías, from Development Sicuani and president of the association; William Phelan, from the Tropicalia Project, vice president of the association; Paola Mora, from Club Med Miches, also represented by Alfredo Guzmán Saladín and Giselle Pérez; José Ramón Astarloa, from Dreams/Secrets Costa Esmeralda; Frank Elías Rainieri, from Ciudad Esmeralda; George A. Nader, from the Maralda Project; José Blanco, from Viva Miches; Marcial Suárez, from Punta Hicaco Development; Jason Sees, from Carlyle Sees Agroindustries; Giovanni Rainieri, from Corporación Celedín; Alfredo Guzmán Saladín, representative of the Rivera del Yásica Corporation; Diego Aguayo, from Bahía Esmeralda; and Carl Carlson, of Inversiones Yubaso.
Its thirteen members represent projected investments totaling one thousand one hundred and eighty million dollars (UD$ 1,180,000.00), and developments which will bring 3,400 new hotel rooms and 1,400 residential rooms to the Miches destination, as well as as well as the required infrastructure necessary to maintain its operations.
Guzmán Ariza recently inaugurated its eighth office in the Dominican Republic, expanding its presence to the main tourist and commercial hubs in the country.
The Altos de Chavón office offers the firm’s full range of services, with a special focus on providing our customary exceptional service in the areas of real estate, construction, tourism, litigation and immigration to our exclusive Casa de Campo clientele.
The new office is located in the K building of Altos de Chavón, in Casa de Campo, La Romana and will be open Monday to Friday, from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
On January 20th, Dominican President Luis Abinader enacted Law 7-21, which extends the term to apply for the benefits of the Voluntary Wealth Disclosure Law (46-20) for an additional period of 90 days.
The Voluntary Wealth Disclosure Law No. 46-20, is of utmost interest to real estate investors in general. The law establishes a special and transitory amnesty tax for taxpayers to voluntarily disclose or reassess all their movable and real estate properties, including those which may have not been previously declared or registered at the tax level.
The law, which applies and benefits Dominican nationals and resident or non-resident foreigners alike, as well as local or foreign DR-registered corporate entity holdings, calls for taxpayers to normalize their fiscal obligations and voluntarily disclose their assets at market value before the Dominican Tax Office (DGII), through the payment of a one-time and definitive 2% across-the-board amnesty tax overall disclosed or reassessed assets.
According to the new extension, taxpayers will have a limited period of 90 days starting from its date of enactment to apply before the DGII in order to benefit from the tax amnesty. The new deadline to apply is April 20th.
In practical terms, this law gives taxpayers the opportunity to update the value of their properties, either because: a. their value has increased significantly; b. if at the time of purchase they were not recorded for their real value; c. if they built improvements and never had them declared; or, d. if in the purchase contract the price was established in United States Dollars and the Dominican Peso devaluation has diminished their registered acquisition value.
If you decide to benefit from this law, you would be paying 2% on the increased value, thus eliminating the risk of having to pay 25-27% taxes on capital gains in case of an eventual sale in the future.
Bear in mind that the acquisition value of the property for capital gains purposes is not the same value based on which you pay your annual real estate property taxes every year (IPI).
The Amnesty Law is voluntary. You should seek advice from your tax counsel to receive an evaluation of your specific case before the final 90-day term expires.
The Escuela Nacional de la Judicatura (ENJ), the Academia Dominicana de la Lengua (ADL) and the Fundación Guzmán Ariza Pro Academia Dominicana de la Lengua (FGA) will develop two fundamental works to improve the use of the Spanish language in the Dominican judicial bodies: The Style Manual of the Dominican Judicial Branch and the Dominican Legal Dictionary.
These publications arise from an agreement signed by the three entities, represented by Dr. Dariel Suárez, director of the ENJ, and by lawyer and academic Fabio J. Guzmán Ariza, who is president of the firm Guzmán Ariza, representing the ADL and as president of the FGA, within the framework of the inter-institutional collaboration agreement, signed on April 4, 2013 by the Council of the Judiciary branch with the ADL and the FGA.
The purpose of the editorial project, which will be directed by Fabio Guzmán Ariza, is to contribute to improving the use of legal Spanish in the Dominican Judicial branch, offering judges and judicial personnel adequate tools to write clear, precise, concise, coherent legal and correct texts, so that they can be more understandable for the common citizen, who is the final recipient of the judicial service.
Both works will focus on the legal language in use in the Dominican Republic and will be published in digital format and for free distribution among the judicial community.
It is an effort that is in tune with the work that the Real Academia Española and the Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española have been carrying out in recent years, in collaboration with the General Council of the Judicial branch of Spain, with the publication of the Justice’s Style Book and the Dictionary of Legal Spanish.