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CARACAS: Venezuela's tax authority, citing alleged irregularities, has ordered the temporary closure of the local offices of US-based computer groups IBM and Microsoft and those of several other multinationals.
Mobile telephone manufacturers Nokia, Ericsson and Siemens, as Well as car parts maker Bosch Rexroth and assembler Honda Motor, were also told by the government of President Hugo Chavez to close for 24-48 hours.
Venezuela's tax collection agency, the Seniat, said the companies would be fined several hundred dollars for alleged irregularities in book-keeping.
The move is part of a "zero tax evasion" policy being pursued with military attention to detail by Mr Chavez. It contrasts with expropriation taking place in the agricultural sector. Mr Chavez has set as one of his government's aims the reversal of a historic and widespread culture of non-payment of taxes in oil-rich Venezuela.
Like many of the top officials in the Chavez administration, the Seniat tax agency's chief inspector is a former army captain seen as close to the president. He is feared by some and admired by others for his efficiency and zeal.
Microsoft's alleged tax misdemeanour, according to a lawyer familiar with the company, was to have incorrectly filled one of the boxes on a value added tax form.
IBM and Microsoft's local offices declined to comment on the tax allegations.
Antonio Herrera, the general manager of the US-Venezuelan chamber of commerce, said the temporary closure notices served to IBM and other multinationals aimed to convey the idea that no one was untouchable.
"The Seniat has been striving with differing degrees of precision to establish a tax-paying culture in Venezuela, and one of the ways tax authorities establish their authority is by instilling the fear of God into taxpayers," said Mr Herrera.
Companies, both foreign and domestic, operating in Venezuela have formerly attempted to resolve the presentation of an irritating tax bill with a telephone call to a tax inspector and the offer of some kind of "favour".
Other foreign companies are also facing a tougher bureaucratic and policy environment in Venezuela. Several oil multinationals have recently been asked to pay up hundreds of millions of dollars in supposed back taxes.
Some in the oil industry believe that the zero-tolerance tax policy is being used by the government to negotiate higher royalty rates and, in some cases, to convert existing operating contracts into state-majority joint ventures. In recent weeks Mr Chavez has stepped up a land redistribution programme, including the expropriation of large rural estates and some assets belonging to agri-businesses.
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