INCOME AND OTHER TAXES

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2022

INCOME AND OTHER TAXES

10. INCOME AND OTHER TAXES

NOTE 10 – INCOME AND OTHER TAXES

Mexican Tax Assessment

In 2015, the Mexican tax authority (“SAT”) initiated an audit of the USAMSA’s 2013 income tax return. In October 2016, as a result of its audit, SAT assessed the Company $13.8 million pesos, which was approximately $666,400 in U.S. Dollars (“USD”) as of December 31, 2016. SAT’s assessment was based on the disallowance of specific costs that the Company deducted on the 2013 USAMSA income tax return. The assessment was settled in 2018 with no assessment against the Company.

In early 2019, the Company was notified that SAT re-opened its assessment of USAMSA’s 2013 income tax return and, in November 2019, SAT assessed the Company $16.3 million pesos, which was approximately $795,000 USD as of December 31, 2021.

Management reviewed the 2019 assessment notice from SAT and, similar to the earlier assessment, believes the findings have no merit. An appeal was filed by the Company in November 2019 suspending SAT from taking immediate action regarding the assessment. The Company posted a guarantee of the amount in March 2020 as is required under the appeal process. In August 2020, the Company filed a lawsuit against SAT for resolution of the process and, in December 2020, filed closing arguments.

During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Mexican court ruled against the Company in the above matter. The Company has appealed the ruling. As of September 30, 2022, the updated SAT assessment was approximately $21.3 million pesos, which was approximately $1.1 million USD for $285,000 of unpaid income taxes and $815,000 of interest and penalties.

As of September 30, 2022, management assessed the possible outcomes for this tax audit and believes, based on discussions with its tax attorney in Mexico, that the most likely outcome will be that the Company will be successful in its appeal resulting in no tax due. Management determined that no amount should be accrued at September 30, 2022 or December 31, 2021 relating to this potential tax liability. There can be no assurance that the Company’s ultimate liability, if any, will not have a material adverse effect on the Company’s results of operations or financial position.

If an issue addressed during the SAT audit is resolved in a manner inconsistent with management expectations, the Company will record changes to tax attributes, recognize penalties in general and administrative expense, interest will be recorded as interest expense and record the tax expense associated with the assessment.