The value-added tax (VAT) is the main indirect tax. This rose to 19 percent in 2017;[2] up to the end of 2016 the tax was 16 percent of the price of merchandise, goods and services with some exceptions: public transportation, water supply and sanitation and the transportation of natural gas and hydrocarbons. The DIAN recognizes two separate categories (regimenes) of VAT: common and simplified. The first refers to businesses with estimated patrimony over 68 million Colombian pesos (about 34,000 USD), and the second refers to those with patrimony less than that. Although both are obligated to pay the same percentage, the simplified taxpayers are not obligated to conduct separate bookkeeping for the VAT or to generate invoices.
A 0.4% tax rate is imposed on all financial transactions, including withdraw money from ATM, promissory notes, wire transfers, internet banking, bank drafts and bank checks, money on term deposit, overdrafts, installment loans, securities underwriting commitments and other forms of off-balance sheet exposures, safekeeping of documents and other items in safe deposit boxes, currency exchange or unit trusts.
Patrimony tax
This tax requires the annual payment of 1% of the total patrimony of people with patrimony estimated over 5 thousand million pesos (about 1,4 million USD as of February 2021).
Corporations: Income tax (Spanish: Impuesto a la renta y complementarios) must be paid by all local and foreign corporations operating in Colombia, who are subject to a corporate tax of 30%.[3]
Individuals: Colombian citizens and foreign nationals who have lived in Colombia for more than 183 days total in any 365 day period not necessarily a calendar year, are considered to be tax residents (residentes fiscales) and are thereafter subject to individual Income tax based on a system of graduated marginal tax rates.
The table below shows the tax rate in units of UVT (Unidad de Valor Tributario), in which 1 UVT = $33,156 COP for 2018.[4] See UVT.
UVT (Unidad de Valor Tributario) means Tax Value Unit. Instead of setting a range in Colombian pesos, DIAN has the UVT value which represents a variable amount of pesos, and is updated at least every year. The next table shows the variation of this index in Colombia per year.