New tax on Internet purchases is expected

September 13, 2021

On September 9 of this year, the “Pulzo” website published the blow that the new tax on internet purchases would bring to Colombians. 

1. Tax reform bill

There is a proposal in the tax reform bill being approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate this week. The text in question establishes a VAT collection on Internet purchases coming from abroad, amounting to less than 200 dollars (about 765,000 Colombian pesos).

The purpose of the collection is to make imports pay the sales tax and achieve a collection for the Colombian State of 1.5 billion pesos by 2023.

2. Possibility of generating a negative impact

In this regard, it has been commented that several companies and entities have warned about the negative impact the approval of such initiative could have on digital purchases and e-commerce. In addition, it does not consider the growth of this sector, one of those that benefited the most during the pandemic period.

3. Competitors

For its part, the CCConfección (Cámara Colombiana de Confecciones y Afines – Colombian Chamber of Apparel and Related Industries (CCConfección) branded a few days ago platforms such as Amazon for having an advantage over local competitors. It pointed out: “There is practically unfair competition, since platforms such as Amazon, Alibaba, eBay, among others, pay neither tariffs nor VAT in the national territory and national companies do”.

Source: Pulzo 10/09/21