After President Gustavo Petro announced his departure from the Dian leadership, Jairo Orlando Villabona took stock of the little more than six months of work in this entity and assured that although he managed to level the ship to a large extent, It was not an easy task to deal with the collection overestimations that were made beginning in 2024.
He also assured that the money for this year will be enough if prudent public spending is carried out, warning that the mistakes of the past cannot be repeated and that the modernization of the tax authority was in progress and financed.
For reading: Conclusions of the Petro government conclave: they launch a new roadmap for the State
Is there a collection balance for 2024?
The balance left by the tax collection as of December of last year, compared to what was predicted, therefore, it did not reach the goal, it did not meet the goal. However, in the year there were two goals, the first of $312 billion and the second of $279.4 billion.
When I just entered Dian, the second goal was established, that is, I arrived and they were establishing it.
What was the percentage of compliance?
95.6%, taking into account that of the $279.4 billion of the adjusted mint, we achieved $267.2 billion.
Jairo Villabona, director of the Dian
Courtesy – Dian
That drags the same thing, drags what comes from behind, drags the measures that were taken, let’s say it is an inertia of what is coming. The change in collection occurs when you make substantive changes, or introduce new rules, or really make substantive changes.
What influenced these results?
When you make a budget, you have to do it conservatively, that is one of the principles of finance, a budget must be conservative. Perhaps many expectations were generated in the collection.
For example, the litigation, which was not certain, was included in the budget and was $10 billion. The royalties, the non-reportability of the royalties, that the Constitutional Court struck them down and that made them an additional $6 billion, that’s 16 billion.
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Later, around April or May, I was not here yet, a Dian management goal had been set for $13.4 billion, which was later lowered to $3.4 billion and then $10 billion was lowered at once, because It was seen that it was definitely not going to be achieved.
And the advances?
That is a very important aspect that the impact was not contemplated or could have been contemplated, but not enough, and that is that the advance payments for the year 2023 in rent were very high, because the year 2022 was very good in the economy, which made that the taxation in 2023 was very good, and in addition to the advance payment, since the collection was very high.
What were the achievements of the DIAN in 2024?
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That is why when you see the 2023 collection, it is really out of the context of all the years, that is, the trend there breaks it. What happened to that? That then in 2024, a large part of the collection had already been made in 2023, because it had been made with the advances. The point is that this is by law and could not be changed.
Did the slowdown hit?
That is true, the year 2023 was a very bad year in the economy and also in 2024 there were problems with the industry sector, which is very important for VAT collection, as well as in the commerce sector, which is fundamental. also.
They were sectors that did not move, they did not grow as much as they should have grown to boost tax collection. Then, sectors such as agriculture, public administration, and tourism grew, which are not as intensive, for example, in VAT and that meant that it was not what was expected either.
Is it leaving due to lack of management?
Well, the collection was not met due to the high expectations that were made, as I explained before. The problem was in the estimates that were made of the collection, in the litigation, in the royalties, in the management that was oversized. of the Dian or in the problem of advances.
Also read: Real industrial production registered a decrease of 0.8% in November 2024
From the beginning, adequate estimates were not made. Based on this, we proposed many initiatives to increase the collection, taking into account that the collection that I receive is a consequence of what came previously. But it also depends on the changes that are made.
Because?
Today the system is exhausted. The Colombian tax system is really exhausted. In other words, with the laws that exist it will be very difficult and these periodic reforms will have to be made to obtain the cash. That is why we have to go further and, for example, in customs we are going to implement bodycams.
Electronic Billing Monitoring – Dian.
Courtesy – API
We were also making an elite team to reach the ports and replace the 15 or 20 day operation in the ports and we are going to reach each port due to those problems that we had regarding structures that were discussed in the entity. We were making these modernizations in the technological part and proposing rewards for those who report evasion.
What are you aiming for in 2025?
We have projected a gross collection of $292 billion by 2025. At that point we believe that the Government must also be conservative in the budget it makes for its programs, because otherwise what happened in 2024 could happen, which is an overestimation of income.
With that money all expenses will be financed, the education and health programs, and if I am not very conservative, then I am going to overestimate those expenses as well and then I will have to make the cuts that have been made. You have to be conservative from the beginning.
What will it depend on for this to be fulfilled?
There are some factors that are positive, such as the industry is recovering and has already begun to grow, commerce is also growing more, so these are aspects that will help collection, which are the sectors that generate the most VAT.
Also electronic billing, which is a very important aspect for the control of collection and will also help it increase, through more effective control.
Where should his successor start?
The first thing I would do is an analysis of the tax benefits. I would also request stronger laws in the tax reform to punish tax evasion. The laws in Colombia to punish tax evasion are very lax and many people take the risk because they know that in the end it will be very difficult for them to go to jail for evading taxes.
In countries that have progressive systems, evading taxes is very serious and people go to jail. In Colombia, evasion amounts to more than $100 billion pesos a year. That is, if you control 20% of the evasion, you do not have to carry out tax reform.
