The government’s tax reform is only pending the sanction of the president, Gustavo Petro. With the update made this week by the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (Dian) for 2023 of the Tax Value Unit (UVT), with which various taxes are determined, taxpayers and companies can now calculate taxes for next year.
(Tax: a new project would be presented in the first half of 2023).
The Dian confirmed that for 2023, the unit of tax measurement was fixed at $42,412, while in 2022 it is at $38,004, an increase of 11.60%.
“In reality, what the UVTs do is that they adjust the rules that index their application based on the UVT and in reality what it is capturing is the inflation that is being seen in the country, the increase is nothing else,” he also indicated. Juan David Velasco, Partner of Transactional Taxes at Baker McKenzie.
One of the taxes that was determined in the reform under this criterion was, for example, wealth tax, which establishes that from 72,000 UVT ($3,053 million in 2023) a rate of 0.5% applies, between 122,000 ($5,174 million) and 239,000 UVT ($10,136 million) the rate will be located at 1%, and from 239,000 UVT there will be a rate of 1.5% for five years.
(‘Tips’ to make purchases safe and agile during Black Friday).
“Having established the value of the UVT applicable for the year 2023, various criteria introduced by the tax reform can be accurately determined. Such is the case of the wealth tax, and with this figure it can be established that liquid assets from $3,053 million will be those who are covered by this tax”, explained Ángela González, associate partner of Taxes at EY Colombia.
The expert also indicated that, on the other hand, the relief that the reform introduces so that workers can reduce their tax base for having up to four dependents will be limited to $3 million ($3,054,000) for each dependent and the new Relief for natural persons to reduce their tax based on the purchases they make supported by electronic invoices will go up to $10 million ($10,179,000).
Another tax to take into account according to the UVT are the rate for dividends, which will be 15% for resident natural persons and 20% for non-residents, which applies from 1,090 UVT onwards, that is, from $46,229 million.
The UVT is also used to determine the thresholds in the obligation to declare income tax. Those firms that, for example, will be subject to surcharges must take into account that if they are from the financial sector, they apply the additional 5 percentage points (40%) if they have a taxable income equal to or greater than 120,000 UVT, which translates into $5,089. million for next year.
This same situation occurs with companies in the hydrocarbons and coal extraction sector, for which a surtax subject to international oil and coal prices will apply, which will go up to 15% in the case of the former, and up to 10% in relation to the coal industry.
In these firms, the surcharge may be applied to all legal entities that have a taxable income equal to or greater than 50,000 UVT, which by 2023 is equivalent to $2,120 million.
Other of the taxes that sounded the most during the transit of the tributary through Congress were those applicable to the industry of sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods.
In both cases companies with gross income of less than 10,000 UVT, or $424 million, will be exemptthat is, especially small businesses.
Another threshold will be the tax on digital services, which will establish from 2024 a rate of 3% on the entire gross income, when they are companies with a significant presence in Colombia.
For the determination of that figure under which the reform to tax these services is protected, the companies that have registered gross income of 31,300 UVT in the year will be considered, the same as $1,327 million.
Other uses that UVT have for Dian
Since the UVT are reference measures that are used to set thresholds, quantify fine limits or determine their amount in other cases, not only taxes will see changes in their reference values.
“For example, the thresholds will rise to have the obligation to declare income tax.
Or also sanctions, such as for errors, inconsistencies or delays in the delivery of exogenous information, behaviors whose maximum sanction is ‘capped’ in UVT. Or certain penalties whose value is expressed in UVT.
In these cases, the value of the sanctions will grow”, explained Carlos Miguel Chaparro, partner of Tax and Legal Services of PwC Colombia.
The expert also pointed out that, hand in hand with inflation, an effect will be appreciated in collection, since the increase in the price of goods or services also impacts the base for calculating taxes such as VAT or consumption.
Laura Lucia Becerra Elejalde
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