Tax reform only awaits the signing of Petro

On Wednesday it was the Senate of the Republic of Colombia, now the House of Representatives did it, both agreed to the conciliation text of the tax reform, with which the great project of the first 100 days of President Gustavo Petro is pending by only his own signature and thus become a new Law.

On the afternoon of this Thursday, the Minister of Finance, José Antonio Ocampo, celebrated that the Chamber finally approved with 122 votes in favor and 27 against, the final document.

In this way, from the first of January Colombia will have a new tax package, which according to the Government, is an article that will seek between 19 and 20 billion extra Colombian pesos for the Nation’s accounts (just over 4,000 million dollars), resources that will come from those who earn the most with the wealth tax, and especially from the companies, reinforcing the taxation of hydrocarbon companies.

Among the group of modifications that will be seen in 2023, one of the heaviest is in the oil companies. Taxes on hydrocarbons will be the main source of these resources, since they will contribute half of the tax. The non-deductibility of royalties from income tax was maintained, but with modifications in the valuation of royalties paid in kind by companies. The articles also define the formula that will be applied to the rent surtaxes that were adjusted only for the extraction of oil and gas and that will depend on international prices. These surtaxes will be 5% or 10% for the extraction of coal and 5%, 10% or 15% for oil.

The thresholds, both for coal and oil, will be defined according to the distribution of international prices, adjusted for United States inflation.

The average price of the last 20 years will no longer be counted as the tax base, but rather that of the last 10 years.