Extension and Establishment of Deadlines - Decree 401 of 2020

Through Decree 401 of March 13, 2020, the due dates not incorporated in Decree 2345 of 2019 (Decree of deadlines for compliance with tax obligations for the year 2020) are established on occasion of the amendments introduced by the Growth Law (Law 2010 of 2019), and the deadlines are extended for certain sectors of the economy that have been affected by the declaration of sanitary emergency generated by the coronavirus -COVID-19, communicated by the President of the Republic in recent days.  The Decree provides as follows:

1. Extension of deadlines for sectors affected by COVID-19:

Taxpayers of income tax and complementary income tax who carry out activities of: commercial air passenger transportation services, hotel services, theatrical services, live musical shows and other live show activities, the term for the payment of the second and third installment is extended until July 31 and August 31, 2020, respectively.

Regarding the Sales Tax for the second two-month period (March-April) and first four-month period (January-April), the payment date is extended until June 30, 2020.

This is due to the decrease in the number of passengers, tourists, and spectators.

2. Deadlines for payment of advance payment of surtax to financial institutions:

The deadlines for the payment in two installments of the advance payment of the surtax referred to in paragraph 7 of Article 240 of the Tax Statute for financial entities classified as large taxpayers are added. Thus, the due dates for such payment will be between April 14 and 27, 2020, in the case of the first installment and between June 9 and 24, 2020 for the payment of the second installment. 

For the case of financial entities that do not have the status of large taxpayer, the deadline is the one established in article 1.6.1.1.13.2.12 of Decree 1625 of 2016.

3. Deadlines for the filing and payment of income tax and complementary taxes by legal entities requesting tax works:

Taxpayers that as of March 31, 2020 have requested such affiliation will have until May 29, 2020 to file and pay the first installment. On this same date: i) the second installment of the income and complementary tax must be paid by the large taxpayers linked; and ii) the resources destined to the respective work or project must be consigned to the trust.

4. Obligation to declare assets abroad:

The obligation to file the declaration of assets abroad falls on those income taxpayers who have an asset value of more than 2,000 UVT ($ 71,214,000).

The deadline for filing assets abroad is September 25, 2020 for those taxpayers who file the tax normalization return and in the return omitted assets are normalized, unless the due date of such return is later, as is the case of some individuals.

5. Deadlines for payment of bimonthly advances of the Simple Taxation Regime -SIMPLE -

The deadlines for the payment of the bimonthly advances of the Simple Taxation Regime are established as follows: 

6. Filing and payment of wealth tax:

The deadlines for the payment of the first installment of the wealth tax are determined between May 12 and 26, 2020; and the filing of the tax return between September 28 and October 9, 2020, according to the last digit of the NIT.

These measures are not enough to mitigate the effects of the current crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only the financial, aviation and tourism sectors have been affected by this situation, but also the industrial and commerce sectors. The Taxpayer Ombudsman's Office, and many industrial and commerce sectors, have requested the postponement of the tax calendar as accountants need to protect themselves from the pandemic and cannot be exposed to it for complying with formal obligations of taxpayers. It is expected that, in the next few days, the national government will order the general postponement of the tax calendar for all taxpayers.

We will be informing of any measures adopted in this regard.