COLOMBIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Rodrigo Castillo Cottin, Ana María López and Alejandra Becerra, Rimon, P.C.
The principle of fiscal legality enshrined in Articles 150, 338, and 215 of the Colombian Constitution establishes that taxes may only be created, modified, or eliminated by Congress. Widely known as “no taxa - tion without representation”, this is one of the most fundamental guarantees of the rule of law. States of exception allow the Executive to enforce taxes on a transitional basis, but such measures must strictly comply with Article 215. The Constitutional Court suspended the decree through Resolution 082 of 2026, and declared the decree unconstitutional in Ruling C-075 of 2026. First emergency: Decree 1390 of 2025 (declared unconstitutional) This decree declared a State of Economic and Social Emergency throughout the national territory for an ini - tial period of 30 days. The government issued imple - menting decrees, including Decree 1474 of 2025 and Decree 044 of 2026, both of which were declared unconstitutional as a consequence of the invalidity of the underlying emergency declaration. Unlike ordinary regulatory decrees, legislative decrees issued under a state of exception have the force of law and are hierarchically equivalent to statutes enacted by Congress; accordingly, they are subject to automatic constitutional review. The distinction is critical: when the court provisionally suspends the principal emergency decree, all implementing legisla - tive decrees lose their constitutional foundation and become unenforceable. Key tax measures in Decree 1474 of 2025 ( now unconstitutional ) • A 15-point surcharge on income tax for the finan - cial sector (increasing the effective rate from 40% to 50% for 2026), payable as a 100% advance on the prior year’s taxable base. • A temporary 1% tax on crude oil and coal extrac - tion for large companies. • Reduction of the wealth tax threshold from 72,000 to 40,000 Tax Units (from USD1.096 million to USD609,000) with progressive rates of up to 5%. • 19% VAT on online gaming, applied to cash depos - its made by each bettor.
• Substantial increases in alcohol and tobacco excise taxes. • A new tax normalisation programme: a 19% amnesty on undeclared assets or non-existent liabilities as of 1 January 2026. • A temporary relief regime for unpaid penalties and interest for taxpayers with outstanding debts as of 31 December 2025. Second emergency: Decree 150 of 2026 (partially confirmed) Just 13 days after the provisional suspension of Decree 1390 of 2025, the government declared a new State of Economic, Social, and Ecological Emergency, citing severe weather events that devastated eight Caribbean departments, affected 252,000 people, and generated an estimated recovery cost of COP8 trillion (approximately USD2.3 billion). Unlike the first state of emergency, which has since been declared unconstitutional, this declaration was grounded in an unforeseeable event. The execu - tive branch used this framework to issue a second wave of fiscal decrees, several of which reactivated measures previously suspended under the first state of emergency. The government issued implementing decrees, including Decree 173 of 2026 and Decree 0240 of 2026. Key tax measure in Decree 173 ( 24 February 2026 ) A wealth tax for legal entities with net worth exceed - ing 200,000 UVT (approximately USD3.04 million), at a general rate of 0.5% and 1.6% for the financial and extractive sectors. Key tax measures in Decree 0240 ( 12 March 2026 ) • A 16% national consumption tax on online gaming. • A complementary tax normalisation levy of 19% on undeclared assets or non-existent liabilities as of 1 April 2026. • Extension of the wealth tax to permanent estab - lishments and branches of foreign entities, with an accrual date of 31 March 2026. • A temporary reparation regime for unpaid penalties and interest. • Authorisation for the national tax and customs agency ( Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas
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