Personal income tax: Changes according to the national development plan

With the entry into force of the National Development Plan 2018 – 2022 contained in Law 1955 of May 25, 2019, some of the rules of the Tax Statute related to the income tax for natural persons were modified, whose changes will be in force as from the taxable year 2019.

Next, we will provide an answer to the following question:What changes did the National Development Plan 2018 – 2022 introduce regarding the filing of income tax for individuals?

With the approval of the National Development Plan 2018 – 2020 contained in Law 1955 of May 25, 2019, certain modifications were made in terms of the rules of the Tax Statute -ET- that regulate the income tax of natural persons, as is the case of the clarification made through article 64 of the law in mention to the text of article 235-2 of the ET (initially modified by article 79 of Law 1943 of 2018), specifying that the exempt income of natural persons as from the taxable year 2019 comprises those indicated in articles 126-1, 126-4, 206 and 206-1 of the ET, and those recognized in international agreements as from January 1, 2019.

Thus, the law states that voluntary contributions to voluntary pension funds and savings accounts for the promotion of construction -AFC- may continue to be subtracted as exempt income in the income tax return of individuals.

Likewise, it is worth mentioning other modifications regarding income tax, among which are the following:

– Article 168ofLaw 1955 of 2019 added Article 256-1 to the ET, creating a new income tax discount for micro, small and medium-sized companies that make investments in science and technology.

– Article 170ofthe same law modified the instructions of Article 158-1 of the ET in relation to the deduction for donations and investments in research, technological development and innovation.

–Article174 of Law 1955 of 2019 amended Article 11 of Law 1715 of 2014, regarding incentives for the generation of electric energy with non-conventional sources.

– Article 190 oftheaforementioned law added Article 257-1 to the ET, with which an income tax discount is granted to those who make donations to Coldeportes, for such entity to grant sports scholarship programs.

Source: Actualícese