Colombian government to officially apply 19% VAT to online gambling until 2026

The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia has published Decree N°0175, in which it made official the imposition of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for online games of chance, with the purpose of obtaining economic resources to face the humanitarian crisis faced by the Catatumbo region.

The decree, which went into effect on February 14 and will be in force until December 31, 2025, establishes that the games that operate exclusively through the Internet will have a 19% tax.

As explained, "the source of the sales tax - VAT for games of chance operated by Internet will be the money deposit, understood as the cash payment or the transfer of money or crypto-assets" made by each user to the online operator "to be credited to their user account and obtain the right to bet."

Based on this, it is defined that "the value available for betting shall be the difference between the cash deposit and the tax."

The Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies will issue the necessary regulations so that Coljuegos, the regulatory entity of games of chance in Colombia, may identify the channels, internet pages, and media that in any way serve for the operation, exploitation, sale, payment, advertising or commercialization of unauthorized games of chance.

María Juanita Villaveces

According to the Vice Minister of Finance, María Juanita Villaveces, this measure seeks to raise COP 1.06 billion ($252.3 million) to pay attention to societal issues. "The resources collected will be used solely and exclusively for the attention of the internal commotion," she said.

The decree also establishes a special export contribution from the crude oil and coal extraction sector of 1%, which would raise about COP 214 billion ($50.8 million); and a 1% stamp tax that would raise about COP 330 billion ($78.3 million).

At the end of January, the government headed by Gustavo Petro decreed a state of internal commotion in 16 municipalities of the department of Norte de Santander -including 11 in Catatumbo- due to the crisis unleashed by guerrilla clashes between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and a FARC dissidence.

Click here to access Decree N°0175 of the Colombian Ministry of Finance.