Perhaps you don’t know it or don’t remember it, but that tax that you pay every time you make a financial transaction from your savings account, that is not exempt from this tax, or from the current account and that exceeds 14’844. 000 monthly this 2023, in force for 25 years. Its origin dates back to the late 1990s, when the government at the time, in the midst of an acute financial and economic crisis, implemented it, precisely, to raise resources to face these difficulties.
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The tax began with only 2 pesos for every 1,000 (2 X 1,000) of the transaction (withdrawal, payment, transfer) that the financial entity ‘withheld’ from people, to later transfer them to the Nationwhen it carried out an operation from an account that was not exempt from the tax, but only two years later, the tax rose to 4 pesos for every 1,000 of the transaction carried out (4 X 1,000).
Even though paying taxes is an obligation of every citizen, in times of economic difficulties it is always good to look for alternatives that allow you to save a few pesos by making the management of household resources more efficient.
According to personal finance experts from the Rappi platform, through a few simple steps you can identify which financial product is marked as exempt from 4×1,000
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In many cases users do not know if the financial product in which they have their money is a savings account or a small deposit.
1. Savings account or small deposit?
The first piece of advice is to get well informed about your financial products. According to the state program Banca de las Oportunidades, currently 34.2 million Colombians have at least one financial product, which is equivalent to 91.8 percent of the population. Among financial products, deposits are the most used by Colombians: 90.6 percent have at least one.
However, in many cases users do not know if the financial product in which they have their money is a savings account or a small deposit. The differences between the two are less and less, currently, for example, low amount deposits have a debit card and some even offer profitability, as is the case of the RappiCuenta that pays 7% annual cash.
Remember that in the low amount deposit you can enter/move up to 8.9 million pesos per month, of which 2.7 million are exempt from the 4 x 1000. In the savings account you can mark an account as exempt from that tax . In this case, you do not pay unless you move more than 14.8 million per month.
2. Pay attention to the limits of your account or deposit
Once you are clear about whether you have your funds in a savings account or in a small deposit, it is key to find out about your transaction limits, that is, the amount of money you can move using this product. Pursuant to current regulations, low-amount deposits have transaction limits of eight minimum wages per month.
But if you need to move more than that amount of money per month, it is best to open a savings account where the exempt limit is higher. “Taking this factor into account, in the case of the RappiCuenta we created the possibility that people could switch from a low amount deposit to a savings account from the same app,” says Gabriel Migowski, CEO of RappiPay.
Now, if you definitely do not need to move more than 8.9 million pesos, the key to not paying more than 4 x 1000 is in another cap: per month, you can move up to 65 UVT -Tax Value Unit-, that is, 2′ 756,780 pesos, without having to pay this tax. If you exceed this amount, you will have to pay it.
3. Mark your savings account as exempt from 4 x1,000
If you have your savings in a savings account, what you should do is contact your financial institution and ask them to mark your account as exempt from 4 x 1000. Each user has the right to mark a savings account as exempt.
Once your account is marked as exempt from the tax, you will be able to carry out transactions for up to 14,844,200 pesos per month, regardless of the amount of each of your transactions, you won’t have to pay this tax and you can watch your savings grow – as long as your account offers you a significant return.
“Profitability has been a key issue for us and, thanks to this, a little over a month after presenting the new RappiCuenta, the balance is positive. More than 100,000 users have opened the new account and have benefited from a 7 percent return, says Gabriel Migowski.
