The tax that has been in force for 25 years is paid each time a financial transaction is made from a savings account, which is not exempt from the tax, or of a checking account that exceeds 14,844,000 per month.
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 for said difficulties.
It 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 Nation, when it carried out an operation from a account that it would not be exempt from the lien, but only two years laterthe tax was raised 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.
Smart saving, considering it as an essential expense, allows us to create an emergency fund, invest in future projects and guarantee our long-term financial stability.
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 x 1,000
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 first advice to avoid a blow for this tax is to be 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, 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; For example, low amount deposits have a debit card and some even offer profitabilityas is the case of the RappiCuenta, which has 7 percent annual cash.
In the low amount deposit you can enter or mobilize up to 8.9 million pesos per month, of which 2.7 million are exempt from the 4 x 1000.
In the case of a savings account, you can mark it as exempt from that tax. In this case, you do not pay unless you move more than 14.8 million per month.
The second piece of advice is that you should be aware of the transaction limits, that is, the amount of money that you can move using this product.
Pursuant to current regulations, low-amount deposits are capped at 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 in which the exempt limit is higher.
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.
The third key is to mark your savings account as exempt from 4 x 1,000 and for this you must contact your financial institution. Each user has the right to mark a savings account as exempt.
Once your account is marked as tax-free, you will be able to carry out transactions for up to 14,844,200 pesos per monthRegardless of the amount of each of your transactions, you will not have to pay this tax and you will be able to see your savings grow, as long as your account offers you a significant return.
According to Gabriel Migowski, CEO of RappiPay, profitability is the key to having more than 100,000 active users.
