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Colombia: Half and half:
@Cafetero
How about " Half the people respect the Colombian laws, and half do not".
Nah, forget it; nobody would believe it.
Colombia: GNB Freezing Transfers due to Forumla 160:
Fraid so Guys, I did a thread about this subject in January 2016 but, such in the volume of input to this forum, trying to find it now is a major job.
The submission of Formulario 160 ("Declaracion de Activos en el Exterior") IS an OBLIGATION for residents for tax purposes in Colombia (The 182 day per year presence rule) in accordance with Article 42 de la Ley 1739 de 2014 and numeral 5 of Article 574 del Estatuto Tributario. I got caught by the law last year when it first arrived.
Banco GNB Sudameris strictly apply this law and refuse to liberate funds coming into Colombia from abroad until you can present them with a registered copy of this form. Is GNB the only bank to enforce this law....I do not know.....but it IS the law.
The most important thing to know is that completing and submitting this form to the DIAN does NOT DIRECTLY create any tax liability because the DIAN carefully explain the data is required for INFORMATION PURPOSES only. However, what the indirect consequences may be can be different as this data can obviously be checked to see if it is in conformity with the “Patrimony” and “Income (Renta”) details you include in your normal annual Colombian tax declaration.
Colombia: Permanent Dentures:
@amlee
Funnily enough I heard someone mentioning this procedure (a couple of implants to fix the denture, rather than a seperate implant for each tooth) a couple of days ago. Apparently, it is available, at least in Medellin.
If you are in a big city, try any of the major dental clinics and they should be able to advise you.
Colombia: Utility costs in Colombia:
I wonder if the following information may interest some of you as this forum receives frequent queries about the cost of living in Colombia.
The costs I have targeted are limited to standard utility services in Medellin, but they should be fairly representative for most of us and Colombia as a whole. These utilities comprise:
EPM SERVICES IN MEDELLIN:
Acueducto (Water), Alcantarillado (Sewerage), Energia (Electricity), Gas, & Otras (including waste disposal)
UNE SERVICES IN MEDELLIN:
Telephone, Internet & Cable TV.
Data on the cost of these services is easy for me as I have maintained them on computerized budget schedule since I arrived here in Medellin 14 years ago. Here is a summary of what I have found:
My latest EPM & UNE invoices (32 dias, 21 enero al 21 feb) amount @ COP 743,853, including “contribuciones” of COP 123,167 and IVA (VAT) of COP 39,381. Thus a total tax burden of COP 162,548 - the equivalent of a rate of 28% on the pretax unit costs.
For comparative purposes, my identical invoices in June 2003 amounted to COP 372,841. On this basis, there has been a 99.5% overall increase over these 14 years which is very respectable when compared with the Colombian Consumer Price ratios. However, when analyzed further it is evident the great majority of these increases stems from the Electricity and Gas sectors and with the Phone and internet services posting very modest cost increases.
It should be noted my utility costs are constructed on Estrato 6 rates, the highest in Medellin which carry a “Contribucion” cost towards a subvention of the utility costs of persons living in Estrato 1 to 3 areas. This is effectively a (sur)tax that could otherwise be incorporated in other national taxes.
If anyone has any comments or queries on these figures, I will be happy to try to satisfy them.
Colombia: TAX OR NO TAX?:
Some members are quick to criticize anyone who cautions about the need to take expat taxation in Colombia seriously. Perhaps the following article in today's El Colombiano (page 19) may lead them to review their "no need to worry" mentality:
"EE.UU. sera aliado de la DIAN para atrapar a evasores fiscales".
Amongst the items of interest are the following:
"En el contexto de dicho acuerdo, las instituciones financieras de los EE. UU. deberan idetificar los activos financieros de propiedad de RESIDENTES FISCALES COLOMBIANOS y los rendimientos financieros asociados a dichos activos".
"El primer paquete de informacion que enviara la entidad estadounidense a la Dian contiene reportes para 2014 y 2015"
"13% es la tarifa vigente este ano para quienes han omitido declarar activos en el exterior"".
What is not evident to my eyes is whether, or not, "residentes fiscales colombianos" is limited the Colombian nationals, or if it includes foreigners with a tax status in Colombia?
Colombia: WHERE IS OUR LOST MAIL?:
I hoped things would get better, but no such luck. Once again my mail from Europe has failed to arrive.
Our two European credit cards expired in November 2016 and I emailed my bank to see what had happened. Response: "We sent them on October 4th and we will cancel them and send you replacements by DHL."
Ok, problem solved,,,,,but wait a minute, not really, this has been going on for several years now.
A couple of years ago we had a similar thread on this forum which revealed it was a common problem experienced whenever mail was NOT sent by special courier services, DHL, Fedex, etc. In fact, the conclusion at that time was there must be massive corruption involved in this service, or a massive mountain of "lost" post sitting somehere.
So nothing new; just a reminder to newbies to use DHL, or Fedex if your postal contents are urgent, or valuable.
United States: Visas for vits to EU:
Does anyone have any firm news about the need for visas for US Citizens travelling to Europe?
I have friends and family from the USA in the course of making travel arrangements to Europe in September who are worried about the threats to require visit visas. Before they reserve expensive air fares and hotel reservations they would like to know if they will be allowed in!!
Any ideas anyone?
Colombia: What you like and don't like in Medellin:
@cccmedia of 22/02/2017
You stated earlier that you did not find pollution noticeable in Medellin, except perhaps for the Centro. I am afraid I disagree with you and today's El Colombiano (page 11) seems to back me up.
In fact, I think you are way out and that Medellin DOES now present a SERIOUS respiratory danger to its public, especially the elderly and those with already existing respiratory problems.
The El Colombiano publishes a daily statistical record of pollution levels from eight localities throughout the city. More than half of these stations record dangerous levels almost daily.
If you can see the upper slopes from lower levels in the city, take a good look at what you can see. I bet you, the chances are you will NOT be able to distinguish any fine detail because of the pollution haze.
I speak to many people in the medical and hospital fields and they are all unanimous.....the pollution situation has become dangerous and the results are there in what they see on a daily basis.
Colombia: Photos:
@surreypro,
Exchanging photos on this forum, are you out of your mind?
A photo of Bigjailorman would make the children run miles.
Colombia: Colombia's downturn?:
@meincolombia
Good point about the volatility of the US$/COP exchange rate. Yes, today's rate (2890) looks good against the sub 2000 rates one can discover if you examine the longer timeframes, but I personally regret the 3,450 rates we were obtaining in Feb 2016. Then I was positively enjoying bringing my foreign currencies into Colombia, but not so much nowadays.
And what for the future? The last few days has seen a steady decline in the US$ as our "financial experts" begin to query if Trump is a saviour, or not. The bets on three increases in the Fed rates during 2017 were partially built into the dollar's strength during the Trump honeymoon, but we all know how long honeymoons last?
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