Reimbursement of the Columbian Betterment Tax: That’s how it works...

Everyone who buys Columbian goods in the country has to pay the respective value added tax rate of 16%. However, if you are a tourist you have the chance to get a refund afterwards.

This refund of the betterment tax can be requested in the office of the revenue department (DIAN – Direccion de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales) in the departure hall of the airport in Bogotá. The goods that can be refunded are, among others, leather and textile fabrics, emeralds, perfumes, and handcrafts. For the request, it is only necessary to show the passport (with the stamp of ‘tourism’ as the reason for the journey), the flight ticket for the flight back, the original bill with a continuous invoice number, the yellow copy of the credit card receipt (note: there is no refund possible for goods paid for with cash), and the bought goods. From a purchase value of less than 1.3 Mio. Pesos (450 € at the moment) nothing is reimbursed. After having filled in a detailed form sheet, the reimbursement of the respective value is visible on the account of the credit card which was used to buy the goods.

Another important aspect is the following: We get special prices for tourists from our hotels (without value added tax). Upon arrival, if the purpose of the journey has been declared wrongly as ‘business trip’, it can happen that hotels may charge us the reimbursement tax afterwards.