Requirements and procedures for accessing the transitional reduction of penalties before the UGPP

By Resolution No. 885 of 2023, the Administrative Unit for Pension Management and Parafiscal Contributions of the Social Protection - UGPP - defined the requirements and procedures for contributors to access the benefit of the temporary reduction of penalties established in paragraph 1 of article 93 of Act 2277 of 2022 - "Tax Reform for Equality and Social Justice". In this newsletter we detail the most relevant aspects of the mentioned resolution.

Requirements applicable to administrative actions and collection processes

The contributors and/or administrators of the social protection system with administrative proceedings in progress, and the persons who have collection processes in progress or to whom they are initiated after December 13, 2022, may reduce by 80% the penalty proposed or determined in the administrative act, with its respective update, if they comply with the following requirements:

  1. For administrative actions, to have been notified before December 13, 2022, date of entry into force of Act 2277 of 2022, of the following administrative actions: (i) Requirement to declare and/or correct or its respective extension; (ii) Statement of Objections; (iii) Official Settlement; (iv) Sanction Resolution; or (v) Ruling that resolves the appeal for reconsideration.
  2. Submit a request for the benefit no later than June 30, 2023 to the Directorate of Parafiscales of the UGPP identifying the file number or the number of the coercive collection process.
  3. Proof of full payment of the administrative act, that is 100% of the contributions to the Social Protection System including interest on arrears and 20% of the updated penalty no later than June 30, 2023.

It must be taken into account that those who have been proposed or determined to have omitted the affiliation and/or linkage to the General Social Security Pension System must accredit the payment of the updated actuarial calculation.

Payment facilities in collection processes

In case the contributors do not have sufficient resources to pay the penalty and thus have access to the benefit of the reduced penalty, they can subscribe a payment facility, for which they must:

  • File the request until May 15, 2023 with the requirements and conditions established in Resolution 1250 of 2022. It is necessary to take into account that payment facilities may only be granted for obligations whose collection corresponds to the UGPP, and for penalties, interest on arrears and updates of less than 3,000 UVT (COP $127.236.000).
  • In case the requirements are not met, the Unit will grant a term of no more than 15 business days for the applicant to add, clarify, modify or complete its request.
  • Upon expiration of the term indicated above without the Unit having received a response, the interested party shall be deemed to have withdrawn the request for a payment facility. If, on the contrary, the payment facility will be subscribed no later than June 30, 2023.

Additional considerations

  • The payment of the obligations must be made through Form "O" in the case of payment of contributions and interest on arrears. As for the reduced penalties, these must be paid in the Public Treasury account through the electronic mechanisms provided by the UGPP.
  • For administrative proceedings in progress, the reduction of penalties will be applied with respect to the last administrative act notified as of the date of filing the application.
  • The reduction of penalties will be applied only with respect to payments made as of the date of publication of Act 2277 of 2022. Therefore, the judicial deposit titles constituted before this date in the collection processes may not be applied for the payment of the reduced penalty.
  • In those processes of determination in which the UGPP had denied tax benefits granted in Acts 1819 of 2016, 1943 of 2018, 2010 of 2019 and 2155 of 2021, the contributors may request the transitory reduction of sanctions indicated herein, as long as they make the payment of the contributions and interest on arrears left unpaid on the occasion of the denial of the previous benefit.
  • Those who have filed an action for annulment and reestablishment of rights against administrative or sanctioning acts or who have a process suspended due to such fact, may access the benefit as long as they comply with the provisions of Resolution No. 885 of 2023.
  • In the event of an excess payment of the penalties liquidated by the UGPP, the contributor may request a refund following the procedure established in Resolution 338 of 2006 issued by the Ministry of Treasury and Public Credit.

If you consider that you may be within these assumptions to access the benefit, do not hesitate to contact our labor team in order to advise you during the process.

Document

Boletin-Reducción-de-sanciones-UGPP-ING.pdf