Current legislation in tax matters of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in Colombia and the need for a pronouncement by the legislator

Abstract

Trade through technology, more precisely the internet, is an activity that has been showing an exponential growth during the last years, which is completely different to the traditional trade, since physical contact is not needed, nor is there a problem by geographical location. At the international level, the states whose economy shows signs of development, a regulation has been presented to this phenomenon, not only at the level of the buyer / seller relationship, but also in the fiscal scope of these transactions. Currently, our country has legislation that regulates the transactions carried out by this means, but is the structure of this legislation really adapted to the nature of this phenomenon? Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the existing regulation in Colombia, not only in the commercial sphere, but in essence to identify the fiscal treatment given to these operations. Deepening the Colombian legislation, despite having an effective control of the transactions made through electronic commerce, its tax treatment lacks a special statute, therefore its treatment is equal to that of traditional commerce, a situation that is contrary to the laws in countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom where it is fully identified that this type of transactions are different from those of traditional commerce, therefore, taking into account the economic evolution that the country has been presenting, a pronouncement by the legislator is necessary in order to set clear differences, in fiscal aspects, between this type of transactions to those of traditional commerce.