DIAN REVENUE RULING
Late filing penalty applicable to the Foreign Assets Information Return
The applicable penalty is the one that was in force when the infraction was committed
Through its Revenue Ruling No. 20876 of August 4th 2017, the Colombian Tax Authority –DIAN- referred to the settlement of the late filing penalty applicable to the Foreign Assets Information return (Form No. 160) for taxable year 2015. The petitioner requested DIAN to determine if the penalty should be applied only after the issuance of Law 1819 of 2016, as there was no applicable penalty before Law 1819.
Before to the enactment of Law 1819 of 2016, Section 651 of the Tax Code contained a penalty for not submitting information, for cases in which the taxpayer did not filed the information requested by the Tax Authority. However, with the coming into force of Law 1819 of 2016, a specific penalty was introduced for the late filing of the Foreign Assets Information Return, in paragraph 1 of section 641 of the Tax Code.
According to DIAN, the penalty must be determined according to the current provision applicable at the moment of the calculation of the late filing penalty, this is, paragraph 1 of article 641 of the Tax Code. Additionally, it must be computed since the due date of the return.