According to Tovar, using bitcoin for remittances could make Colombians save at least $200 million.
The retroactive sanctions that the new regulations imply to declare bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Colombia will push investors to withdraw from the country.
This idea got revealed by Mauricio Tovar, co-founder of Tropycus Finance, during his speech at a panel organized by a Colombian media outlet.
Tovar, a prominent participant in the Colombian bitcoin and cryptocurrency community, referred to recent statements by Lisandro Junco Riviera, director of the Colombian tax collection office.
Junco Riveira highlighted that the income from saving in cryptocurrencies must be a patrimonial omission. Riveira explained that the correction charge must get paid each year. The alleged charges could move between 10% of the debt to 100% of the assets.
Many people Wants to Declare Taxes
According to Mauricio Tovar, a regulation recently published should not have retroactive sanctions for income tax returns not made in years before its launch. He said many people want to declare taxes, but it seems authoritarian that a guide gets issued one week and people want it to get sanctioned six years ago.
Tovar believes these sanctions would make Colombian investors with significant capital in cryptocurrencies move away from the country. This situation is particularly concerning because these investors would take their investments and move them to nations with more favorable regulations.
In this sense, he said that the sanctions did not consider common sense, or game theory, since regions like El Salvador opened the doors to investments in bitcoin with zero taxes.
The representative called on Colombian regulators to push fair tax payments based on incentives. Tovar referred to those responsible for tax policies in Colombia by saying that people always respond when they receive incentives. He suggested creating the right incentives for this kind of thing to happen.
Cryptocurrency Remittances can Save Colombians Millions
Another of the topics debated in the panel broadcast by entering.co was the remittances with cryptocurrencies. According to Hernando Barreto, Co-founder of the Center for the Development of the Digital Economy CDED, Colombia receives USD 8.5 billion a year in remittances, equivalent to 3% of Colombian GDP.
However, the transfers happen through financial intermediaries like Western Union, which could charge fees between 2% and 7%. Jorge Cortes, co-founder of BitBasel, also a participant on the panel, explained that these companies gave birth to a harmful and toxic system.
According to him, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin show more efficiency regarding payments due to their immediacy, minimum cost, and transparency.
For his part, Mauricio Tovar stated that the use of bitcoin to send remittances would represent considerable savings for Colombians. He pointed out that, last year, remittances to Colombia got estimated at USD 10.6 billion; it means that, with a 3% fee, intermediaries obtained more than USD 300 million.
According to Tovar, using cryptocurrencies, even if the fees do not reach zero, would help Colombians save almost all of that amount.
By: Jenson Nuñez
