Colombia to strengthen tax and customs management with IDB support

Colombia will receive a $250 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its tax and customs administration.

The program will promote the digital transformation of the country’s National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN, after its Spanish initials), strengthening its tax collecting and foreign trade facilitating role. To this end, it will focus on improving the institutional governance and technological management model.

The funds will finance the implementation of a new, integrated tax and customs management system based on microservices, using a hybrid multicloud service solution to boost its security and operational capabilities.

The program will also promote the adoption of new processes and innovative technologies to enhance tax and customs traceability and monitoring. Other initiatives that will be supported include developing a number of analytics tools to maximize the use of data generated by electronic invoicing and by tax and customs operations, and designing and implementing a cybersecurity strategy, which includes the establishment of a Security Operations Center.

Furthermore, the program will support DIAN’s efforts to adopt best international practices to provide the government with a modern tax and customs administration system based on timely and quality information. This includes actions to upgrade several tax and customs processes to help boost collection efficiency, strengthen risk management, and optimize taxpayer service quality. The program also seeks to improve the institutional and human resources governance model, focusing on transforming human talent, a key component of the program.

The IDB’s $250 million loan will take the form of a flexible financing facility and is for a 9-year term, with a 5.5-year grace period and an interest rate base on LIBOR.