Originally Posted by
coolcoil
You can get a refund of the IVA for hotel services, but you have to pay it first at the hotel and then apply for the refund at the first airport on your trip leaving Colombia. For example, if you are flying MDE-BOG-home you should apply at MDE and not wait until you get to BOG.
Search
Colombia VAT IVA hotel refund on the web and you will see plenty of articles about it. A lot of the articles don't mention that you can be refunded for hotels. That was a new law in 2016 and a lot of writers seem to have missed it. Here is one article that discusses it:
https://thecitypaperbogota.com/busin...e-tricky/12703
Here are a couple of good articles on the refund process, though the one from Medellin Guru uses the old list of refundable items that is still on the Colombian Tax Department's website:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi...epartment.html
https://medellinguru.com/iva-tax/
Thank you very much for your informed reply.
I'll probably not bother with the VAT-refund process.
In BOG , I'm staying 4 nights with SPG points so no tax. In CTG , out of 6 nights , 3 will be with IHG points and only 3 are on paid stay ,so the VAT will not become a
big deal.
Now , on another matter.
I have read the above link (thecitypaperbogota),about Colombia wanting to encourage tourism.Well, in my opinion , the major thing they should do is to eliminate the
Reciprocity fee.Do they think that CANADA cares whether I travel to Colombia or not .
I was surprised by the fee 2 years ago and had to pay $140 for me and my wife.( it is my fault that I didn't know about the fee ). Anyway , now I will travel to COLOMBIA
with a foreign Passport ,not a Canadian , and will need to pay the fee only for my wife.
This certainly doesn't encourage tourism as it only punishes Canadian citizens and not the Canadian government.( the same applies to Argentina and Chile )
O.K. , enough with my rants.
Thanks again for the info.
Michael