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VAT considerations in Colombia
VAT (Value Added Tax) is a tax burden that applies to the sale of products or the provision of services within Colombian territory.
Some products and services are excluded from VAT and others have reduced rates. Currently, the general rate for this tax is 19%.
Taxes in online payments
To process VAT correctly, you can send the net amount (unit_price) and VAT (taxes) when creating the order through the Create orderAPI endpoint.
The
taxes.value parameter must be completed only with an integer numeric value. Never send the percent symbol or special characters.| Field | Type | Description | Remarks |
items | Array | List of products or services to charge | - |
items.title | String | Title of the product or service | - |
items.quantity | Integer | Number of units | - |
items.unit_price | String | Unit price of the product without VAT | - |
items.currency_id | String | Currency identifier (COP for Colombia) | - |
taxes | Array | List of applicable taxes | If no value is sent, a 19% reduction on the total transaction amount will be applied by default, corresponding to the general VAT. |
taxes.type | String | Tax type (IVA) | - |
taxes.value | Integer | Tax amount in absolute values | Must be an integer amount; do not use decimals or special characters. For VAT-exempt products, set it with a value of 0. |
The order
total_amount must include VAT. For example, if the product price is 10,000 COP and the VAT is 500 COP, the total_amount must be 10,500 COP.curl
curl -X POST \ -H 'accept: application/json' \ -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \ -H 'Authorization: Bearer ENV_ACCESS_TOKEN' \ -H 'X-Idempotency-Key: UNIQUE_KEY' \ 'https://api.mercadopago.com/v1/orders' \ -d '{ "type": "online", "processing_mode": "manual", "total_amount": "10500", "external_reference": "order_pro_123", "payer": { "email": "test_user_co@testuser.com" }, "items": [ { "title": "My product", "unit_price": "10000", "quantity": 1, "unit_measure": "unit", "total_amount": "10000", "currency_id": "COP" } ], "taxes": [ { "type": "IVA", "value": 500 } ] }'