Colombia refunds the sales tax (IVA) paid by non-resident visitors on goods they take out of the country. Jewelry qualifies. The mechanism is run by DIAN, the national tax and customs authority, and it is claimed on your way out, not in the store.
Who qualifies
Foreign visitors who are not residents in Colombia, identified by passport or Andean Migration Card, who take the goods with them when they leave. Colombian residents do not qualify.
What you need from the store
A valid electronic invoice issued in your name, meeting DIAN’s requirements. This is the step that fails most often. An informal receipt, a handwritten note or an invoice made out to somebody else will not be accepted later, and there is no fixing it from the airport.
Ask for the electronic invoice at the moment of purchase, and check that your name and passport number are on it.
Where and how to claim
The claim is filed at enabled ports, airports and land border crossings on your way out of the country, using DIAN’s form 2737. You must be able to present the goods and the invoices. Allow extra time at the airport: this is not a two-minute formality.
The limits
- There is a minimum per invoice — small purchases do not qualify.
- There is a maximum refundable amount per request, expressed in UVT, the tax unit Colombia revalues each year. On a high-value piece the refund is capped well below the full tax paid.
- Financial and processing costs are deducted from what you receive.
Because the cap and the minimum are set in UVT and change annually, ask us for the current figures on the day you buy rather than relying on a number you read months earlier.
The honest advice
Treat the refund as a bonus, not as part of your budget. It arrives weeks later, it is capped, and it depends on paperwork completed correctly at three separate moments. What it should never do is decide where you buy: a store that issues a proper electronic invoice as a matter of course is telling you something about how it operates.
Would you rather settle it in person, with the stones in front of you? We are in the Edificio Pombo, open every day from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
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