The national government expects that the Constitutional Court will allow companies and workers to make the deferred payment of pension contributions that must be returned to the general pension system after the decrease in contributions in the months of April and May was declared unenforceable.
The Court declared Decree 558 of 2020 unconstitutional, which gave public and private sector employers and independent workers the opportunity to voluntarily reduce their contribution to the General Pension System from 16% to 3%, during the contribution periods of April and May. , whose payments were made in May and June 2020.
The Deputy Minister of Finance, Juan Alberto Londoño, said that although the Government is respectful and respects the ruling of the Constitutional Court, he hopes that when the ruling is known, there will be an opportunity for the payment to be deferred so that the companies can have a box relief and are unaffected.
In the two months that the measure was in force, the value of the percentage that was not paid was about $ 3 billion by members of the four pension fund administrators (Colfondos, Porvenir, Protección and Skandia) and Colpensiones.
If there is no pronouncement that allows deferred payment, companies and workers must make the refund on their next contribution payment. These resources must be paid because the Court’s decision has retroactive effect.
The reduction of contribution was a measure of the national government with the objective of giving relief to the pockets of employers, workers and self-employed, in the framework of the Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency that was declared in the country to face the COVID pandemic – 19.
For his part, Jorge Llano, technical vice president of Asofondos, said that it is important to know the entire ruling of the Constitutional Court to determine who should make the retroactive payment and how they should do it.
“We celebrate that the decision has been made for the future well-being of Colombian workers,” he said.
The Court’s decision also includes the transfer to Colpensiones of contributors to programmed retirement pensions affiliated with private funds. The decree established that the pension funds should transfer to Colpensiones, within a period not exceeding four months, the resources or the Special Programmed Retirement Fund and the information corresponding to the pensioners.
On this matter, Llano said that the declaration of non-applicability is in line with what was stated by the national government, since Decree 558 modified it in the second economic emergency through Decree 802, which established that the transfer would be voluntary.
However, in this period no transfers of affiliates to Colpensiones were made.
“We want to reiterate that the pension fund administrators are capable of paying pensions for life and that the same pension savings system with solidarity has already designed and operating the security mechanisms for pensioners,” added the manager.
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