Entre Aplicaciones y Tributos: El Desafío Fiscal de la Economía Colaborativa de Transporte en Colombia.

Abstract

Nowadays, information technologies have made a significant contribution to humanity in the cultural, social, and economic spheres. However, technological development unfolds progressively, in response to the demands of the contemporary world, and has led to the creation of digital platforms aimed at meeting the needs of everyday life. In the transportation sector, this phenomenon has materialized in the emergence of technology operators such as Uber, DiDi, InDriver, and Cabify, which have substantially transformed the way mobility services are provided, entering into direct competition with the traditional model of individual and collective public transportation. This scenario makes it essential to analyze the legal, business, and tax regime applicable both to traditional transportation and to app-based transport operators, since the provision of such services involves the use of the country's road and logistical infrastructure — a circumstance that, in principle, generates an obligation to contribute to the corresponding tax burdens, given the economic benefit obtained from accessing and using that infrastructure within national territory. Along these lines, it is pertinent to examine the following aspects: the notion of the sharing economy and its impact on the transportation sector; the classification of taxes currently in force in Colombia applicable to transportation business activities; the definition of the digital economy and its relationship to new business models in mobility; and the concept of a digital platform — with the purpose of determining whether app-based transport operators, as an expression of the sharing economy, are subject to the same formal and substantive obligations to file and pay taxes that currently apply to providers of traditional transportation services, or whether, on the contrary, there is a regulatory gap that generates competitive and tax asymmetries between the two business models.