Through Decree 677 and resolution 1129, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit modified the PAEF and regulated certain aspects, as follows: 

1.    Beneficiaries of the PAEF: they were extended including individuals, consortiums, and joint ventures, in addition to legal entities, that meet the following requirements:

  1.1.    Have been legally incorporated prior to January 1st, 2020. 
  1.2.    Have an enrollment in the commercial registry. This registration must have been made or renewed at least in 2019. 
  1.3.    Demonstrate the need of the state contribution, certifying a diminishment equal to or higher than 20% of their income. The Ministry will determine the method of calculation of this diminishment. 
  1.4.    Have not previously received this contribution in three times. 
  1.5.    Have not been obliged, in the terms of the Decree, to restitute the PAEF state contribution.

Non-profit entities are not obliged to comply with the second requirement. In this case, they must provide a copy of the Single Tax Number. In any case, exclusively non-profit entities that are required to file an income tax return or alternatively, a statement of income and assets, as well as exogenous information on magnetic media for the taxable year 2019, may be beneficiaries of the PAEF.

Legal entities with a participation of the Nation and/or its de-centralized entities, higher than 50% of its capital, will not be beneficiaries of the PAEF.

In the case of individuals, for complying with the condition established in section 1.1., the date of registration in the commercial register will be taken as reference.

Individuals who are in any of the following conditions cannot have access to the PAEF: 

         A.    Have less than 3 employees reported in the integrated payroll payment sheet (PILA for its acronym in Spanish) corresponding to the contribution period of February 2020.
        B.    Are Politically Exposed People (PEP) or are spouses, permanent partners, or relatives in the second degree of consanguinity, first of affinity or civil of PEP.

Consortia and joint ventures must not meet the requirement established in section 1.2. Instead, they must provide a copy of the Single Tax Registry.

In any case, individuals or legal entities that integrate consortiums and joint ventures may not apply to the PAEF with employees who have been considered in the application of said consortium or joint venture or in the application of individuals or legal entities that integrate said consortia and joint ventures. 

2.    Inspection: The UGPP may inspect within the 3 years following the Program termination, the fulfillment of the requirements set out. 

3.    Amount of the state contribution: The amount of the state contribution that beneficiaries of the PAEF will receive will be equal to the number of employees multiplied by COP$351.000 

For the purposes of the PAEF, the number of employees will be equivalent to the number of employees reported on the PILA corresponding to the contribution period of the month immediately preceding that of the application of said beneficiary.

In any case, employees to be considered in this calculation must correspond, at least, to the 80% of the employees reported on the PILA corresponding to the contribution period of February 2020 in charge of said beneficiary. In no case may the number of employees that are considered to determine the amount of the state contribution be greater than the number of employees reported on the PILA corresponding to the contribution period of February 2020 in charge of said beneficiary.

For the PAEF purposes, it will be understood as employees the dependent workers for which the beneficiary performed contributions the entire month to the social security system on the PILA, with an income base of contribution of at least one minimum monthly legal wage (mmlw), and which, in the month immediately prior to the application, the temporary suspension of employment contracts or unpaid leaves have not been applied to them.

To calculate the contribution, each employee may only be counted once. In cases where there is a multiplicity of employers of the same employee, the contribution will be provided to the first one that, as a result of the respective application, is verified by the UGPP.

4.    Application procedure: The beneficiaries that comply with the requirements must apply and submit the following documentation before the financial institution in which they have a deposit product: 

  4.1.    Standardized form, determined by the UGPP, which was issued through External Circular No. 001 of 2020, duly completed and signed by the legal representative of the company, consortium or joint venture or individual acting as employer. 
  4.2.    Certification signed by (i) the legal representative or individual acting as employer, and (ii) fiscal auditor, or public accountant in the case the company is not obliged to have a fiscal auditor, certifying the following: 

        a.    The income diminishment; and 
        b.    That the employees on whom the contribution will be received, effectively received the salary corresponding to the immediately prior month; or
       c.    That regardless this provision, labor obligations owed will be paid, at the latest within 5 business days after receiving the resources. This possibility of certification and destination will only be applicable once for paying April´s payroll with the corresponding application of May 2020.

The state contribution may be requested up to three times. If so, the beneficiary must comply, in each case, with the aforesaid procedure.

If the beneficiary has deposit products in more than one financial entity, the beneficiary must carry out the application procedure before a single entity, at its choice. Applications that are made in the following months must be made before the same financial institution in which the first application was processed.

Financial institutions may not reject the receipt of documents when the applicant does not have a payroll agreement signed with this entity or require the execution of any contract.
Financial entities that receive the PAEF application documents must inform the UGPP about its receipt.  

The UGPP must keep a consolidated record of the beneficiaries and the number of employees protected by the PAEF and will verify that the beneficiary has not applied for the same monthly contribution before other financial entities. 

5.    Calculation method for determining the diminishment of 20% of the beneficiaries´ income: Beneficiaries must be in one of the following situations: 

  5.1.    The decrease in their income must be demonstrated when comparing the income of the month immediately prior to that of the contribution request with the income of the same month in the year 2019; or
  5.2.    The decrease in their income must be demonstrated when comparing the income of the month immediately prior to that of the request for the contribution with the arithmetic average of income for January and February 2020. 

6.    Duration of the PAEF: The PAEF will be in force during the months of May, June, and July 2020. The beneficiaries can only request the state contribution, one time per month and for up to three months. 

7.    Restitution of the state contribution: Notwithstanding the responsibility that it may entail, the state contribution must be restituted to the State by the beneficiary whenever: 

  7.1.    Having received the contribution, it is evidenced that, at the moment of application, the beneficiary did not comply with the requirements established. 
  7.2.    If it is proved that submitted documents evidencing the requirements are false. For this purpose, it will be sufficient the communication issued by the entity that originates such documents, contradicting their content. 
  7.3.    The beneficiary has agreed to pay due wages in April and has failed to comply with this commitment.

8.    Prohibition of seizure and modification of the contribution´ destination: During the 30 calendar days following the delivery of the resources in the beneficiary's deposit account, the resources that correspond to the PAEF state contribution cannot be seized and cannot be used to pay any type of obligation that the beneficiary may have with the financial entity through which the contribution is distributed. However, at any time, discounts previously authorized by the beneficiary to third parties may be applied.

9.    Consequences for breach or fraud: Those individuals who receive one or more state contributions, without compliance of the requirements set forth for such purpose and that not inform the corresponding authority, or that receive them fraudulently, or are destined for purposes different from the ones defined in the Decree, will incur in disciplinary, fiscal and criminal responsibility, as applicable.  

If the UGPP verifies a breach due to an inspection, it must carry out the process of coercive collection against those beneficiaries who receive one or more state contributions in an inappropriate manner. For this purpose, the procedure and sanctions established for improper returns in the Tax Statute will be applied.
 

Decree 677 of 2020, Resolution 1129 of 2020 y Circular 1 of 2020.