Through Decree 803 of 2020, the Ministry of Work creates the Support Program for the Payment of the Service Bonus (PAP for its acronym in Spanish) for the agricultural sector during the health emergency.

The PAP has the following conditions: 

1.    Purpose: Grant the beneficiary a single monetary state contribution to support and subsidize the first payment of the 2020 service bonus, due to the pandemic derived from COVID-19.

2.    Beneficiaries of the PAP: Individuals who are employees and/or producers of the Colombian countryside, who demonstrate the need of the state contribution, certifying a diminishment equal to or higher than 20% of their income. The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit will determine the calculation method of the income decrease. For this purpose, it may use the calculation method of the Support Program to Formal Employment-PAEF.

Beneficiaries must have a deposit product in a financial institution. For the purposes of this Program, financial entities shall be understood as those entities supervised by the Financial Superintendence of Colombia or by the Superintendence of Solidarity Economy, which are authorized to offer deposit products.

The Integrated Social Security Contribution Form (PILA for its acronym in Spanish) will be taken as a reference to verify the employees who are listed in the agricultural sector, among other purposes.

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

A.    Have less than 3 employees reported in the PILA 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.

For purposes of the PAP, employees shall be understood as the dependent workers for whom the beneficiary has contributed to the General Social Security System in the PILA, with a base income for contribution from a monthly minimum legal ($877.803) wage up to $1.000.000 local currency.

3.    Inspection: The Administrative Unit of Pension Contributions and Payroll Taxes (UGPP for its acronym in Spanish) may inspect within the 3 years following the Program termination, the fulfillment of the requirements set out.  

4.    Amount of the state contribution: The amount of the state contribution that beneficiaries of the PAP will receive will be equal to the number of employees multiplied by COP$220.000 

For purposes of the PAP, the number of employees will be equivalent to the number of employees reported on the PILA corresponding to the contribution period of June 2020. 

In any case, employees to be considered in this calculation must have been employees reported on the PILA before February 1st, 2020.

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

1.1.    Application signed by the individual acting as employer, stating the intention of being a beneficiary of the PAP for the Agricultural Sector.
1.2.    Certification signed by (i) the individual acting as employer, and (ii) the fiscal auditor, or public accountant in the case the employer is not obliged to have a fiscal auditor, certifying the following: 

a.    The income decrease; and 
b.    The number of service bonuses supported through the state contribution. 

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will establish the process and the conditions to which the financial entities, the UGPP and in general all the stakeholders that participate in the PAP must abide.

6.    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: 

• Having received the contribution, it is evidenced that, at the moment of application, the beneficiary did not comply with the requirements established. 
• If it is proved that the submitted documents evidencing the requirements are false. For this purpose, the communication issued by the entity that originates such documents, contradicting their content will be sufficient

7.    Prohibition of seizure and modification of the contribution´ destination: During the 30 calendar days following the delivery of the money in the beneficiary's deposit account, the money corresponding to the PAP 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.

However, in the case of the Program beneficiaries who are also debtors of payroll credit lines guaranteed by the National Guarantee Fund, the following exception apply:  

• when the total amount of the money received by these beneficiaries during the same month by means of guaranteed credits and the PAPA state contribution exceeds the total value of the service bonuses of the corresponding payroll, they must deposit to this credit an amount equivalent to that of the PAP state contribution received.

8.    Tax exemption: Transfers of the money corresponding to the state contribution between the financial entities and the beneficiaries of the PAP for the Agricultural Sector will be exempt from the tax on financial movements.

9.    Consequences for breach or fraud: Those individuals who receive the state contribution without complying with the requirements set forth for such purpose and that not inform the corresponding authority, or that receive it fraudulently, or use it for other purposes, will incur in disciplinary, fiscal and criminal responsibility, as applicable.