Colombia
Colombia: 7 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in Colombia
The 7 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Colombia is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
- World’s2ndWorld-leading exports Bananas, including plantains, fresh or driedUS$1.6 bn · 10.1% of world exports of 153 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s2ndWorld-leading exports Cut flowers and flower budsCut flowers and flower buds of a kind suitable for bouquets or for ornamental purposes, fresh, dried, dyed, bleached, impregnated or otherwise preparedUS$1.4 bn · 15.1% of world exports of 168 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Colombia. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Colombia.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Colombia: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Colombia belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
- Andean Community
- Free trade area · since 16 October 1969
Covers goods, services, movement of people.
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La Comunidad Andina, integrada por Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú es un organismo internacional líder en integración en el continente
- Pacific Alliance
- Free trade area · since July 2015
Covers goods, services, investment, public procurement.
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La República de Colombia, la República de Chile, los Estados Unidos Mexicanos y la República del Perú, en adelante denominadas “las Partes”
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 35%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- A statutory auditor (revisor fiscal) only where the law requires one; profits must be supported by financial statements certified by an independent public accountant.Official The registry or ministry page as of 2026-10-10
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En caso de que por exigencia de la ley se tenga que proveer el cargo de revisor fiscal, la persona que ocupe dicho cargo deberá ser contador público titulado
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- Not in our records
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Colombia, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- The tax
- VAT (value added tax)
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La tarifa general del impuesto sobre las ventas es del diecinueve por ciento (19%) salvo las excepciones contempladas en este título.
- Standard rate
- 19%
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La tarifa general del impuesto sobre las ventas es del diecinueve por ciento (19%) salvo las excepciones contempladas en este título.
- Other rates
- 5% the goods listed in article 468-1 of the Estatuto Tributario (coffee, wheat, maize for industrial use, rice for industrial use, oats and other listed foodstuffs)
- 5% the services listed in article 468-3 of the Estatuto Tributario (storage of agricultural products in general deposit warehouses and related commissions)
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Los siguientes bienes están gravados con la tarifa del cinco por ciento (5%)
- Registration threshold
- No threshold: from the first taxable supply
taxable supplies — article 437 makes every trader, in whatever phase of production and distribution, and anyone habitually doing similar acts, a responsible party, with no turnover condition
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En las ventas, los comerciantes, cualquiera que sea la fase de los ciclos de producción y distribución en la que actúen
- A foreign company
- no local representative required
Colombia taxes services supplied from abroad (article 420 of the Estatuto Tributario) and the DIAN runs a simplified VAT registration for foreign service providers, but no readable page stated whether a threshold applies, whether registration is from the first supply, or whether a representative is required. Pass A (23 Oct 2026), Kind 1: DIAN Resolución 51 de 2018 sets the whole procedure for foreign service providers (arts 3-9): they register in the RUT by a request through the DIAN's online PQSR service, made by their own legal representative or attorney, and the resolution names no Colombian representative or fiscal agent, so representative_required is 'no'. Whether a threshold applies (Estatuto Tributario art. 437 par. 3 exempts small registrants meeting six conditions, one of them a single establishment in Colombia) and whether registration runs from the first supply are not stated for foreign providers.
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Únicamente estarán sujetos a este procedimiento, los responsables sin residencia o sin domicilio en Colombia que presten servicios desde el exterior
- Returns filed
- Depends on the business
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Declaración y pago bimestral para aquellos responsables de este impuesto, grandes contribuyentes
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Colombia, tax year año gravable 2025 (declared in 2026), as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 12 May · each year
ES: las personas jurídicas presentan la declaración y pagan la primera cuota del impuesto sobre la renta y complementarios del año gravable 2025 entre el séptimo y décimo sexto día hábil de mayo; del 12 al 26 de mayo de 2026. EN: a company files the annual return and pays the first instalment between the 7th and 16th working day of May (12 to 26 May 2026), the exact date by the last digit of the NIT. The record takes the first day of the window, 12 May. The return is presented with the first of two equal instalments; grandes contribuyentes have a different calendar (April/June). A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Presentación de declaración y pago de primera cuota: entre el séptimo y décimo sexto día hábil de mayo: del 12 al 26 de mayo de 2026.
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 9 July · each year
ES: el pago de la segunda cuota del impuesto sobre la renta y complementarios de las personas jurídicas se hace entre el séptimo y décimo sexto día hábil de julio; del 09 al 23 de julio de 2026. EN: the balance is paid in a second equal instalment between the 7th and 16th working day of July (9 to 23 July 2026), by the last digit of the NIT. The record takes the first day, 9 July. Where the tax is below 41 UVT the whole amount is paid with the return in one instalment. A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Pago segunda cuota: entre el séptimo y décimo sexto día hábil de julio : del 09 al 23 de julio de 2026.
- Corporate tax, instalments
- Not required here
Colombia does not run a monthly or quarterly income-tax instalment regime for the standard company. The company's tax is declared once a year and paid in two equal instalments (May and July), and any anticipo (advance) of the following year's tax is liquidated inside the same annual return and paid with those instalments, not on a separate date. A monthly autorretención especial exists only for the taxpayers the DIAN designates as autorretenedores, and it is declared together with the monthly retención en la fuente. Page read: the DIAN press release No. 128 of 26 December 2025 at https://www.dian.gov.co/Prensa/Paginas/NG-Comunicado-de-Prensa-128-2025.aspx.
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Presentación de declaración y pago de primera cuota: entre el séptimo y décimo sexto día hábil de mayo: del 12 al 26 de mayo de 2026.
- Personal income-tax return
- 12 August · each year
ES: los plazos para la presentación de la declaración y el pago del impuesto sobre la renta y complementarios de las personas naturales y las sucesiones ilíquidas del año gravable 2025 van entre el 12 de agosto y el 26 de octubre de 2026, de acuerdo con los dos últimos dígitos del NIT. EN: a resident individual files and pays the annual return between the 7th working day of August and the 17th working day of October (12 August to 26 October 2026), the exact date by the last two digits of the NIT. The record takes the opening date, 12 August. The obligation arises above 1,400 UVT of gross income or 4,500 UVT of wealth. A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Los plazos para la presentación de la declaración y el pago del Impuesto sobre la Renta y Complementarios de las personas naturales y las sucesiones ilíquidas correspondientes al año gravable 2025, inician el séptimo día hábil de agosto y finalizan el décimo séptimo día hábil de octubre; es decir, entre el 12 de agosto y el 26 de octubre de 2026, de acuerdo con los dos últimos dígitos del NIT.
- Personal income tax, final payment
- 12 August · each year
ES: las personas naturales presentan la declaración y pagan el impuesto sobre la renta en el mismo plazo, entre el 12 de agosto y el 26 de octubre de 2026. EN: an individual pays the balance of income tax with the annual return, in the same window (12 August to 26 October 2026, by the last two digits of the NIT); the record takes the opening date, 12 August. A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Los plazos para la presentación de la declaración y el pago del Impuesto sobre la Renta y Complementarios de las personas naturales y las sucesiones ilíquidas correspondientes al año gravable 2025, inician el séptimo día hábil de agosto y finalizan el décimo séptimo día hábil de octubre; es decir, entre el 12 de agosto y el 26 de octubre de 2026, de acuerdo con los dos últimos dígitos del NIT.
- Personal income tax, instalments
- Not required here
Colombia does not require the individual to make separate advance payments of income tax during the year. The individual's tax is declared once, in the annual return (12 August to 26 October 2026); where the return liquidates an anticipo of the following year's tax, that anticipo is paid inside the same return, not on a separate date. Page read: the DIAN press release No. 128 of 26 December 2025 at https://www.dian.gov.co/Prensa/Paginas/NG-Comunicado-de-Prensa-128-2025.aspx.
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Los plazos para la presentación de la declaración y el pago del Impuesto sobre la Renta y Complementarios de las personas naturales y las sucesiones ilíquidas correspondientes al año gravable 2025, inician el séptimo día hábil de agosto y finalizan el décimo séptimo día hábil de octubre; es decir, entre el 12 de agosto y el 26 de octubre de 2026, de acuerdo con los dos últimos dígitos del NIT.
- VAT return
- Day 12 of the following month · every two months
ES: los responsables del IVA con ingresos brutos iguales o superiores a 92.000 UVT presentan y pagan la declaración bimestral entre el séptimo y el décimo sexto día hábil del mes siguiente al bimestre; para el bimestre marzo – abril de 2026, del 12 al 26 de mayo. EN: a business above 92,000 UVT of gross income files and pays the VAT return bimonthly, between the 7th and 16th working day of the month after the period (for March–April 2026, 12 to 26 May), the exact date by the last digit of the NIT. Businesses below 92,000 UVT file four-monthly (cuatrimestral). The record takes the standard bimonthly case and the first day, the 12th. A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Marzo – abril : del séptimo al décimo sexto día hábil de mayo. Para 2026, del 12 al 26 de mayo.
- Payroll withholding
- Day 10 of the following month · each month
ES: los agentes de retención del impuesto sobre la renta y complementarios declaran y pagan mensualmente las retenciones practicadas entre el séptimo y el décimo sexto día hábil del mes siguiente; para enero de 2026, del 10 al 23 de febrero de 2026. EN: an employer withholds income tax from salaries and, as a withholding agent, files and pays the monthly retención en la fuente between the 7th and 16th working day of the following month (for January 2026, 10 to 23 February 2026), by the last digit of the NIT. The record takes the first day of the window, the 10th. A due date on a non-working day moves to the next working day.
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Enero: del 10 al 23 de febrero de 2026.
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Colombia yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Colombia exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Colombia’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude HS 2709 | 26.2% | 24.0% | 23.9% | US$12.2 bn |
| Coal; briquettes, ovoids and similar solid fuels manufactured from coal HS 2701 | 22.2% | 19.9% | 13.4% | US$6.8 bn |
| Gold (including gold plated with platinum), unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms, or in powder form HS 7108 | 4.6% | 5.9% | 7.4% | US$3.8 bn |
| Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion HS 0901 | 6.9% | 5.6% | 7.1% | US$3.6 bn |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 4.3% | 5.5% | 5.3% | US$2.7 bn |
| Bananas, including plantains, fresh or dried HS 0803 | 2.3% | 2.2% | 3.1% | US$1.6 bn |
| Cut flowers and flower buds of a kind suitable for bouquets or for ornamental purposes, fresh, dried, dyed, bleached, impregnated or otherwise prepared HS 0603 | 2.2% | 2.5% | 2.8% | US$1.4 bn |
| Coke and semi-coke of coal, of lignite or of peat, whether or not agglomerated; retort carbon HS 2704 | 3.0% | 2.3% | 2.3% | US$1.2 bn |
| Aluminium structures (excluding prefabricated buildings of heading 9406) and parts of structures (for example, bridges and bridge-sections, towers, lattice masts, roofs, roofing frameworks, doors and windows and their frames and thresholds for doors, balustrades, pillars and columns); aluminium plates, rods, profiles, tubes and the like, prepared for use in structures HS 7610 | 0.82% | 1.2% | 1.2% | US$609 m |
| Ferro-alloys HS 7202 | 1.5% | 1.2% | 1.1% | US$562 m |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$51.1 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.