Sociedad Anónima S.A.Colombia
What it takes to form, own and run a public limited company in Colombia, and how its profit is taxed. Each figure links to the page it was read from.
This company type
At a glance
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fondo social suministrado por accionistas responsables hasta el monto de sus respectivos aportes
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La sociedad anónima no podrá constituirse ni funcionar con menos de cinco accionistas.
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La junta directiva se integra con mínimo 3 miembros principales con su respectivo suplente elegidos por la Asamblea de accionistas.
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ARTÍCULO 110. REQUISITOS PARA LA CONSTITUCIÓN DE UNA SOCIEDAD . La sociedad comercial se constituirá por escritura pública en la cual se expresará:
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La inscripción en el registro mercantil de los actos y documentos respecto de los cuales la ley exige esa formalidad, causará un derecho de 6 UVB.
Form it
Who registers it
- Registry
- Formed without visiting
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
- Formed online
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
What it takes to form
- A notary
- Required
- A resident director
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
- Paying up the capital
- At formation at least 50% of authorised capital must be subscribed and at least one third of each subscribed share paid (art. 376).
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deberá suscribirse no menos del cincuenta por ciento del capital autorizado y pagarse no menos de la tercera parte del valor de cada acción
Own it
Who may own and run it
- Directors
- At least 3
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La junta directiva se integra con mínimo 3 miembros principales con su respectivo suplente elegidos por la Asamblea de accionistas.
- Shareholders
- At least 5
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La sociedad anónima no podrá constituirse ni funcionar con menos de cinco accionistas.
- Members
- At least 5
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La sociedad anónima no podrá constituirse ni funcionar con menos de cinco accionistas.
- A local company secretary
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
- A local registered agent
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
Each year, at the registry
- Annual registry fee
- Not stated
The registry’s and the law’s own pages do not mention it.
- Accounts on the public record
- Yes
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esta información contable junto con la certificación y el dictamen, se depositan en la Cámara de Comercio del domicilio de la sociedad
- Audit for a small company
- Required
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Deberán tener revisor fiscal: 1) Las sociedades por acciones; 2) Las sucursales de compañías extranjeras
- Audit
- A statutory auditor (revisor fiscal) is mandatory for sociedades por acciones (art. 203).
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Deberán tener revisor fiscal: 1) Las sociedades por acciones; 2) Las sucursales de compañías extranjeras
Important dates
When each obligation falls due, as the authority states it.
- Ordinary general meeting to approve accounts and balance sheet
- 3 months after the end of the accounting period
Applies where the statutes name no other date (art. 422).
What is public
- Directors
- Public
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El registro mercantil será público. Cualquier persona podrá examinar los libros y archivos en que fuere llevado
- Beneficial owners
- To the authorities only
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El registro mercantil será público. Cualquier persona podrá examinar los libros y archivos en que fuere llevado
Tax
Tax on profit
How this company type is taxed, which can differ from its place’s headline rate.
Flat · 35%+1 regime
General income-tax rate on national companies, Estatuto Tributario art. 240.
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será del treinta y cinco por ciento (35%)
Work it out on a profit figure: the company’s tax, the owner’s, and what is left.
Special regimes that may apply
- Régimen de Compañías Holding Colombianas (CHC) holding · 100% exempt
Colombian companies whose principal activities include holding securities or shares in Colombian or foreign entities, holding at least 10% of the capital of two or more such entities for at least 12 months, with at least three employees and their own management address in Colombia Estatuto Tributario (Decreto Ley 624 de 1989), artículo 894
Whether a company qualifies depends on its activity and conditions set in each statute.
- CFC rules in Colombia
- Not in our records
Close it
Closing it
The other end, which most guides leave out.
- Route
- Dissolution on a statutory cause (Código de Comercio art. 218: term expired, impossibility, fewer members than required, partners' decision, authority's decision), followed by liquidation.
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La sociedad comercial se disolverá: 1) Por vencimiento del término previsto para su duración en el contrato
- Statutory fee
- UVB 6
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La inscripción en el registro mercantil de los actos y documentos respecto de los cuales la ley exige esa formalidad, causará un derecho de 6 UVB.
Every business in Colombia
VAT
- 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
Payment and banking services
None of the services whose lists we hold names Colombia. Each provider, and what a listing means.
Reference
Its name and code
- Kind
- Public limited companyDerived our grouping, the same words in every country
- Name in law
- Sociedad Anónima (S.A.)
- ISO 20275 code
- 3RHNSecondary GLEIF, Entity Legal Forms code list