COLOMBIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rodrigo Castillo Cottin, Ana María López and Alejandra Becerra, Rimon, P.C.
documenting tax-residence acquisition or cessation upon arrival and departure. Pre-arrival steps typically include identifying foreign assets that will become reportable once resident, reviewing exposure under the CFC regime for interests in foreign entities, and addressing potential net worth tax exposure for high net worth individuals. For definitional and compliance background, see 7.1 Requirements for Domicile, Residency and Citizen- ship and 1.1 Tax Regimes . However, the appropriate planning should be determined on a case‑by‑case basis. 1.5 Taxation of Real Estate Owned by Non- Residents and Non-Citizens There are no specific tax rules or planning mecha - nisms relating to real estate owned by individuals who are non-residents or non-citizens. As a general rule, real estate located in Colombia is subject to taxation in the country regardless of whether or not the owner is a Colombian tax resident/citizen. 1.6 Stability of Tax Laws On average, Colombia has a tax reform every two years. This situation leads to great uncertainty and taxpayers are obliged to review their structures regu - larly. Fear of tax uncertainty leads many taxpayers to consider implementing estate-planning structures located in jurisdictions with greater legal stability or that have an enforceable investment protection treaty with Colombia. 1.7 Transparency and Increased Global Reporting Regarding any real or perceived abuses/loopholes in tax laws, the OECD has praised Colombia for its high level of commitment to the international standard for transparency and exchange of information. After an assessment of the domestic legal framework by the OECD, Colombia obtained an overall rating of “com - pliant”, due to its legal provisions on financial informa - tion and its widening network of treaties on exchange of information. On 25 May 2018, OECD countries agreed to invite Colombia to join the OECD as a member of the organi -
sation after subjecting it to in-depth reviews by 23 OECD committees, and the introduction of major reforms seeking to align its legislation on taxation, anti-bribery, and trade and labour issues, among oth - ers, to OECD standards. On 28 April 2020, Colombia officially became the 37th OECD member country. Colombia has achieved tax transparency and met global reporting requirements using the following framework. Exchange of Information Colombia has entered into several agreements for the exchange of tax information. For a list of countries with which Colombia has agreed to share information under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), see the OECD website. The OECD – Global Forum’s Peer Review of the Auto - matic Exchange of Financial Account Information 2025 Update, published in December 2025, remains the most recent substantive report on the implementa - tion of the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)/ CRS standard. Recent updates to the OECD’s AEOI commitments list show that additional jurisdictions are scheduled to begin exchanges: Cameroon in 2026; Mongolia, Papua New Guinea and Paraguay in 2027; and Fiji, Tunisia and Zambia in 2028. The OECD also announced that Cabo Verde committed to start CRS exchanges by September 2027, while Morocco, despite its earlier voluntary commitment to begin exchanges in 2025, had not yet started and is now expected to do so by 2028 at the latest. FATCA In relation to the exchange of information, the Colom - bian and US governments have an enforceable Inter - governmental Agreement Model 1 (IGA), within the framework of Law 1666 of 2013, which made the For - eign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) mandatory for Colombian financial institutions and taxpayers. The IGA was implemented by means of Resolution 60 of 2015, issued by the Colombian Tax Office (CTO). SARLAFT Colombia’s AML and CFT framework ( Sistema de Administración del Riesgo de Lavado de Activos y de la Financiación del Terrorismo , or SARLAFT) was
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