Colombia expat tax: the rolling 183-day rule and wealth tax

Colombia does not count your days per calendar year. It counts more than 183 days in any 365-day period, and that window can straddle two tax years. Arrive in the autumn, stay into the spring, and you can wake up resident for the whole of the second year, including income you earned before you crossed the line.

This guide covers Colombian personal tax for the 2026 tax year, which runs from 1 January to 31 December 2026.

Almost every Colombian tax figure is set in UVT, a tax value unit that DIAN updates each year. For 2026, one UVT is COP 52,374. We convert at about COP 3,200 to the US dollar, close to the official exchange rate in early October 2026.

What's changed: In December 2025 the government declared an economic emergency and raised taxes by decree, including a lower wealth tax threshold of 40,000 UVT for 2026. The Constitutional Court suspended the tax decree on 29 January 2026 and struck it down on 15 April 2026 (ruling C-079 of 2026), and DIAN has confirmed the 40,000 UVT threshold cannot be enforced. The normal 72,000 UVT threshold applies for 2026, and 2026 is the last year of the 1.5% top wealth tax rate. A new tax reform bill was filed in Congress in July 2026, with a 30% rate on most occasional gains and the end of the dividend tax discount. That bill is Proposed, not law, and may be dropped or replaced after the change of government on 7 August 2026.

📋 Colombia tax at a glance for 2026

The rolling 183-day rule

Why do so many people get caught out? Because the test looks back over any 365 days, not the calendar year.

Image 1 — Colombia counts 183 days in any 365, not per calendar year

You are a Colombian tax resident if you stay in Colombia, continuously or not, for more than 183 calendar days within any period of 365 consecutive days. Days of arrival and departure count. If that period covers more than one tax year, you are treated as resident from the second year.

Here is how it works in practice. You arrive on 1 September 2026 and stay. By 31 December you have 122 days, so you are not resident for 2026. Your 184th day falls on 3 March 2027. Because your 183-day period spans 2026 and 2027, you become resident for 2027, and that means the whole of 2027, from 1 January.

There is no split year and no grace period for new arrivals. Once resident, you are taxed on your worldwide income.

Colombian nationals face extra tests. They can be resident whatever their days if, for example, their spouse or dependent children are resident, half or more of their income or assets are Colombian, or they cannot prove residence elsewhere when DIAN asks.

How you stop being resident

The same count works in reverse. You are non-resident for a year only when no 365-day period that falls in that year contains more than 183 days in Colombia. Leave in February 2028 after six months in the country and the period running back into 2027 can still make you resident for 2028. Keep evidence of where you spend your days.

👉 DIAN legal compilation: Estatuto Tributario, article 10 on tax residence (in Spanish)

Income tax rates for 2026

Salaries, fees, interest, rent and pensions are grouped into schedules, then added together and taxed on one progressive scale set in UVT.

Colombia income tax rates for residents in 2026

Source: Estatuto Tributario article 241, with peso amounts at the 2026 UVT of COP 52,374.

Employees can treat 25% of their pay as exempt, after taking off compulsory pension and health contributions, up to 790 UVT a year (about COP 41.4 million). All exemptions and deductions together are capped at 40% of income and at 1,340 UVT a year.

👉 DIAN Resolution 000238 of 2025: the UVT for 2026 (in Spanish)

👉 Colombian Senate: Estatuto Tributario articles 241 and 242, rates and dividends (in Spanish)

👉 Colombian Senate: Estatuto Tributario article 206, the 25% exemption and pensions (in Spanish)

Worked example

• You're single, resident for 2026 and earn COP 320 million (about US$100k) as an employee.

• You pay 4% pension, 4% health and 1% to the pension solidarity fund: COP 28.8 million. These are not taxed, leaving COP 291.2 million.

• The 25% exemption is capped at 790 UVT, so COP 41.4 million is exempt. Your taxable income is COP 249.8 million (4,770 UVT) and your income tax is 1,009 UVT, or COP 52.9 million.

Your all-in bill is about COP 81.7 million, or 25.5% of your salary. Income tax alone is about 16.5%. Your employer pays further contributions on top, which are not counted here.

Freelancing in Colombia

As a resident freelancer, your fees go on the same scale. The difference is social security. Independent workers earning at least one minimum wage a month must contribute themselves, on a base of 40% of their monthly income: 12.5% for health and 16% for pension, plus 1% to the solidarity fund once that base reaches four minimum wages. The base cannot exceed 25 minimum wages a month.

For income tax you choose between the 25% exemption (capped at 790 UVT) and deducting the real costs of your work. You can't have both.

On fees of COP 320 million (about US$100k), your contribution base is about COP 10.7 million a month and your contributions COP 37.8 million a year. After the 25% exemption, your income tax is about COP 49.9 million. That puts your all-in bill at about 27.4%. If you work under a contract of more than one month, occupational risk insurance (ARL) is also compulsory, at about 0.5% of the base for the lowest risk class.

👉 UGPP: how independent workers calculate their health and pension contributions (in Spanish)

Crypto, investments and pensions

How is crypto taxed in Colombia? DIAN treats crypto-assets as intangible assets. There is no crypto exemption, and you must report the crypto you hold at 31 December in your tax return.

• Selling an asset you have held for two years or more gives an occasional gain (ganancia ocasional), taxed at a flat 15%.

• Sell sooner and the gain is ordinary income on the main scale. On a US$100k gain with no other income, that is about 24%.

• Swapping one crypto for another counts as a sale of the crypto you give up. Mining and staking rewards are taxable income.

The two-year rule is written for fixed assets, so frequent trading may be treated as ordinary income whatever the holding period.

👉 DIAN unified concept 18075 of 2023 on crypto-assets (in Spanish)

Dividends, interest and gains

Interest is added to your other income and taxed on the 0% to 39% scale. Dividends from Colombian companies also go on the scale, with a tax discount of 19% on the part above 1,090 UVT. Dividends from foreign companies are taxed too, but the law's wording on their rate is not clear-cut, so check how yours will be treated. Gains on assets held for two years or more are taxed at 15%.

Colombia gives residents a credit for income tax paid abroad on foreign income, within limits. Inheritances and gifts are taxed as occasional gains at 15%, with some exemptions.

Pensions

Pensions are tax free up to 1,000 UVT a month (about COP 52.4 million). Since the 2022 reform, the same treatment applies to pensions from abroad, as long as you meet the requirements for a pension under Colombia's pension law.

The wealth tax

Residents with net worth of 72,000 UVT or more (about COP 3,771 million) on 1 January pay the wealth tax on their worldwide assets less debts. The first 12,000 UVT of the value of your main home is left out. Rates for 2026 are marginal: 0.5% from 72,000 UVT, 1% from 122,000 UVT and 1.5% above 239,000 UVT. Assets are valued in pesos on 1 January, so for dollar savings the exchange rate on that day matters: the threshold was about US$1 million at the 1 January 2026 rate, against about US$1.18 million at today's rate.

👉 Colombian Senate: Estatuto Tributario articles 292-3 to 296-3 (wealth tax) and 300 (occasional gains) (in Spanish)

👉 DIAN concept 8914 of 2026: the 40,000 UVT wealth tax threshold cannot be enforced (in Spanish)

Social security

Employees contribute to two main systems. Pension is 16% of salary, with 75% paid by the employer and 25% (4%) by you. Health is 12.5%, of which you pay 4%. Once your salary reaches four minimum wages you also pay 1% to the pension solidarity fund, rising in steps to 2% from 16 minimum wages.

The minimum wage for 2026 is COP 1,750,905 a month. Contributions are capped at a base of 25 minimum wages a month, about COP 43.8 million.

Colombia's 2024 pension reform (Law 2381 of 2024) keeps the 16% rate and the 75% to 25% split. Its start was suspended pending a Constitutional Court review. On 25 August 2026 the Court upheld most of it (ruling C-264 of 2026), with those parts taking effect from 1 April 2027, so the current rules apply for 2026. Some articles were sent back to Congress, so check which rules apply when you arrive.

👉 Colombian Senate: Law 100 of 1993, pension contributions and how they are shared (in Spanish)

👉 Constitutional Court: ruling C-264 of 2026 on the pension reform (in Spanish)

Double tax treaties

Does Colombia have double tax treaties? Yes, but not many. DIAN lists 13 bilateral income tax treaties in force: Spain, Chile, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, South Korea, India, Portugal, the Czech Republic, the UK, Italy, France and Japan. The Andean Community's common rules (Decision 578) also apply between its member countries.

Treaties with the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Brazil, Uruguay and the UAE are listed as not in force, and there is no income tax treaty with the United States.

👉 DIAN: international tax agreements and their status (in Spanish)

The digital nomad visa

Colombia's Visa V for digital nomads is for people who work remotely for employers or clients abroad. You must show income of at least three monthly minimum wages, which is about COP 5.25 million (US$1,640) a month in 2026, through bank statements.

The visa lasts up to two years. It does not let you work for, or be paid by, a person or company based in Colombia.

There is no tax exemption. Spend more than 183 days in any 365-day period and you are tax resident, taxed on your worldwide income from the year your count is crossed.

👉 Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Resolution 5477 of 2022, article 46 on the digital nomad visa (in Spanish)

Who is Colombia good for?

How does Colombia compare for different kinds of mover? Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including compulsory social security.

☑️ Who is Colombia good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026

Filing and deadlines

Broadly, you must file a return if your gross income for the year reaches 1,400 UVT or your gross assets at 31 December exceed 4,500 UVT. Other tests, such as card spending and bank deposits above 1,400 UVT, can also bring you in.

Returns are filed in the year after the tax year, on a date set by the last two digits of your tax number (NIT). Returns for 2025 are due between 12 August and 26 October 2026, and returns for 2026 will follow the same pattern in 2027 once the new calendar is published.

If you hold foreign assets worth more than 2,000 UVT on 1 January, you also file an annual foreign assets return. Wealth tax returns are filed separately, with the 2026 tax paid in two instalments in May and September.

👉 DIAN: tax calendar 2026 (in Spanish)

👉 Colombian Senate: Estatuto Tributario articles 592 to 594-3, who has to file (in Spanish)

👉 Ministry of Finance: the July 2026 tax reform bill (in Spanish)

Frequently asked questions

How many days make you tax resident in Colombia?

More than 183 days, continuous or not, within any 365-day period. Arrival and departure days count. If the period spans two tax years, you are resident from the second year, for the whole of that year.

What are the income tax rates in Colombia in 2026?

Residents pay 0% on the first 1,090 UVT (about COP 57 million), then 19%, 28%, 33%, 35% and 37%, up to 39% above 31,000 UVT. One UVT is COP 52,374 in 2026. Non-residents pay a flat 35% on Colombian-source income.

Does Colombia tax foreign income?

Yes, once you are resident. Colombia taxes residents on worldwide income and gives a credit for income tax paid abroad, within limits. There is no remittance basis or new-resident exemption.

Does Colombia have a wealth tax?

Yes. Residents with net worth of 72,000 UVT or more (about COP 3,771 million) on 1 January 2026 pay 0.5% to 1.5% on the excess. The first 12,000 UVT of your main home is left out. A lower 40,000 UVT threshold set by emergency decree cannot be enforced.

How is crypto taxed in Colombia?

DIAN treats crypto as an intangible asset. Gains on crypto held for two years or more are occasional gains taxed at 15%. Gains on crypto held for less are ordinary income on the 0% to 39% scale. Swaps between cryptos count as sales.

How much income do you need for Colombia's digital nomad visa?

Three monthly minimum wages, about COP 5.25 million (US$1,640) a month in 2026. The visa lasts up to two years and gives no tax exemption, so the 183-day rule still applies.