Last updated: October 2026
If you run a business in Colombia, or you manage payroll and compliance for a foreign-owned entity there, one detail catches more companies off guard than almost anything else: your filing deadlines aren't the same as everyone else's.
Colombia's tax authority, DIAN (Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales), assigns deadlines based on the last digits of your NIT (Número de Identificación Tributaria). Two companies filing the same tax in the same month can have deadlines up to two weeks apart, just because their NIT ends in a different digit.
Miss your assigned window, even by a day, and Colombia's penalty structure applies immediately: a late-filing penalty with a fixed legal minimum, plus interest for every day of delay.
For businesses expanding into Colombia through EOR arrangements or direct incorporation, understanding this calendar isn't optional bookkeeping. It's the difference between smooth operations and a growing stack of avoidable fines.
Colombia's fiscal calendar is built around obligations to DIAN, with deadlines assigned by the last digits of each taxpayer's NIT. The key obligations are:
Corporate income tax runs from February through June for large taxpayers and from May through July for regular companies. Individuals file from August through October, based on the last two digits of their ID.
Some jurisdictions have a single fixed deadline for all taxpayers. Colombia doesn't. Each year, DIAN publishes the calendar that assigns specific filing dates to companies and individuals based on the last digits of their NIT or cédula. The result is a rolling calendar: each tax obligation is spread across several weeks instead of falling on a single date everyone shares.
Since Decree 2229 of 2023, these deadlines are set in business days rather than calendar days. That's why the exact date ranges shift slightly from year to year even when the month stays the same, and why you can't reuse one year's calendar for the next.
Business-day counting also means deadlines can move within the year. In March 2026, through Press Release No. 031, DIAN confirmed a change for April. The third Friday of April is a civic day for national public entities under Decree 500 of 2024. So the deadline that fell on Friday, April 17, 2026 moved to Monday, April 20. Because the count is in business days, every later April deadline moved back as well.
Spreading deadlines across several weeks reduces the load on DIAN's filing systems and avoids bottlenecks for taxpayers and accountants managing many clients. For a foreign business owner, though, it means you can't simply look up "Colombia tax deadline." You need to know your NIT-based window each year, and watch for adjustments like the one in April 2026.
DIAN splits corporate income tax into two tracks with different schedules.
Grandes Contribuyentes (large taxpayers) pay in three installments:
Personas Jurídicas (regular companies) pay in two installments:
For both tracks, the exact day within each window depends on the last digit of the NIT.
Individuals file from August 12 to October 26, 2026. This includes foreign nationals who are tax residents in Colombia. Each person's date depends on the last two digits of their NIT, and DIAN publishes a different date for each block of digits.
VAT returns are filed either bimonthly or four-monthly (cuatrimestral), depending on the taxpayer's gross income in the prior year:
The exact day in each filing month depends on the last digit of the NIT.
Companies acting as withholding agents file and pay the amounts they withheld every month, covering the previous month. DIAN publishes deadlines for every month from February 2026 through January 2027, with the exact day assigned by the last digit of the NIT.
Businesses enrolled in the RST have three recurring obligations:
Individual RST taxpayers whose gross income doesn't exceed 3,500 UVT don't make the bimonthly advances. They only file the consolidated annual return.
For taxpayers subject to this tax, the declaration and first installment were due May 12 to 26, 2026, by NIT digit. The second installment is due September 14, 2026, for everyone regardless of NIT.
Separately from income tax and VAT, Colombia requires companies to update their beneficial ownership registry (RUB) whenever there's a change in ownership or control. For 2026, DIAN set four update deadlines: February 2, May 4, August 3 and November 3. You only need to file if something changed during the corresponding period.
This obligation is separate from Panama's beneficial owner registry, but it follows the same transparency logic: both require identifying the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the entity.
ICA is a municipal tax, so deadlines and rates depend on where your business operates. Bogotá, Medellín and other cities each set their own schedules. In Bogotá, for example, taxpayers file bimonthly or annually depending on how much tax they owe. Always check the calendar of the specific municipality where you operate.
This obligation matters for foreign businesses that earn income from Colombian users or clients without a local entity. It's a common scenario for companies selling digital services or products into Colombia.
Non-resident entities with Significant Economic Presence (Presencia Económica Significativa) that choose to file and pay income tax this way make bimonthly advance payments on Form 115. The deadlines are the same for every taxpayer, regardless of NIT:
The 2026 annual PES declaration was due April 23, 2026, after the April civic day adjustment.
Companies required by DIAN must submit detailed annual reporting on their transactions, suppliers and clients. The deadline usually falls in the first half of the year after the reporting period. It takes significant advance preparation, because it requires transaction-level detail for the entire fiscal year.
If you're reading this in the last quarter of the year, these are the obligations still coming up:
The exact due days within each month depend on the last digit(s) of your NIT or cédula, per DIAN's official 2026 calendar.
DIAN's penalties grow the longer non-compliance continues.
Late filing penalty (sanción por extemporaneidad). Under Article 641 of the Estatuto Tributario, the penalty is 5% of the tax due for each month or fraction of a month of delay, capped at 100% of the tax. When no tax is due, the penalty is calculated on other bases, such as gross income.
Minimum penalty (sanción mínima). Under Article 639 of the Estatuto Tributario, no tax penalty in Colombia can be lower than 10 UVT. DIAN Resolution 000238 of December 15, 2025 set the 2026 UVT at COP $52,374, so the minimum is COP $524,000. It applies even to small or zero-balance filings, which means a minor or purely formal error can still trigger it.
Late payment interest (intereses moratorios). Interest accrues on unpaid tax for each calendar day of delay until the tax is paid.
Closer scrutiny. Companies that repeatedly file late or report inconsistently are more likely to face DIAN reviews.
If your business also operates in Panama or Mexico, each country structures its calendar very differently:
For companies managing compliance across all three jurisdictions, which is common for EOR clients expanding regionally, this difference is one of the most frequent sources of missed deadlines. A calendar system built for Mexico's monthly cadence won't automatically catch Colombia's NIT-based windows, let alone an adjustment announced by DIAN mid-year. If you're also building a team in the region, see our guide on how foreign companies actually hire employees.
Our legal and accounting team tracks DIAN's annual calendar as soon as it's published and follows every adjustment DIAN announces afterward. We then map both against each client's NIT, so deadlines are never a guessing game. This includes:
Your deadline depends on the last digits of your NIT, matched against DIAN's calendar for the year. Because the calendar changes every year and can shift within the year, always check the current year's calendar instead of relying on last year's dates.
Yes. Once a foreign-owned entity is registered with a NIT in Colombia, it follows the same DIAN calendar as any domestic company.
No. IVA is filed bimonthly or four-monthly. Four-monthly filing applies to taxpayers whose prior-year gross income was below 92,000 UVT.
The third Friday of April is a civic day for national public entities under Decree 500 of 2024. Because deadlines are counted in business days, the April 17, 2026 deadline moved to April 20 and the later April deadlines moved back as well. That's why the RST annual return ended up due April 20 to 24 and the PES annual declaration April 23.
ICA (Impuesto de Industria y Comercio) is a municipal tax on business activity. Each municipality sets its own rates and filing schedules, so requirements can differ significantly between cities like Bogotá and Medellín.
No. The 2026 RUB deadlines (February 2, May 4, August 3 and November 3) only apply if beneficial ownership or control changed during that period. If nothing changed, you don't need to file for that period.
It's a detailed annual report of transactions, suppliers and clients that DIAN requires from certain taxpayers. It needs substantial advance preparation because of the volume of transaction-level detail.
Colombia's system doesn't offer filing extensions the way some jurisdictions do. Filing late triggers penalties and interest, so planning ahead is critical.
No. Colombia splits corporate income tax by taxpayer type. Large taxpayers (Grandes Contribuyentes) pay across February, April and June, while regular companies (Personas Jurídicas) pay across May and July. The exact day depends on the last digit of your NIT.
COP $524,000 in 2026. That's 10 UVT under Article 639 of the Estatuto Tributario, no matter how small the error or the tax balance.
Colombia's NIT-based calendar is one of the most common sources of avoidable penalties for foreign-owned businesses in Latin America. If you're not sure which windows apply to your company, or you're managing compliance across several countries, let's get ahead of it before a deadline slips by.
Email our compliance team at info@jj-associate.com or schedule a consultation to confirm your 2026 filing calendar.
Also operating in Mexico or Panama? Read our guides to the Mexico Fiscal Calendar 2026 and the Panama Fiscal Calendar 2026.
Managing beneficial ownership across borders? Colombia's RUB follows the same logic as Panama's own registry. See our guide to Panama's Beneficial Owner Registry for the comparison.
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