The network covers Colombia within the South America region. Payslips there are drawn up in COP, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Spanish.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Bogota, Medellín, Cali, Barranquilla.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Colombia, running payroll on behalf of third parties is a regulated activity. It is carried on under the title of Contador Público, and a registration in force must be produced to you before any engagement.
La Ley 43 de 1990 réserve l'exercice de la « ciencia contable » aux contadores públicos titulaires d'une tarjeta profesional délivrée par la Junta Central de Contadores, et impose l'inscription auprès de la Junta des personnes morales qui offrent des services comptables. La liquidation de la paie et des cotisations, qui alimente directement la comptabilité et engage la certification des aportes de l'article 50 de la Ley 789, relève de ce champ : exiger la tarjeta du responsable et le certificat de vigencia de la société.
Colombia is a third country for Europe, with no automatic coordination keeping a posted employee attached to a home scheme, and salaries there are paid in Colombian pesos. Spanish is the language of contracts, payslips and every administrative exchange, and documents intended for use abroad generally require certified translation.
The country's dominant feature is the density of its contributory system. Contributions fund an integrated social security system covering health, pensions and occupational risk, together with parafiscal contributions for family compensation funds and training bodies. They are remitted through a single integrated form whose use is mandatory.
Colombia is among the countries where the accounting profession is genuinely reserved. Law 43 of 1990 restricts the practice of accounting science to contadores públicos holding a tarjeta profesional issued by the Junta Central de Contadores, and requires legal persons offering accounting services to be registered with it. Payroll and contribution processing, which feeds directly into the accounts and underpins the statutory certification of remittances, falls within that scope.
Enrolment in the occupational risk scheme must precede the actual start of work: it is one of the few Colombian formalities that cannot be put right after the event. The employer enrols each employee in every component of the system: health, pensions, occupational risk and the family compensation fund.
Establishment, for its part, begins with registration at the chamber of commerce of the registered office, which issues the certificate of existence and legal representation, followed by entry in the single tax register with the Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (DIAN, the tax and customs authority), which allocates the tax identification number.
An employment contract may be oral in certain cases, but writing is the prudent rule and becomes necessary for specific clauses. Colombian law distinguishes several contractual arrangements and an all-inclusive salary regime that changes the structure of remuneration: that choice must be made knowingly, at the hiring stage.
Colombian remuneration is not limited to monthly salary. Statutory social benefits are added, including a services bonus, a capitalised severance entitlement bearing interest and an allowance in kind at certain pay levels. These items must be provisioned from the first month onwards.
Contributions and withheld tax follow a monthly cycle. Settling the accrued social benefits is, when an employee leaves, the bulk of the work and must be documented.
The network asks 8 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Colombia. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 8 documents, 7 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 1 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certificado de existencia y representación legalCertificate of existence and legal representation Équivalent du Kbis : objet social, capital, représentant légal et étendue de ses pouvoirs, existence de la révision légale. L'usage colombien veut qu'il date de moins de trente jours ; certains donneurs d'ordre acceptent quatre-vingt-dix jours. | Cámara de Comercio du domicile social (réseau RUES), par exemple la Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá | 1 month Required | Official website |
| Registro Único Tributario (RUT) con NITUnique Tax Registry (RUT) with tax identification number Demander une impression récente du RUT depuis le portail MUISCA : les responsabilités fiscales listées en case 53 indiquent le régime réel de la société (agent de retenue, TVA, facturation électronique). | Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales (DIAN) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Certificado de antecedentes fiscales (Boletín de Responsables Fiscales) et estado de cuenta DIANFiscal record certificate and DIAN account statement La DIAN ne délivre plus de « paz y salvo » général : la preuve courante combine le certificat gratuit de la Contraloría, qui atteste que la société et son représentant ne figurent pas au bulletin des responsables fiscaux, et le relevé d'obligations téléchargé sur MUISCA. | Contraloría General de la República pour le Boletín de Responsables Fiscales ; DIAN pour le relevé de compte | 1 month Required | Official website |
| Certificación de cumplimiento de aportes al Sistema de Seguridad Social Integral y parafiscales (artículo 50 de la Ley 789 de 2002)Certificate of compliance with social security and payroll tax contributions Pièce sociale de référence en Colombie : elle certifie le paiement des cotisations santé, retraite, risques professionnels et parafiscales (SENA, ICBF, cajas de compensación) sur les six derniers mois. À corroborer par les planillas PILA correspondantes. | Signée par le revisor fiscal lorsqu'il en existe un, à défaut par le représentant légal ; contrôlée par le Ministerio del Trabajo et l'UGPP | 1 month Required | Official website |
| Póliza de responsabilidad civil profesionalProfessional liability insurance policy Aucune obligation légale pour un cabinet comptable ou un prestataire de paie : la Ley 43 de 1990 impose la responsabilité personnelle du contador public sans imposer d'assurance. Le marché colombien propose ces polices ; c'est donc un critère de sélection GCFFS. | Compagnie d'assurance surveillée par la Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| Tarjeta Profesional de Contador Público et Certificado de vigencia de inscripción y antecedentes disciplinariosPublic accountant professional card and certificate of registration and disciplinary record Demander le certificat pour la personne morale ET pour le contador público responsable. La Junta Central de Contadores inscrit aussi les personnes morales prestataires de services comptables et délivre pour elles un certificat équivalent : son absence est un signal fort. | Unidad Administrativa Especial Junta Central de Contadores (UAE JCC) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Cédula de ciudadanía o cédula de extranjería del representante legalNational ID card of the legal representative L'usage colombien y ajoute deux certificats gratuits et instantanés du représentant légal : antecedentes disciplinarios de la Procuraduría General de la Nación et antecedentes judiciales de la Policía Nacional. Les demander, ils ne coûtent rien. | Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil ; Migración Colombia pour les étrangers | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Inscripción en el Registro Nacional de Bases de Datos (RNBD)Registration in the National Database Registry Obligatoire pour les sociétés dont les actifs totaux dépassent 100 000 UVT, ainsi que pour les personnes morales de droit public, au titre de la Ley 1581 de 2012. L'inscription est unique mais doit être mise à jour chaque année ; un prestataire de paie détient par nature des bases de données de salariés. | Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio (SIC) — Delegatura para la Protección de Datos Personales | No expiry Required | Official website |
Validity periods are strikingly short. The chamber of commerce certificate and the record certificates are generally valid for one month only. A file assembled document by document over several weeks expires before it is complete: it has to be gathered in a single movement.
One term then invites confusion. The paz y salvo that Colombian counterparties refer to means, depending on context, the tax authority statement, the certificate issued by the Contraloría General de la República or the certification of contribution payments. Specify which one you want, or you will receive the wrong document.
The certificate of existence states, finally, whether the company has a revisor fiscal. That mention is not incidental: where one is in place, it is that officer, and not the legal representative, who must sign the certification of social security and parafiscal contribution payments.
Les documents colombiens ont des durées de validité très courtes, en général trente jours pour le certificat de la chambre de commerce et pour les certificats d'antécédents : constituer le dossier d'un coup plutôt que pièce par pièce. Appellation trompeuse : le « paz y salvo » dont parlent les candidats désigne selon les cas le relevé DIAN, le certificat de la Contraloría ou la certification de l'article 50 — préciser lequel est demandé. Dernier point utile : le certificat d'existence indique si la société est dotée d'un revisor fiscal, ce qui conditionne la validité de la certification des cotisations sociales, laquelle doit alors être signée par lui et non par le représentant légal.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Colombia, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Colombia has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
Colombia is a reserved-profession country, and we apply that framework. The responsible professional must hold the contador público tarjeta profesional issued by the Junta Central de Contadores, accompanied by the certificate of current registration and disciplinary record. The company itself must be registered with the Junta where it offers accounting services. The file is completed by the chamber of commerce certificate of existence and legal representation, the single tax register entry, the certification of contribution payments and registration with the national personal databases register.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Colombia yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in ColombiaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Colombia.