Services · Foreign investment
Register the investment. Keep the right to take money out.
Foreign capital that enters Colombia must be channelled through the exchange market and registered with Banco de la República. Registration is what gives you the legal right to repatriate profits and capital. It is also the step foreign buyers discover last.
- Channel the funds correctly on the way in, not retroactively.
- Covers company capital, real estate and portfolio investment.
- Reported alongside your Colombian tax position, by one firm.
Register my investment.
No cost, no commitment. We reply the same business day.
Three things worth knowing before you start.
Exchange market
Money has to arrive through the right channel.
Foreign investment must be channelled through an authorised exchange market intermediary and declared on the corresponding exchange form. How the funds arrive determines whether the investment can be registered at all.
Repatriation
Registration is what lets profits and capital leave.
The right to remit dividends abroad and to repatriate capital on a sale rests on the investment being properly registered. Unregistered capital is the reason a sale stalls years later.
One file
The exchange side and the tax side are the same story.
The registered investment, the company's books, the dividend withholding and your personal return have to agree. When different providers handle each, they usually do not.
Scope
What the engagement covers.
Structuring the inflow
How the funds should arrive so the investment is registrable.
Exchange declarations
The exchange forms that accompany capital entering the country.
Registration with Banco de la República
Filing and evidence of the registered foreign investment.
Real estate investment
Property purchases registered as foreign investment, with the notarial file.
Dividends and repatriation
Withholding, remittance and the supporting file when money goes out.
Annual updates
Keeping the registered amount aligned with what the company actually holds.
How it works
From the transfer to a registered investment.
The sequence matters more than the speed: an investment structured correctly on the way in registers cleanly, while one that arrives the wrong way has to be corrected before it can be registered at all.
- Before you transfer01
Route the funds
Which vehicle receives the money, through which intermediary, and on which exchange declaration.
You receiveWritten instructions before the wire leaves.
- On arrival02
Exchange declaration
The declaration that accompanies the inflow, completed with the correct investment code.
You receiveFiled exchange declaration.
- Registration03
Banco de la República
The investment recorded in the central bank's foreign investment registry.
You receiveEvidence of registered foreign investment.
- Each year04
Keep it current
Updates when capital changes, profits are capitalised or shares are transferred.
You receiveRegistry aligned with the books.
- On exit05
Repatriation
Dividends or sale proceeds remitted abroad with the withholding correctly applied.
You receiveRemittance file that survives review.
Who does what
One point of contact. Two kinds of work.
Some of this the firm signs and answers for. The rest is performed by a specialist the firm engages, briefs and supervises, so you never have to manage a second provider. We tell you which is which before you start.
Handled by the firm
Structuring the inflow and the exchange declarations
Prepared and filed by the firm.
Handled by the firm
Registration with Banco de la República and annual updates
Filed by the firm.
Handled by the firm
Dividend withholding, remittance file and the tax treatment
Calculated and signed by the firm.
Coordinated by the firm
Property purchase deed and title work
Executed before a Colombian notary with the firm's real estate counsel, who is briefed and supervised by the firm.
In short
The essentials, in three lines.
- 01Foreign capital entering Colombia must be channelled through the exchange market and registered as foreign investment with Banco de la República.
- 02Registration is the legal basis for remitting dividends abroad and repatriating capital when the investment is sold.
- 03Real estate bought by a non-resident with funds from abroad is foreign investment and is registered on the same basis as company capital.
Who answers
A licensed Colombian Public Accountant, not a filing agent.
Kathiuska Villegas Padilla is a Contadora Pública with a postgraduate specialization in Tax Management and IFRS certification. She has been a statutory auditor, a finance and accounting director and a group controller before directing the firm. She sets the technical position on every engagement and signs what leaves the office.
We work inside your company's software
QuickBooks
- Zeus
Questions
What people ask before they start.
It usually surfaces at the worst moment: when you sell, or when you try to send profits abroad. Depending on how the funds originally arrived, the position can sometimes be regularised, and there is an exchange penalty regime for late or omitted filings. We review what actually happened before telling you what is possible — never the other way round.
Real estate bought by a non-resident with funds brought in from abroad is foreign investment for exchange purposes and should be registered. Many foreign buyers complete the purchase through a notary, never register the investment, and only discover the gap when they sell.
The filings are administrative and in Spanish, and the difficulty is not the form: it is having the money arrive through the right channel with the right declaration in the first place. Most corrections we are asked to make are on investments that were already in the country before anyone asked the question.
Yes. Capital contributed by a foreign shareholder into a Colombian company is foreign direct investment and is registered as such. The company's own accounting has to reflect the same figures the registry holds.
Often needed alongside this.
Company formation
S.A.S. incorporation, Chamber of Commerce, RUT and NIT, e-invoicing and the opening books.
Read moreTax residency and personal returns
The 183-day rule, worldwide income, foreign assets, treaty relief and your Colombian return.
Read moreAccounting and IFRS reporting
Full-cycle bookkeeping in your software, monthly IFRS statements and a management report in English.
Read more
Free initial call
Start with a call, not a contract.
Thirty minutes to understand what you are trying to do in Colombia, what already exists and what the sequence should be. You leave with a written next step whether or not you engage us.
What arrives after the call
24 hours
A written proposal within 24 hours, with scope, deliverables, owners and fees. Third-party costs are itemised separately and paid at cost.
Register my investment.
Free initial call. Written proposal. We reply the same business day.
Talk to the firm
Two ways to start. Both answer today.
Free initial call
Thirty minutes that order the year.
- TodayWe write back to confirm a time.
- 30 minA call with the director, in English.
- 24 hA written proposal with scope and fees.
WhatsApp, direct
Message us now. The firm replies, not a bot.
A specific question, a deadline this week or a letter from the tax office. We reply the same business day.
+57 316 664 6068
Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00 Colombia time