VAT Number Format In Colombia

Colombian VAT number contains 9 digits and 1 check digit (e.g., 012345678-A).

‍

VAT Rates In Colombia

The standard VAT rate in Colombia is 19%, with a reduced rate of 5%, and some services that are exempt from Colombian VAT, like existential foodstuffs.

• 19% (Standard) – applies to all taxable supplies with certain exceptions
• 5% (Reduced) – Corn for industrial use and other grains, vegetal material, waste or residues, some agricultural equipment, electric or hybrid vehicles destined for diverse uses, etc.
• 0% (Zero) – Meat, dairy products, equipment, and materials for the construction, installation, assembly, and operation of environmental monitoring and control systems, services, and manufactured goods to be exported

‍

VAT Payments And Returns In Colombia

All businesses with Mexican VAT number must submit periodic VAT reports and payments.

‍

VAT Payment Frequency In Colombia

All businesses with Colombian VAT number (domestic established companies) must submit periodic payments.

VAT filings and payments, as well as returns, are submitted every two months or quarterly, depending on the previous year’s earnings.

VAT Returns Frequency In Colombia

For non-established companies in Colombia (foreign business entities), VAT returns must be submitted every two months.

‍

Penalties in case of late filings or misdeclarations

In case of the late filing of VAT returns and payments, the Colombian government prescribed the 5% penalty of the value of the VAT due.

Following Art. 617. of Colombian law, requirements of the sales invoices are as follows:

• must be expressed as a sales invoice
• surname and name or reason and NIT (tax number) of the supplier
• surname and name or business name and NIT of the customer, together with the discrimination of VAT paid
• a unique, sequential number
• date of issuance
• specific or generic description of the items sold or services provided
• the total value of the transaction
• the name or business name and the NIT of the invoice printer
• indicate the quality of the retainer of the sales tax
• declared Inexequible Constitutional Court

As of 2019, all taxable persons in Colombia must use a mandatory e-invoicing platform to send and receive invoices. 

Generally, invoices in Colombia can be issued in two ways:

1. Through the DIAN upload portal for the manual submission of invoices
2. Using an authorized invoicing provider that is directly integrated with DIAN for both manual and automated issuance of invoices

Governmental body responsible for e-invoicing in Colombia:

• ‍Dirección de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales – DIAN

What does the e-invoicing process in Colombia look like?

1. The selling party generates an XML document with all required information to issue an electronic invoice and sends it to Colombian Tax Authorities (DIAN) for authorization.
2. DIAN validates the content of an XML document, authorizes the transaction, and sends the authorization back to the seller. 
3. Once the authorization is received, the selling party is allowed to issue an invoice to the buyer in a paper or electronic form, following Colombian invoicing rules, i.e. including all mandatory information on the invoice.

‍

Date updated [May 12, 2021]

‍

‍