The Prosecutor's Office summoned you to an imputation hearing for a tax crime:
what happens there, whether to accept the charges and how to defend yourself are decided before the hearing, with ex-DIAN lawyers and accountants at your side.

It is not mandatory and it should not be decided without analysis. Accepting the charges set out in the imputation brings a reduction of up to half the sentence (art. 351); the proceedings count as the indictment, the trial judge verifies that it is free, voluntary and spontaneous, and calls a hearing for sentencing, with no later retraction unless a defect of consent or a violation of guarantees is shown (art. 293 and par.). In other words, accepting amounts to a conviction with a reduced sentence. It is worth deciding with the possible sentence, the strength of the evidence, the option to pay and extinguish the action, and the effect of a conviction on sentence substitutes and records.

Law 906 provides that accepting the charges set out at the imputation hearing brings a reduction of up to half the sentence (art. 351, par. 1). If the agreement is reached later, after the indictment is filed and up to the initial questioning at trial, the reduction is one third (art. 352). In crimes where the perpetrator obtained a patrimonial gain, no agreement is made until at least 50% of the value of the gain is returned and collection of the remainder is secured (art. 349); how that requirement operates in a tax crime is analyzed in the case. The reduction is a maximum, not an entitlement to a fixed percentage.

It depends on the crime. In failure to remit withholdings, a person who extinguishes the tax obligation by payment or offset of the sums owed, with interest, becomes entitled to a dismissal, preclusion of the investigation or cessation of proceedings in the criminal case, without prejudice to administrative penalties (Criminal Code, art. 402, par.). In omission of assets and in tax fraud or evasion, the criminal action is extinguished up to twice when the person pays the taxes, tax penalties and interest; if the opportunity principle was already applied or the action was previously extinguished by payment, payment only allows a reduction of the sentence of up to half (arts. 434A and 434B, par. 2). The paragraphs set no cut-off procedural moment, but when and how to pay, and how to prove it, is part of the strategy. Extinction leads to preclusion (Law 906, art. 332, num. 1). See extinction of the criminal action by payment.

The prosecutor may request it before the control-of-guarantees judge (Law 906, art. 306), but it is not automatic. The judge orders it only if the evidence supports a reasonable inference that you may be the perpetrator or participant and one of three requirements is met: that the measure is necessary to prevent you from obstructing justice, that you pose a danger to society or the victim, or that you probably will not appear or comply with the sentence (art. 308). The provisional legal classification is not enough, by itself, to infer those risks (art. 308, par. 1). Pre-trial detention in prison applies, among other cases, to crimes prosecutable ex officio whose minimum penalty is or exceeds four years (art. 313, num. 2); articles 402 and 434A have a minimum of 48 months, which fits that case if the requirements of article 308 are also met, while 434B starts at 36 months, which in principle places it among the non-custodial measures of article 315, unless the sentence is increased by amount. Non-custodial measures include electronic monitoring, periodic reporting, a ban on leaving the country and bail, among others (art. 307). Provisions that restrict liberty are exceptional and their application must be necessary, suitable, proportionate and reasonable (art. 295).

If you were summoned and fail to appear without justified cause, the hearing is held with the lawyer you appointed to represent you; if that lawyer does not attend either without justification, the judge appoints a public defender and the imputation is formulated in their presence (Law 906, art. 291). Declaring a person absent has additional requirements when the person cannot be located. Not showing up is usually worse than appearing with a defense, because you lose the chance to prepare the intervention.

Yes. The statute of limitations of the criminal action is interrupted by the formulation of the imputation and, once interrupted, starts to run again for a period equal to half of that set in article 83 of the Criminal Code, which cannot be less than three years (Law 906, art. 292). Article 83 sets the limitation period at a time equal to the maximum penalty, not less than five years nor more than twenty, subject to the paragraphs it provides.

Accepting the imputation means admitting the charges as the Prosecutor's Office formulated them, with a reduction of up to half the sentence (Law 906, art. 351, par. 1). A plea agreement is a negotiation with the Prosecutor's Office on the facts charged and their consequences; if there is a favorable change in the sentence, that is the only compensatory reduction (art. 351, par. 2), and it binds the trial judge unless it disregards or breaches fundamental guarantees (par. 4). Plea agreements may be made from the imputation hearing on and, after the indictment is filed, with a reduction of one third (art. 352). Talks aimed at an agreement cannot be used against you if they are not completed (art. 8, lit. d).

In the crimes of articles 434A and 434B, the amount is defined by the official assessment of the tax authority, and the criminal action proceeds provided that no administrative appeals are pending or there is no reasonable interpretation of the applicable law, provided that the facts and figures declared are complete and true; DIAN may request that criminal action begin through a special petition of a committee headed by the Director General or their delegate (par. 1). The tax and criminal fronts are separate but connected proceedings: what is done in one affects the other, so the defense must be coordinated. See DIAN criminal complaint.

Not necessarily, but the opposite cannot be assumed either. Suspension of the execution of the sentence applies, among other requirements, when the sentence imposed does not exceed four years (Criminal Code, art. 63), and article 68A excludes conditional suspension, house arrest and other benefits where the person was convicted of an intentional crime within the previous five years and, in the list it provides, those convicted of intentional crimes against the public administration, with the exceptions the article itself provides. Since articles 402, 434A and 434B are in Title XV, that point must be analyzed before accepting charges or deciding on an agreement. Each case depends on the resulting sentence, the record and the applicable case law.

Yes. Ligal handles the defense from start to finish: it studies the summons, quantifies the payment, decides with you whether to accept, pay or contest, attends the imputation hearing and the others, and follows the case until it ends. Under the direction of Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto, a tax lawyer and ex-DIAN, together with Jeysson Pulido, accountant, and Ligal's team of lawyers, we combine the criminal reading of the facts with the exact calculation of what is owed. Our work is backed by 5.0 / 5 on Google with 36 reviews: https://share.google/VVzMvULrOj8Mj52Au. The team handles real audit, enforced-collection and tax and criminal tax litigation cases. No result is guaranteed.