Buying an apartment, a house or a lot outside Colombia is not only a real estate decision. If you are a Colombian tax resident, the property becomes part of your tax base (Tax Statute Art. 9), its rents are income (Arts. 26 and 27), it may require the annual foreign assets return (Art. 607), it normally calls for registering the investment with the Banco de la República, and it conditions the tax on a future sale (Art. 300). Ligal reviews the purchase before you sign, or puts in order a property you already own, with ex-DIAN attorneys and CPAs, end to end.
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If you are a natural person who is a Colombian tax resident, the Tax Statute (Art. 9) subjects you to income and complementary tax on your Colombian and foreign-source income and occasional gains, and on your net worth held inside and outside the country. A property in Miami, Madrid or Panama City is not left out: its rent is income (Arts. 26 and 27), its sale may generate ordinary income or an occasional gain (Art. 300), its value is part of your net worth and, if your foreign assets exceed the legal threshold, it must be reported in the annual foreign assets return (Art. 607). Residency is defined by Art. 10 (for example, staying more than 183 calendar days within any period of 365 consecutive days, plus additional criteria for Colombian nationals), not by your passport or by where the property is located.
Alongside the tax front there is a foreign exchange front and an asset front. The purchase is normally an international investment by a Colombian resident that is registered with the Banco de la República: Decree 1044 of 2026, which amended Art. 2.17.2.5.1.1 of Decree 1068 of 2015, provides that the registration declaration may be filed at any time (initial or additional investment, changes and cancellation), and that the foreign exchange declaration serves as the registration when the funds were channeled through the exchange market. And how the property is titled (in your name, as a couple, in a company or in a trust) changes the tax, foreign exchange and succession analysis. This page covers the property itself; for omission of assets as a crime, for the general foreign exchange regime and for succession we refer you to the related pages.
Key points on property abroad
We assist the Colombian resident who buys, manages, rents or sells property outside the country, and the one who discovers pending duties on a property already purchased.
01
We determine whether you are a tax resident under Art. 10 of the Tax Statute and, with that, how much of the property, its rents and your net worth enters the Colombian base (Art. 9). If you are not a resident, we explain what changes and the risks of a later change of residency.
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We include the property in your income tax return, assess whether the 2,000 UVT threshold of Art. 607 is crossed and prepare the annual foreign assets return. If years were left unfiled, we study regularization and its penalties before DIAN acts.
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We review how the property was paid for (currency channeled through the exchange market, or funds without channeling) and the registration of the investment under Decree 1044 of 2026 and the Banco de la República's current rules, including changes and cancellation upon sale.
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We structure the net calculation of rents received abroad (income, costs and expenses) and assess the credit under Art. 254 for income tax paid in the country where the property is located, within the limit of the Colombian tax on those same rents.
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We project the tax on the sale before you list: holding period (two years, Art. 300), tax cost, the 15% occasional gain rate (Art. 314) or ordinary income, credit for taxes paid abroad and cancellation of the foreign exchange registration.
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We compare, at a conceptual level, the titling routes (individual, couple, company, holding or trust, with lifetime gifts or marital agreements where appropriate) and coordinate the succession effect, without promising that a foreign property will be unattachable or hidden.
A property abroad crosses tax law, the foreign exchange regime, family and succession law, and accounting. Our team brings those disciplines together on one front.
Director · Tax Attorney · Ex-DIAN
Attorney with experience inside DIAN. He knows first-hand how income tax returns and foreign assets returns are cross-checked and reviewed, and how costs, credits and registrations are supported.
Tax and foreign exchange attorneys
Specialists in tax residency, foreign assets, registration of investments with the Banco de la República, titling structures and coordination with succession, gifts and marital agreements.
CPAs and tax auditors
Experts in the net calculation of foreign rents, the property's tax cost, asset value, the credit for taxes paid abroad and the preparation of income tax and foreign assets returns.
A property abroad does not become unattachable through a structure, and leaving it out of your returns has tax consequences and, depending on the facts, criminal ones. We plan lawfully and with documentation, not to hide assets.
We analyze the Colombian side (income tax, net worth, foreign assets, foreign exchange regime and succession) on the documents you provide. The local rules on ownership, taxes and inheritance of the country where the property sits must be confirmed under its own law.
The tax on a sale, the asset value or the credit for taxes paid abroad depend on the tax cost, the dates and the supporting documents. Without the deed, payment records and returns, we give only prudent ranges and say so.
At Ligal we combine the regulator's inside view with the practical view of the family or investor who buys abroad. We work on real cases of Colombian residents who need to buy with the right documentation, file on time, register the investment and sell without tax surprises.
The information on this page is general and does not replace the analysis of your specific case: rules, rates, UVT thresholds, double taxation treaties and Banco de la República rules may change, and the consequences depend on the facts, the dates and the rules of the country where the property is located. No outcome is guaranteed.
Direct contact with leadership
Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto
Director · Tax Attorney · Ex-DIAN
We begin with a confidential review of your tax residency, the property (purchased or planned), how it was paid for and the returns and registrations that already exist, to define the right roadmap.
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Initial assessment within one business dayWe review your tax residency, the deed or purchase agreement, the payments and transfers, the income tax and foreign assets returns already filed and the Banco de la República registration, and identify what is pending.
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Depends on the case and the country of the propertyWe define the right titling if you have not yet purchased, prepare the returns and the foreign exchange registration, project rents and sale, and regularize whatever is overdue.
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Continuous counselWe support each year's reporting of the property, the sale and the cancellation of the registration, and take over representation before DIAN if there is a request or a penalty.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, if you are a Colombian tax resident. Art. 9 of the Tax Statute subjects resident natural persons to income and complementary tax on their Colombian and foreign-source income and occasional gains, and on their net worth held inside and outside the country. So the property forms part of the net worth you report, its rents are income and its sale may generate ordinary income or an occasional gain. In addition, if your foreign assets exceed the legal threshold, the annual foreign assets return applies (Art. 607). Residency is determined under Art. 10 (for example, more than 183 days of stay within a period of 365 consecutive days, among other criteria). Having declared the property in the country where it sits does not replace the Colombian return.
Under Art. 9 of the Tax Statute, natural persons without residency in the country are subject to income and complementary tax only on their Colombian-source income and occasional gains and on their net worth held in Colombia. In principle, a property abroad, its rents and its sale fall outside the Colombian base, and the foreign assets return (Art. 607) does not apply to someone who is not taxed on worldwide income and net worth. Three cautions: residency is assessed every year under Art. 10, and a change of residency can bring the property into the Colombian base; the country where the property sits applies its own rules to non-residents; and foreign exchange duties have their own rules that cannot be inferred from tax residency.
Art. 607 of the Tax Statute requires it from income tax payers taxed on Colombian and foreign-source income and net worth (and from those under substitute regimes) who hold foreign assets of any nature. Under its paragraph, it is required only if the tax value of foreign assets on January 1 exceeds 2,000 UVT. Each asset whose tax value exceeds 3,580 UVT is detailed (nature, type, tax value and jurisdiction); the others are declared in aggregate by jurisdiction. It is informative: no tax is liquidated. Illustration with the 2026 UVT (COP 52,374): 2,000 UVT = COP 104,748,000 and 3,580 UVT = COP 187,498,920; always apply the UVT of the year. A property bought during the year is, as a rule, measured on the following January 1.
The Tax Statute provides specific penalties for this return. Under the compiled text, a late filing is penalized for each month or fraction with 0.5% of the value of the assets held abroad (1% if filed after the prior notice for failure to file), capped at 10% of that value (Art. 641, par. 1); failure to file, with 5% of the gross net worth in the last income tax return or the amount DIAN determines, whichever is greater (Art. 643, num. 8); and errors under Art. 651, according to DIAN Official Letter 4077 of 2024. These are tax penalties. Hiding foreign assets as a tax crime is a different matter, which we address on the omission of assets page. Always verify the text in force when the events occurred.
Normally yes: the purchase of a property abroad by a Colombian resident is an international investment that is registered. Decree 1044 of 2026 amended Art. 2.17.2.5.1.1 of Decree 1068 of 2015: investors or their attorneys file the registration declaration with the Banco de la República at any time, for initial or additional investments, changes of holders, destination or receiving company, and cancellations. If the currency was channeled through the exchange market, the foreign exchange declaration serves as the registration; if there was no channeling, the Banco's procedures apply. It takes effect the day after publication in the Diario Oficial and does not modify formal tax obligations. It does not make registration optional or remove the foreign exchange penalty regime: confirm the current procedure before acting.
If you are a tax resident, yes: they are foreign-source income within your worldwide income (Arts. 9, 26 and 27 of the Tax Statute), and for someone not required to keep accounting books the income is deemed realized when actually received in money or in kind (Art. 27). If the country of the property charged you income tax on those rents, Art. 254 lets you credit it against the Colombian tax, whatever its name, without exceeding the tax you must pay in Colombia on those same rents, which for that limit are calculated net by allocating income, costs and expenses. Taxes that are not income taxes, such as a property tax, are not credited this way and are analyzed as a cost or expense case by case. Keep contracts, receipts and proof of tax paid abroad.
It depends on the holding period. If the property was your fixed asset for two years or more, the profit is an occasional gain (Art. 300 of the Tax Statute), equal to the sale price minus the tax cost, taxed at the single 15% rate for resident natural persons (Art. 314). If you held it for less than two years, the profit is not an occasional gain but ordinary net income, taxed at the natural-person income tax rate. Art. 300 does not distinguish by the location of the asset, and DIAN has applied it to a property abroad (Official Letter 910049 of 2021). If the country of location charges income tax on the sale, assess the credit under Art. 254. If you sell in the ordinary course of a business, the asset is not a fixed asset (Art. 300, par. 2).
Yes, lawfully and after prior analysis. How the property is titled (in your name, as a couple, through a company or a trust) changes the tax treatment, the foreign exchange duties and the succession, and there is no single formula. A holding or a trust can organize control and transfer; a lifetime gift or marital agreements change who the owner is and how the marital property regime is liquidated; and inheriting a foreign asset also requires looking at the law of the place. What we do not offer is making a foreign property unattachable or invisible: leaving it out of your returns has tax consequences and, depending on the facts, criminal ones. See the pages on holding and trust, lifetime gifts, marital agreements and succession with assets abroad.
Keep the deed or title from the country of location (with translation where required), the closing or settlement statement of the purchase, proof of payment and of the transfer of funds (which support the tax cost and the foreign exchange record), the foreign exchange declaration or proof of registration with the Banco de la República, lease contracts and receipts, and proof of the taxes paid abroad that you want to credit (Art. 254 of the Tax Statute). For the sale, the tax cost is determined under the rules of Title I of Book I of the Tax Statute (Art. 300, par. 1) and must be provable. DIAN may request support, and without documents it is hard to substantiate costs, credits or the foreign exchange registration.
We review the purchase before you sign, put in order the returns and registration of a property you already own, or project the tax on the sale, under strict confidentiality.