Money laundering and tax crime:
if you were reported for evasion or omission of assets and laundering is mentioned, you must separate the tax dispute from the criminal suspicion.

The text in force of Article 323 of the Penal Code does not expressly mention omission of assets (Art. 434A), defraudation or evasion (Art. 434B) or omission by the withholding agent (Art. 402) among the source activities. It does mention, among others, smuggling, customs fraud, aiding and facilitating smuggling, crimes against public administration and against the financial system, and assets linked to crimes committed under a criminal conspiracy. That the tax offense is not listed does not eliminate the risk if the same facts fit another of those crimes.

Not declaring an asset or declaring fewer assets is a tax noncompliance that, if it exceeds the SMMLV threshold and is defined by an official assessment, can be the Art. 434A offense. Laundering assets requires handling assets originating in the activities listed in Art. 323, or giving them an appearance of legitimacy, hiding or concealing that origin. The tax fact alone does not meet those elements; what weighs is where the assets come from and what was done with them.

Article 323 sets 10 to 30 years in prison and a fine of 1,000 to 50,000 SMMLV. The penalty increases by one third to one half when exchange or foreign trade operations are used or goods are brought into the territory, and Article 324 aggravates it if the act is committed from a legal entity or organization dedicated to laundering, and further for its heads or administrators. It is punishable even if the source activity took place abroad. That the penalty is high is a reason to decide each step with advice from day one.

No. Extinguishment of the criminal action by payment of taxes, penalties and interest (up to 2 times, as amended by Art. 69 of Law 2277 of 2022) is provided only for Arts. 434A and 434B. It does not cover money laundering or asset forfeiture. That is why payment should be assessed with a strategy that looks at both fronts before deciding. See /extincion-accion-penal-pago-dian.

It is the action under Law 1708 of 2014 by which assets can pass to the State by judgment, without compensation (Art. 15). Its grounds (Art. 16) include assets that are the direct or indirect product of illicit activity, unjustified asset growth with elements that reasonably suggest it comes from illicit activities, and lawful assets mixed with illicit ones; it also applies to assets subject to succession. It is a proceeding separate from the criminal action. Not every tax investigation leads to it, but it is wise to have ready the proof of the lawful origin of your wealth.

Do not transfer or hide assets, do not destroy or alter documents, do not give statements or interviews without a lawyer and do not ignore DIAN's requirements. Gather your returns, the acquisition support for each asset, bank statements and every act received, and take them to a lawyer who can see both fronts. You have the right to remain silent and to technical defense.

With a single team and a single strategy. What is said or paid in the tax channel can be read in the criminal proceeding, and vice versa. Ligal handles the defense from start to finish: the dispute of the assessment, the accounting proof of the origin of funds, the decision on whether to pay, and representation in the investigation, the charge, the indictment and the trial.

Ligal is a firm specialized in tax law and tax criminal law. Under the direction of Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto, an ex-DIAN tax lawyer, together with accountant Jeysson Pulido and LIGAL Auditores (certified public accountants), we combine the legal argument with the accounting proof of the origin of funds and handle the defense from start to finish, before DIAN and in the criminal proceeding. Our work is backed by 5.0 / 5 on Google with 36 reviews: https://share.google/VVzMvULrOj8Mj52Au. The team handles real cases of audits, enforced collection and tax litigation. No result is guaranteed.