The special customs requirement is the act with which DIAN formally starts the process to impose a penalty or assess customs duties and taxes. Law 2586 of 2026 gives 15 business days to respond, with objections and a request for evidence, and allows you to settle (allanamiento) for a reduced fine. Ligal handles the defense from start to finish, from the response to the appeal, the lawsuit and, if the case requires it, the criminal front, with lawyers, accountants and ex-DIAN experience.
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The customs penalty regime in force is Law 2586 of 2026 (Official Gazette 53,527 of June 19, 2026), which applies from its promulgation and repealed Decree-Law 920 of 2023. Article 66 provides that the customs authority will issue the special customs requirement against the alleged author of an infraction to propose the penalty, or against the declarant or customs user to propose an official assessment, and that its notification formally starts the administrative process. Article 69 sets out its content: the aspects of the declaration it proposes to modify, the quantification of customs duties and taxes, rescue payment or penalties, the involvement of the customs agent, the guarantor and other persons involved where applicable, the facts that constitute the infraction and the rules relied on. DIAN must issue it within 30 business days of the date the alleged infraction was established or the inaccuracy identified (Art. 67). It is not the same as the tax special requirement of the Tax Code (Art. 703), which prepares the revision assessment of a tax return and is answered within 3 months (Art. 707); the customs one is answered within 15 business days.
The response is filed within 15 business days of notification, with the objections and the request for the evidence you wish to rely on, and it needs no personal presentation (Art. 70). If notification is electronic, Article 104 provides that it is deemed made when the email is sent, but the deadlines to respond start to run only after 5 business days counted from the day after the email is delivered; that is why a lawyer should fix the exact due date. After the response, DIAN orders and takes the evidence (Art. 71) and has 70 business days to issue the act that decides the matter (Art. 72). If the customs operation began under Decree-Law 920 of 2023 and before Law 2586, Article 112 provides that the applicable regime of infractions and penalties is the one in force when the operation began, without prejudice to the more favorable rule; the customs obligations whose breach is penalized are, in general, those of Decree 1165 of 2019 and the rules amending it (Art. 15). For the separate procedure of seizure of goods, see customs seizure and forfeiture.
Keys to the special customs requirement
Ligal takes the case from the day of notification: the same team that builds the response before DIAN prepares the appeal, the lawsuit and, if needed, the criminal defense, without promising results.
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We review what the requirement proposes (a penalty, an official assessment or both), which declarations it covers, how it quantifies and whom it involves (customs agent, guarantor, other persons involved). We fix when the term expires, which regime applies to the operation and whether there is room to settle or correct.
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We prepare the brief within the 15 business days with the substantive objections and the evidence: invoices, sale contracts, transport, payments, certificates of origin, technical data sheets. The law also lets you submit videos, flowcharts or certifications explaining the logistics of the operation, and DIAN must assess them as a whole.
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Jeysson Pulido and LIGAL Auditores quantify duties, interest and the penalty in each scenario. With them we decide whether to settle (in whole or in part), when and with what reduction, or whether it is better to contest the penalty because the infraction did not occur.
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If DIAN rules against you, we file the reconsideration appeal or sue directly before the administrative courts. We watch that the case does not escalate into a seizure or a criminal complaint, and if it does we take on that defense too.
A special customs requirement is won with customs law and with numbers. At Ligal the same team handles it, from the response to the lawsuit.
Director · Tax lawyer, ex-DIAN
Leads the legal strategy from start to finish: the response to the requirement, the appeal, the lawsuit and, if the case escalates, the defense on the criminal front.
Accountant · Quantification and traceability
Reconstructs the operation from the accounting and supporting documents, quantifies duties, interest and penalties and models the settlement and payment scenarios.
Certified public accountants
Accounting and technical support to substantiate the value, origin and description of the goods before DIAN.
If the requirement is not answered, the process continues and positive administrative silence does not arise (Art. 96). Answer in writing, within the term and with the evidence.
Settling means acknowledging that the infraction was committed. It reduces the fine but requires paying duties and interest and does not cover the rescue payment. First you need to know whether the infraction exists and what each path costs.
What you tell DIAN in a call, an email or a visit goes into the file and can be read as accepting the facts. Route everything in writing and with a lawyer's review.
With the requirement in hand, the first step is to date the notification and calculate the due date, gather the import declarations, invoices, contracts, transport, payments and certificates of origin, and understand whether what is proposed is a penalty, an official assessment or both. With the figure clear, you decide between contesting, settling or combining both routes. Ligal handles the defense from start to finish: the response before DIAN, the appeal, the lawsuit and the criminal front if one opens. Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto, tax lawyer and ex-DIAN, leads the strategy together with accountant Jeysson Pulido and LIGAL Auditores (certified public accountants). The team, with lawyers, accountants and direct experience inside DIAN, handles real cases of tax audits, enforced collection and tax litigation.
Please note: each case depends on its facts and its stage. Ligal assesses the situation and defines the strategy without promising results.
Director
Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto
Tax lawyer · Ex-DIAN
The special customs requirement has a short term from notification. We assess your case within 48 business hours. Use the form or open Diagnosis.
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TodayWe review the requirement, the date and manner of notification, the import declarations involved and the supporting documents of the operation.
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48 business hWe determine what is proposed, how much, what evidence exists and is missing, whether settlement is available and what seizure or criminal risk exists.
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Within the termWe define whether to respond, settle or combine routes, and prepare the brief within the term that runs from notification.
Frequently asked questions
It is the act with which DIAN proposes a penalty to the alleged infringer or an official assessment to the declarant or customs user, and its notification formally starts the process (Law 2586 of 2026, Art. 66). First, date the notification, calculate when the response period expires and gather the import declarations and the supporting documents of the operation. Do not ignore it: if it is not answered, the process continues.
Fifteen business days following notification, with the objections and the request for evidence (Art. 70 of Law 2586 of 2026). When notification is electronic, Article 104 provides that the deadlines to respond start to run after 5 business days counted from the day after the email is delivered. The term can be extended, without exceeding 70 business days, when it is necessary to prove compliance with legal or administrative restrictions as support for a correction declaration. Because a miscalculation can cost the defense, ask a lawyer to fix the date.
The tax one under the Tax Code (Art. 703) is the step before the revision assessment of a tax return and is answered within 3 months (Art. 707). The customs one belongs to the regime of Law 2586 of 2026: it can propose a penalty, an official assessment of customs duties and taxes, or both, and is answered within 15 business days. They are different procedures with different deadlines and appeals; if you received a requirement about taxes, see the tax special requirement.
The most frequent ones in imports are in Article 15 of Law 2586: an inaccuracy in the declaration that leads to lower payment of duties and taxes (fine of 10% of the amount not paid, num. 15.2.2.6); declaring a taxable base lower than the customs value (50% of the difference, num. 15.14.2.1, only if there is lower payment); claiming preferential tariff treatment without a valid proof of origin (40% of the duties and taxes not assessed and paid, num. 15.15.2.1); inaccuracies that breach legal or administrative restrictions (600 UVT per operation, num. 15.2.2.10); partial errors in serial number or description (15% of FOB value, num. 15.2.2.4, which does not apply if corrected within 30 business days of DIAN detecting the error); and failing to close in time a short-term import-for-re-export-in-the-same-state or active processing operation (400 UVT per operation, num. 15.2.2.9). Which applies depends on the facts.
It is acknowledging in writing that the infraction was committed in order to obtain a reduction of the fine (Art. 19). If the acknowledgment is voluntary and made without customs intervention before the requirement is notified, there is no penalty, except for the gravest infractions; if it is voluntary and in writing, before the requirement but with prior customs intervention, the fine is reduced to 20%. After the requirement is notified and until the decision on the merits, it is reduced to 40%; within the term to appeal the decision on the merits, to 60%. You must attach the receipt for payment of the duties and taxes, interest and the reduced penalty. It does not apply to late-payment interest or to the rescue payment, it can be total or partial, and settlements are not recorded in the INFAD (Art. 24, par. 6).
In the response you can request the evidence you wish to rely on and add elements such as videos, presentations, flowcharts or certifications on the logistics of the operation, which DIAN must assess as a whole (Art. 70). Once the response period ends, within the following 10 business days the taking of evidence is ordered by a reasoned order; the term is 2 months if it takes place in the country and 4 months if abroad (Art. 71). If you invoke a ground for exemption, such as force majeure or due diligence (Art. 23), the burden of proof is yours.
The process continues and DIAN has 70 business days to issue the act on the merits (Art. 72). In addition, positive administrative silence does not arise when no response to the special customs requirement has been filed (Art. 96). Whoever does not respond loses, at that stage, the chance to object and to submit or request evidence.
Against the official assessment, the forfeiture or the resolution imposing the penalty, a reconsideration appeal lies within 15 business days of notification (Art. 88); DIAN has 5 months to resolve it (Art. 94) and its decision exhausts the administrative stage (Art. 95). If you properly answered the requirement, you may skip reconsideration and sue directly before the administrative courts (Art. 88, par. 2). The annulment and restoration of rights action is filed within 4 months after notification of the act (Law 1437 of 2011, Arts. 138 and 164).
They are separate fronts that can coincide. Seizure of goods follows its own procedure (seizure record and objections brief within 15 business days, Art. 45). On the criminal side, once final, the official assessment must send a copy to the unit in charge of promoting criminal action where applicable (Art. 73, num. 14), and the administrative penalty power lapses in 8 years, not 3, if the facts are also defined as crimes such as smuggling or customs fraud (Art. 20, par. 1). Customs fraud under Article 321 of the Penal Code requires supplying, manipulating or hiding information in order to evade customs duties and taxes above 20 monthly minimum wages, and carries 8 to 12 years in prison; not every inaccuracy is a crime. That is why one team for both fronts is advisable.
Law 2586 of 2026 applies from its promulgation (June 19, 2026). For an operation that began under Decree-Law 920 of 2023 and before that date, Article 112 provides that the regime of obligations, infractions and penalties is the one in force when the operation began, without prejudice to the more favorable rule, and that pending proceedings are governed by the rules in force when they began. Which text benefits you must be reviewed with the file in hand.
Ligal is a firm specialized in tax, customs and tax criminal law. Under the direction of Juan Santiago Rodríguez Prieto, tax lawyer and ex-DIAN, together with accountant Jeysson Pulido and LIGAL Auditores (certified public accountants), we combine the legal argument with the accounting evidence and handle the defense from start to finish: the response to the requirement, the appeal, the lawsuit and, if one opens, the criminal front. Our work is backed by 5.0 / 5 on Google with 36 reviews: https://share.google/VVzMvULrOj8Mj52Au. The team handles real cases of tax audits, enforced collection and tax litigation. No result is guaranteed.
Free. Attach the requirement, the import declarations involved and the supporting documents of the operation. We assess the deadline, the figure and the strategy.