Colombia Tax Residence: the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

You are a tax resident of Colombia when you are in the country for more than 183 calendar days inside any period of 365 days in a row. The days can be continuous or split over several visits, and your arrival day and departure day both count. If the stay runs over two tax years, you are resident from the second year. Residents pay Colombian income tax on income and assets from the whole world. The rule is in article 10 of the Tax Statute, and the DIAN, Colombia's tax and customs authority, applies it.

Limit: 183 days. Day 184 makes you resident
Period: Any 365 calendar days in a row, not the calendar year
A day counts when: You are in Colombia, including the days you enter and leave
Law: Tax Statute (Estatuto Tributario), article 10
Run by: DIAN, the national tax and customs authority

Who it applies to

Digital nomads who stay in Medellín or Bogotá for many months, often on a visitor or nomad visa.
Foreigners with a Colombian partner who come and go during the year.
Retired people who spend more than half of the year in Colombia.
Colombian nationals who live abroad and need to know when Colombia still treats them as resident.
Employees sent to Colombia on a project that starts late in one year and ends in the next.

The rule

Article 10 of the Tax Statute lists who is resident in Colombia for tax. The first test is presence: you stay in the country, continuously or not, for more than 183 calendar days, including the days of entry and exit, during any period of 365 consecutive calendar days. The article adds that when this stay falls on more than one tax year, you are treated as resident from the second year. The tax year in Colombia is the calendar year.

The second test covers people in the foreign service of the Colombian state, and people linked to them, who are exempt from tax in the country of their mission under the Vienna conventions. They are resident in Colombia for tax.

The third test applies only to Colombian nationals. A national is resident if, during the tax year, one of these is true: the spouse or permanent partner, or dependent minor children, are tax resident in Colombia; 50% or more of the person's income is from Colombian sources; 50% or more of their property is managed in Colombia; 50% or more of their assets are held in Colombia; they were asked by the tax authority to prove residence abroad and did not; or they are tax resident in a place that the government lists as a tax haven.

Nationals caught by the third test are still not resident if 50% or more of their yearly income has its source in the country where they have their home, or 50% or more of their assets are located there. To prove residence abroad, a national shows the DIAN a tax residence certificate from the other country.

Why it exists

Colombia taxes residents on income from every country and on assets inside and outside Colombia. Non-residents are taxed only on Colombian income and Colombian assets. The 183-day test gives a simple line, and the moving period of 365 days stops people from avoiding it with a stay that crosses the end of December. The extra tests for nationals keep people with strong family and money ties inside the tax system.

Counting the days

You count the calendar days you were in Colombia inside any 365 days in a row. The day you enter and the day you leave are both counted.

Get your entry and exit dates from your passport stamps or from the migration authority's record.
Count every day in Colombia for each visit, with the entry day and the exit day included.
Take any period of 365 days in a row and add up the days inside it.
If the total is 184 or more, the presence test is met.
Look at where the days fall. If they are all in one calendar year, you are resident for that year. If they fall in two years, you are resident from the second year.
If you are a Colombian national, check the family, income and asset tests too.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts every day on which you were in Colombia for any part of the day, inside the 365 days that end today, and shows the total against the limit of 183. Your arrival day and departure day both count, as the Tax Statute counts them. When a stay runs over two tax years, you are resident for the whole second year, even after the old days leave the card's 365-day period, so open the tracker to see past times you went over. Countr does not track the extra tests for Colombian nationals, such as family in Colombia or half of your income or assets there.

Track Colombia Tax Residence on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

Download on the App Store

Examples

A stay over two years

Marta arrives on 1 August 2025 and leaves on 15 March 2026. She has 153 days in 2025 and 74 days in 2026, a total of 227 days inside 365 days. Her 184th day is 31 January 2026. Because the stay falls on two tax years, she is resident from the second one. She is non-resident for 2025 and resident for the whole of 2026, including the months after she left.

All the days in one year

Jonas arrives on 10 February 2026 and leaves on 12 August 2026. Counting both travel days, that is 184 days, all inside 2026. He is a tax resident of Colombia for the tax year 2026. If he had left one day earlier, on 11 August, he would have 183 days and would not meet the test.

Travel days push the count over

Ana makes six visits in 12 months. She counts 172 full days and forgets the 12 days on which she arrived or left. With those days the total is 184, and she is over the limit. The Tax Statute says the days of entry and exit are included, so a flight that lands at 23:30 still gives one counted day.

Exceptions

Colombian nationals can be resident with fewer than 184 days, through the family, income, property, asset and tax haven tests.
A national caught by those tests is not resident if 50% or more of their yearly income, or 50% or more of their assets, is in the country where they have their home.
People in the Colombian foreign service who are exempt from tax abroad under the Vienna conventions are resident in Colombia with no day count.
When the days fall on two tax years, residence starts in the second year, not in the first.
A tax treaty between Colombia and the other country can decide the residence for the treaty if both countries claim you.

Common misconceptions

“The 183 days are counted from January to December.”: No. The Tax Statute uses any period of 365 consecutive days. A stay from October to May can make you resident although neither calendar year has more than 183 days.
“My visa says tourist, so I cannot be a tax resident.”: The test for foreigners is only about days of presence. The type of visa is not part of article 10.
“The day I land and the day I fly out do not count.”: They count. The law says the 183 days include the days of entry into and exit from the country.
“If I leave Colombia early in the second year, I am not resident for that year.”: If your stay passed 183 days and crossed into a second tax year, you are resident for that whole second year. Leaving in March does not change it.

Questions and answers

Is it 183 days or 184 days to become a tax resident of Colombia?

You need more than 183 days, so the 184th day inside 365 days is the one that meets the test. With exactly 183 days you are not resident by presence.

What does resident from the second year mean?

When the days that take you over 183 fall in two different calendar years, Colombia treats you as resident for the second of those years. You are not resident for the first year because of that stay.

What changes when I become a tax resident of Colombia?

Residents are taxed on income from Colombia and from abroad, and on assets inside and outside the country. Non-residents are taxed only on Colombian income and assets, and they use a different return, form 110.

Do short trips out of Colombia reset my count?

No. The days can be continuous or not. Every day in Colombia inside the same 365 days is added, however many trips you make.

I am Colombian and live abroad. Am I still a tax resident?

You can be, even with few days in Colombia, if your spouse or minor children are tax resident there or half or more of your income or assets are there. A tax residence certificate from the other country is the way to show the DIAN that you are resident abroad.

How does the DIAN know how many days I was in Colombia?

Entry and exit are recorded at the border by the migration authority. Keep your own record too, because the DIAN looks at the whole situation and can ask you to prove your days.

Sources

See all trackers

This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.