Colombia Income Tax Return 2026: Official DIAN Calendar, Who Must File and How to Prepare Before August 12

Quick answer: Colombia’s individual income tax return (tax year 2025) is filed between August 12 and October 26, 2026, based on the last two digits of your cédula or NIT. You must file if in 2025 you were a VAT-responsible party, your gross assets exceeded COP $224,096,000, or your gross income, credit card spending, or bank deposits exceeded COP $69,719,000. The first taxpayer group’s deadline is August 12.

Table of Contents

1. The Official DIAN Calendar, August Through October 2026
2. Who Must File a Tax Return This Year
3. What If You Don’t Meet Any of the Conditions
4. Documents You Need Before Your Deadline
5. How to Prepare in the Next Two Weeks
6. Mistakes That Delay or Invalidate Your Return
7. What Happens If You Don’t File on Time
8. FAQ

The Official DIAN Calendar, August Through October 2026

The general deadline window for individual income tax returns for tax year 2025 runs from August 12 to October 26, 2026, set by Decree 2229 of 2023. DIAN staggers the deadlines according to the last two digits of your cédula or NIT (excluding the check digit), so filings aren’t all concentrated on a single day.

Here are the deadlines that fall within August:

If your last two digits fall between 27 and 00, your deadline falls in September or October — the full calendar runs through October 26, 2026 for digits 99–00. You can confirm your exact date in DIAN’s official 2026 Tax Calendar.

Why knowing your date in advance matters: filing on the deadline day itself, without having gathered your documents beforehand, is the most common cause of filing errors — and of penalties that could have been avoided with a later correction.

Who Must File a Tax Return This Year

For tax year 2025, the UVT (Colombia’s annual tax value unit) used to calculate the thresholds was COP $49,799. You’re required to file an income tax return if you meet at least one of these conditions:

• You were a VAT-responsible party as of December 31, 2025
• Your gross assets as of December 31, 2025 exceeded 4,500 UVT (~COP $224,096,000)
• Your gross income in 2025 was equal to or greater than 1,400 UVT (~COP $69,719,000)
• Your credit card spending in 2025 exceeded 1,400 UVT (~COP $69,719,000)
• Your total purchases and spending in 2025 exceeded 1,400 UVT (~COP $69,719,000)
• Your total bank deposits, savings, or financial investments in 2025 exceeded 1,400 UVT (~COP $69,719,000)

Meeting just one condition is enough to trigger the obligation — you don’t need to meet all of them. This is where most people get it wrong: they assume only high earners have to file, but someone with moderate income and large bank deposits (from selling an asset, a family loan received in their account, or savings accumulated over several years) can still be required to file.

A common case: foreign tax residents

If you’re a foreigner who has already crossed the 183-day threshold of presence in Colombia within any rolling 365-day window, you’re a Colombian tax resident, and these same rules apply to you based on your worldwide income, not just what you earn in Colombia. If that’s your situation, also review our complete guide to the 183-day rule for expats before your deadline.

What If You Don’t Meet Any of the Conditions

If you don’t meet any of the conditions above, you’re not required to file — but that doesn’t mean you have no relationship with DIAN at all. Many people who aren’t required to file still had withholding tax applied during the year (on fees or financial returns, for example). In those cases, filing anyway can let you request a refund of that withheld money, even though it isn’t mandatory.

Also check whether your employer or financial institution reported exogenous information under your name — you can review this on DIAN’s portal with your user account. If the reported data doesn’t match your actual financial reality, it’s better to clarify it before DIAN contacts you on its own.

Documents You Need Before Your Deadline

Gathering these documents in advance is what separates a calm filing from a rushed one on the last day:

• Income and withholding certificates from your employer (if salaried) or fee certificates (if you invoice as an independent contractor)
• Bank certificates for all your accounts — balances as of December 31 and financial returns for the year
• Investment certificates (funds, stocks, CDs, crypto assets if applicable)
• Invoices and deduction support: prepaid medical insurance, mortgage interest, voluntary pension contributions, economic dependents
• Title certificate (certificado de tradición) for any real estate you own, to calculate your gross assets
• Full-year credit card statements, if your spending was significant
• Your updated RUT — if your economic activity, address, or contact information changed in the past year and you haven’t updated your RUT, do it before filing

How to Prepare in the Next Two Weeks

With the season opening August 12, here’s what you should do now, without waiting for your exact date:

1. Confirm your deadline using the last two digits of your cédula or NIT, excluding the check digit, from the table above or DIAN’s official calendar.
2. Check your exogenous information on DIAN’s portal — this is the information third parties (banks, employers, financial institutions) already reported about you, and it’s the baseline DIAN uses to cross-check your return.
3. Gather the documents from the previous section, even if you think you won’t be required to file — it takes ten minutes to confirm with your documentation in hand, instead of guessing.
4. Calculate your gross assets and income against the thresholds above to know with certainty whether you need to file.
5. Book time with your accountant or tax advisor at least a week before your deadline — the first half of August is when every accountant’s schedule in the country fills up the fastest.

Mistakes That Delay or Invalidate Your Return

• Filing with outdated exogenous information: if you didn’t check what third parties reported about you, your return may not match what DIAN already has on file, triggering a follow-up request later.
• Omitting minor bank accounts or investments: the obligation to declare assets doesn’t distinguish by the size of each individual asset — the total is what counts.
• Not updating your RUT before filing: if your economic activity changed and your RUT still reflects the old one, DIAN can reject or question your return.
• Confusing the tax year with the filing year: in August 2026, you’re declaring the income and assets you had during 2025, not during 2026.
• Leaving it for the last day of your window: this leaves no room to fix errors or track down a missing document.

What Happens If You Don’t File on Time

Filing after your deadline triggers a late filing penalty, calculated as a percentage of the tax owed (or of your net assets if there’s no tax owed) for each month or fraction of a month of delay, plus late-payment interest. The minimum penalty applies even if you owe no tax. We cover exactly how this penalty is calculated, with worked examples, in our guide on what happens if you don’t file your income tax return on time, published later in the season.

If you already know you won’t make your exact deadline, it’s better to file as soon as possible after it passes — every additional month of delay increases the penalty — rather than waiting for DIAN to formally require you to file, which generally results in a larger penalty.

When to Seek Professional Advice

It’s worth consulting an accountant or tax advisor, rather than handling it on your own, if:

• You have income from more than one source (salary, fees, rental income, financial returns)
• You’re a foreigner and aren’t sure whether you’ve already crossed the tax residency threshold
• You hold assets abroad in addition to assets in Colombia
• You didn’t file last year and aren’t sure whether you should have
• Your exogenous information doesn’t match what you calculate as your actual financial situation

At Nexo Legal, we help individuals and foreign residents confirm whether they’re required to file, gather the correct documentation, and submit their income tax return on time, avoiding errors that lead to avoidable penalties. If your deadline is approaching and you’re not clear on your situation, contact us before August 12.

FAQ

When does the 2026 income tax return season start in Colombia?
The general window opens August 12, 2026, for people whose last two cédula or NIT digits are 01 or 02. The calendar extends through October 26, 2026 for the last groups.

How do I know my exact filing deadline?
It’s determined by the last two digits of your cédula or NIT, excluding the check digit. Check the table in this article or DIAN’s official published calendar.

Who is required to file an income tax return in Colombia in 2026?
Anyone who was a VAT-responsible party in 2025, or whose gross assets exceeded 4,500 UVT (~COP $224,096,000), or whose gross income, credit card spending, total purchases, or bank deposits each exceeded 1,400 UVT (~COP $69,719,000).

What if I’m not required to file but had withholding tax applied?
You can file anyway to request a refund of the withheld money, even though it isn’t mandatory for you.

What documents do I need before filing?
Income and withholding certificates, bank and investment certificates, deduction support (prepaid medical insurance, mortgage interest, dependents), property title certificates, and your updated RUT.

What happens if I file after my deadline?
A late filing penalty applies, calculated month by month on the tax owed or on your assets, plus late-payment interest. The minimum penalty applies even without tax owed.

Do foreign tax residents file under the same calendar?
Yes. If you’ve crossed 183 days of presence in Colombia within a rolling 365-day window, you’re a tax resident and the same dates and conditions apply to you based on your worldwide income.

Nexo Legal helps individuals and foreign residents confirm their income tax filing obligations, gather the right documentation, and file on time. If your deadline is approaching and you’re not sure where you stand, our team can help before it becomes a penalty.

Published: August 2026 — Nexo Legal

Sources: Decree 2229 of 2023 | DIAN — 2026 Tax Calendar | Actualícese — 2026 individual income tax deadlines