Country guide · Colombia
What it really takes, what it costs every year, what you file with the IRS even with zero revenue, and what almost nobody tells you first: Colombia has no double taxation treaty with the United States, and that changes the planning.
Written by an Argentine public accountant who is a Florida notary public and an IRS-registered tax preparer. We handle and sign the US side; your Colombian accountant closes the local side, and this page tells you what they will ask for.
Colombia and the United States have no double taxation treaty. There are tax information exchange arrangements — which work, and that is why information circulates — but no treaty allocating taxing rights between the two countries.
In practice: you cannot rely on treaty clauses to settle where each peso is taxed. What remains is the foreign tax credit under the Colombian tax code, with its own requirements and limits. Manageable, but planned in advance rather than improvised on the return.
The ECE regime. When a Colombian resident controls a foreign entity, its passive income — interest, dividends, royalties, rents — is attributed to them in the year it is earned, even undistributed. If your LLC invoices services you personally perform, the discussion is different.
The foreign-assets return. Annual, informational, separate from the income tax return, and due when the value of your assets abroad exceeds the UVT threshold for the year. Your LLC holding counts. It is the obligation most often missed and the easiest to comply with when you know about it from the start.
Where the line sits. We handle and sign the US side: formation, EIN, operating agreement and the IRS filings. The ECE regime, the foreign-assets return, the foreign tax credit and the exchange-control side with the Banco de la República belong to your accountant in Colombia. What we do is hand them, in writing, everything they will ask you for.
| Item | Year 1 | Year 2 onward |
|---|---|---|
| Wyoming state fee Charged by the state, not by us | USD 102 | USD 60 annual report |
| Registered agent Mandatory under state law | Included | Annual renewal |
| Full formation LLC, EIN, operating agreement, banking guide | Quoted on your case | — |
| Mandatory federal filing Form 5472 + pro forma 1120 | Quoted per tax year | Quoted per tax year |
Wyoming charges no state income tax. Run the numbers by state in our free calculator, no signup.
One obligation does not depend on revenue: Form 5472 with the pro forma 1120, every year, starting with the first. The penalty for not filing starts at USD 25,000 and is automatic.
With the EIN and your passport you can open an account remotely at Mercury or Relay. They review what the business does and sometimes decline, especially when the activity is described vaguely. The banking guide is included and, if you are declined, we give you the fallback plan in writing.
Based somewhere else? There are country guides for Argentina, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Panama and Peru.
Your passport and little else. No visa, no US residency, no local partner and no travel. The state requires a registered agent with a physical address there, included for the first year, and the EIN is issued without a Social Security number, as a foreign owner.
Full formation is quoted on your case and includes the first-year Wyoming state fee (USD 102), the EIN, the operating agreement and the registered agent for year 1. From year two the floor the state charges is USD 60 for the annual report, plus the registered agent renewal. The mandatory federal filing is separate and quoted per tax year.
No, and it is the most important difference against Chile or Mexico. Colombia and the United States have tax information exchange arrangements, but no double taxation treaty. There is no treaty umbrella allocating taxing rights between the two countries: what remains is the foreign tax credit under the Colombian tax code, with its own requirements and limits. It has to be planned, not improvised.
If you are a Colombian tax resident you are taxed on worldwide income, so that is the starting point. There is also the annual foreign-assets return when the value of assets held abroad exceeds the UVT threshold set each year: it is informational, separate from the income tax return, and it is the one most often missed. How your LLC holding is valued and whether you must file is settled by your accountant in Colombia.
ECE stands for controlled foreign entities. When a Colombian resident has control over a foreign entity, that entity's passive income — interest, dividends, royalties, rents — is attributed to them in the year it is earned, even if nothing has been distributed. If your LLC invoices services you personally perform, the analysis differs from an entity that merely accumulates passive income.
It depends on where the income is earned, not where the company is registered. If you work from Colombia with no US office or staff, the usual answer is no federal income tax and only the informational filings. If your operation physically touches the United States — inventory, an office, people on payroll — Form 1040-NR comes into play.
This page is informational and is not individualized legal or tax advice. Your Colombian tax position is determined by your accountant there.
Two or three lines: what you will invoice from Colombia, whether there are partners, and whether you have spoken to your accountant. I answer personally with the diagnosis and a fixed quote, in writing.
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