Is Colombia on the List of Countries Collecting the Most Income Tax?

So if you can only stay in Colombia for six (6) months before having the joy of paying taxes where do you stay during that six months?

Are there fully furnish apartments/condos that you can rent out for only six months in Colombia?

1. airbnb.com

Now if you insist on staying the whole time in Poblado, Medellín, your stay will cost significantly more with airbnb.com than another option in other locations.

2. Monthly hotel discounts

My current monthly rent in the border city of Ipiales works out to $11 US per night.  That's a discount from the daily rate amounting to over 67 percent off.

I often stay at a hotel that is new to me for a few days, and if I like it I ask for the monthly rate.  The discount I found in Poblado, Medellín was not nearly the percentage as here.

3.  Brother Archer may have a Spanish-language site with low rates for furnished apartments.

cccmedia in Ipiales, Nariño

cccmedia wrote:

3.  Brother Archer may have a Spanish-language site with low rates for furnished apartments.

cccmedia in Ipiales, Nariño

Nope, but...

All I can suggest is the usual Locanto, look under INMOBILIARA for apartments, rooms (habitaciones), temporary rentals (alquileres temporales) etc.  This is for El Poblado in Medellín:

https://www.locanto.com.co/geo/922322/E … -Medellin/

Medellín is big enough that Locanto has specific sites for other neighborhoods - look on the right hand side of the page under LOCANTO EN LUGARES CERCANOS and click on the area of interest .

And of course the usual searches like:
poblado apartamentos amoblados

https://www.google.com/search?q=poblado … p;ie=UTF-8

CanadaDoug wrote:

Hey  Louis e...

You can stay in Colombia for 6 months on an extended tourist visa (income tax free) during any 1 year calendar period from January to December.

Under current tax law, worldwide income is subject to tax by Colombia for any stay(s) totaling 183 or more days in a 365-day period, regardless whether or not the 183 days fall within the January-December period of a given year. 

For instance, a stay from October 1, 2018, to April 21, 2019 would incur worldwide tax exposure for tax year 2019.

cccmedia in Depto. de Nariño

I have an American friend here in Armenia. He tells me that he has stayed over 6 months in a year in Colombia. He reports that after the extension is finished (6 months in a year) he has left the country for a day or more and returned. Colombian customs just gave him another 3 month tourist stamp. Go figure.
A point of interest with Nicaragua. If you get busted as an illegal (visa overstay or whatever) they just give you a small fine and let you go. I don't think they deport anybody. In the Dominican Republic you only have to pay an small overstay fine (about 200 dollars for a full year).

Has he been doing that on a regular basis? And what has been his point of departure? Airport or land border?

Colombia doesnt deport anyone. But the fine is not small ..a few hundred thousand pesos.

The following is based on what happened to me when I overstaid 90 day passport stamp in 2010.

This was flying out of Cali. Thing may be a lot different know a days and flying out of a different locatiion

They dont deport or you or prevent you from coming back but take mug shots of you and a bunch of finger prints

However when I overstaid in 2010 there was no system.to.pay the fine on the wayout at the Cali airport  so the airlines wouldnt let me get on the flight. The flight was on a Saturday

I had to reschedule the flight for the following Tuesday after I went to the immigration Office and paid the fine and had the mug shots and fingerprints.

Talking to.lawyers I understand this was ilegal.No one can prevent you from.leaving the Country for other than child support or  major criminal activity.

I sure as heĺl wouldnt do these things on a regular basis. Very vas practice. Just get your visa extensions or 3 year visa.

I think your friend in Armenia is either lie-ing (Very common in Colombia amongst expats  and locals) or the less likely explanation is the immlgration agent screwed Up.

Another posibility is the 180 day period was mostly in the previous year and he left Colombia for 1day eisrly  in the new year.Remember you are allowed 180 days in a Calendar year

Maybe....does anybody know if the 180 day max is being enforced or not? Any personal stories? Any examples?
This one caught me surprise. They don't enforce the return flight law. Is there a possibility they are not enforcing the maximum 180 in a calendar year law?

Telling what happens in Nicaragua or what happened in Colombia in 2010 is in no way predictive of what the authorities will do here at the Colombia-Ecuador border tomorrow, next week or in August when the new administration takes office.  Nor can you reliably predict what the authorities will do at the international airports in Colombia based on occurrences in Nicaragua or 2010 Colombia.

Anecdotal reports of non-enforcement by Colombian authorities of the 180-day rule are no guarantee against being fined for future overstays.

Quechimba got it right -- follow the rules, get legal extensions .. and sleep well at night.

cccmedia near the Colombia-Ecuador border, at Ipiales, Colombia

During my past year in Colombia, these things have happened to me....

Customs agents showed up unexpectedly one day at noon at my hotel in Popayán.  I was made to go immediately with them to their office in that city .. but was let go without a fine for not holding a cédula when it was discovered that I had registered my one-year visa .. and had requested a cédula.

Several weeks later here in Ipiales, immigration agents showed up one morning at my hotel seeking documents.  Apparently, they had more pressing matters to attend to:  by the time I finished dressing and came out to answer questions, the several officers had left the scene and did not come back.

Well after that visa expired, several weeks ago a government agency contacted my current hotel here and wanted to verify my papers were still in order after seven months in town.  I provided my passport to my hotel reception desk, which they photocopied, showing my current permit extension.  That resolved the issue.

....

The point is that the level of scrutiny of any individual and the movements of agents of La DIAN, Inmigración or other authorities in Colombia are unpredictable.

Keep your nose clean .. abide by the immigration rules .. and you should be okay.

cccmedia in Ipiales, Nariño

Sounds like you were the only gringo in town and they were extremely bored and had nothing else to do.

I have never heard of any such bizzare behavior in 14 years travelling to and living in  Colombia.

Must be a side of the story we are not hearing.

The original topic here has to do with taxes in Colombia.

Off-color attacks on expat.com members are not welcome.

The Home Office will review this thread presently and moderate as needed.

cccmedia
member, expat.com experts team