Do I need legal advice to incorporate a company in Colombia?

If you are an entrepreneur and one of your purposes revolves around the incorporation of a company in Colombia; You must bear in mind your obligations, since you have to comply with a series of legal requirements that the laws of the country require. In this sense, it is essential that you receive legal advice regarding the incorporation of a company. In this article we will tell you more about it.

Know these legal requirements to start a business in Colombia.

Why should I receive legal advice regarding the creation of companies in Colombia?

It is important to note that Colombian laws are very rigid in terms of compliance, and many investors are completely unaware of how Colombian legislation in tax, commercial and labor matters work. This action results in lawsuits, fines and infractions being filed against companies.

That is why legal advisers play a preponderant role for the economic activity of the country, since they are the professionals in charge of explaining to companies before establishing themselves, what are the legal procedures that they must follow according to the type of company, to avoid any inconvenience with government entities before, during and after formalizing the commercial operation of the company.

Legal steps to follow to formalize a company in Colombia

Next, we will present a series of legal steps that you must follow if you want to formalize the incorporation of a company in Colombia.

1. Draft the bylaws

Before setting up a company, bylaws must be drafted mentioning a series of details (both financial and legal) regarding the company are mentioned, such as:

• Capital to invest
• Duration time
• Legal representative
• Representative bodies

In this order of ideas, it is important that you get proper advice from a specialist, because many investors (especially foreign investors) tend to present legal problems with public entities because they are not correctly informed of the legal requirements at the time of incorporating a company.

2. Availability of the company name

You have to make sure that the name you want to put to the signature is not being used by another company. Otherwise, it will be invalidated when it is presented in the commercial register.

3. Tax registration

Any company that intends to be incorporated in Colombia must have a RUT, through which the legal name of the company will be registered before tax office “DIAN”.

Once registered, you must keep a strict bookkeeping control of all income and expenses that the company receives. In such a way that, at the time of an audit, you can demonstrate to the representatives of the entity that you have complied with your tax obligations and there is no irregularity.

At this point, it is crucial that you also get advice on tax matters regarding the exact date on which the Income Tax is declared, the fees to be paid in relation to the net profits obtained and the possible fines to be paid in case of filing a violation.

4. Register the legal documents at the Chamber of Commerce

Once the previously mentioned requirements have been met, you must take all the legal documents to the Chamber of Commerce of the city of incorporation to formalize the incorporation of the company in Colombia.

The authorities that make up said organization will review each document in detail to ensure that there are no irregularities. Then, they will be approved, and you will be authorized to establish the company in the country.

It is recommended that before submitting the files to the business entity, you first show them to a legal advisor for a thorough review. In such a way that there is no mistake in the documents and avoid inconveniences with the representatives of the Chamber of Commerce.

Find out what companies are being set up in Colombia.

As you can see, the incorporation of a company in Colombia, although it is not a complicated process, it is important that you make sure you adequately comply with each legal step that is indicated so that you can put your company into operation within the country, being the legal advice your best option so that there are no mistakes when creating your company.