Mercantile Registry: What is it?

If you are reading this article, it is because you are aware that for the success and growth of a business it is very important to follow the path of legality. That is why you must know how to create a company in Colombia.

To do it smoothly, it is vital to have accounting advice in Colombia, where you will have specialized guidance to carry out a procedure to which you must give priority: the commercial registry.

It is a legal management that serves to open financial doors for your business, comply with legal regulations, be more visible, generate trust between customers and suppliers, be a State contractor or benefit from Government business strengthening projects. Here we explain how to do it.

What is it?

It is a record in which the registration information and the business establishment(s) of the applicant are recorded, in addition to the most relevant commercial documentation.

Through this registry, subsequent procedures can be carried out, such as the change of fiscal address, the change of business address, the change of owner, among others.

What is the process?

Managing the commercial registration of your business is relatively simple. The first thing you must do is define in what legal form you will make the registration. There are 2 options:

• Natural person: when the commercial activity is carried out in their own name.
• Legal person: the business is the result of a partnership between 2 or more people. A legal representative is required.

The next step is to check if your business name is available. You must do it through the Single Business Registry (RUES) tool.

Article 35 of the Commercial Code establishes that chambers of commerce cannot register 2 or more businesses or companies with the same name. In this regard, it indicates that “in cases of homonymy of natural persons, the registration may be made provided that with the name it uses some distinctive to avoid confusion.”

After being certain that the company name is not registered, make sure that your activity can be carried out in the place where you will have the headquarters. Make the consultation in the curatorships or in the Municipal Planning Secretariat.

One step away from enrollment

If you have already reached this point, you are very close to having your business legally constituted. What follows is:

• Enter the website of the Directorate of National Taxes and Customs (DIAN) to complete the process of issuing the RUT (Single Tax Registry). This is a registry that allows the classification, identification, and location of natural and legal persons subject to obligations with that entity.
• When you go to apply for commercial registration, you must submit a copy of the RUT, in addition to the identity document of the owner of the business (individual) or of the partners (legal entity), together with a letter requesting the incorporation of the company.
• Almost there. Now you must request the liquidation and make the payment for registration fees through the website or at the headquarters of the Chamber of Commerce of the locality where the business will be based. The value was defined by the national government in decree 1074 of 2015, depending on the range of business assets.

Once these processes have been completed, the procedure is ready, and your business will be legal.

At what stage of company registration is it carried out?

The commercial registration process must be carried out during the first month of operation of the establishment.

But, so that you do not expose yourself to a sanction, remember that between January 1 and March 31 of each year you are obliged to renew it, regardless of the time that has elapsed since the initial request.