Before you start

A passport, and a cédula de extranjería once you hold a visa, which allows online RUT registration
An honest day-count of time physically in Colombia across any rolling 365-day window, entry and exit days included
Records of worldwide income and assets, including foreign balances and property
For a letting business: the property title, the horizontal-property reglamento, and land-use certification from the district

Step-by-step

1
Track your days from the day you land
You become a Colombian tax resident on an aggregate 183 days or more within any 365 consecutive days. The window rolls rather than following the calendar year, and residency attaches in the year the 183rd day falls. Residents are taxed on worldwide income; non-residents only on Colombian-source income — which, note, includes rent from a Santa Marta flat whether you are resident or not.
OnlineWho: You, or a Colombian contadorOngoing from arrival
2
Register a free RUT with DIAN
The RUT is your DIAN registration and generates your NIT. With a cédula you can usually do it online through MUISCA; with only a passport, DIAN's Santa Marta office handles it by appointment with a pre-filled Formulario 001 and a passport copy. It is free, and banks increasingly want it before opening a foreigner's account.
OnlineWho: You, with DIANSame day to about a weekFree
3
Convert thresholds using the correct year's UVT
Nearly every Colombian tax figure is quoted in UVT, republished by DIAN each December for the following year. Filing obligations trigger at 1,400 UVT of gross income, consumption or bank deposits, and 4,500 UVT of gross worldwide assets — a threshold a Santa Marta property alone can cross. A return filed this year for last year's income uses last year's UVT.
OnlineWho: You or your contadorAn hour or two
4
Register for district ICA if you invoice independently from Santa Marta
The Impuesto de Industria y Comercio is a district tax on industrial, commercial and service activity carried on within Santa Marta, charged on gross receipts at a rate per thousand set by activity code, and filed with the district's hacienda rather than DIAN. Salaried employment is outside ICA. Independent professionals, tourism operators and letting businesses working from a Santa Marta address are generally inside it, and the rates and calendar are the district's own.
OnlineWho: You, with Santa Marta's Secretaría de Hacienda DistritalRegistration once; returns on the district calendarRate per thousand of gross receipts, by activity code
5
If you will let short-term, get the tourism side right first
Accommodation for stays under thirty days is a tourism service. It requires active registration in the Registro Nacional de Turismo, and in an apartment building the horizontal-property reglamento must expressly permit the provision of accommodation — administrators can report unauthorised units and the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio enforces. Land-use certification from the district is also part of the file. Confirm the reglamento before you buy, not after.
OnlineWho: You, with MinCIT via the chamber of commerce, plus your building's administrationBefore the first booking; RNT renewed annually
6
File the declaración de renta between August and October
The tax year is the calendar year and the individual filing window runs roughly mid-August to late October, with your date fixed by the last two digits of your NIT as shown on the RUT, ignoring the verification digit. File and pay through MUISCA. Property owners should also diarise the district's annual predial deadlines, which are separate and carry their own early-payment discount.
OnlineWho: You or your contadorAnnual, on your NIT-assigned dateFiling is free; a contador handling a foreigner's return typically charges from COP 400,000 upward

Documents you’ll need

Passport and cédula de extranjería
RUT certificate showing your NIT
Income evidence: foreign and Colombian income, rental receipts, retención en la fuente certificates
Asset and bank records for the patrimonio declaration, valued at the 31 December exchange rate
For letting: RNT certificate, the horizontal-property reglamento and district land-use certification

Things most newcomers don’t know

Letting your Santa Marta flat for stays under thirty days is a regulated tourism activity, and your building's by-laws — not the platform — decide whether you may do it at all.

Registration in the Registro Nacional de Turismo is mandatory, and for an apartment the horizontal-property reglamento must expressly authorise the provision of accommodation. Administrators report unauthorised units to the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio. Buyers who model their numbers on nightly rates without reading the reglamento can find the entire business case illegal in that building.

Source: MinCIT — Registro Nacional de Turismo; Ley 675 de 2001 (propiedad horizontal)

Model a short-let business on the water supply as well as the occupancy rate, because guests do not tolerate a dry tap.

Essmar's supply is intermittent enough that the district declared a public calamity over drought, and some neighbourhoods went up to fifteen days without service during the 2026 high season. For a residential tenant that is an inconvenience; for a nightly let it is refunds, one-star reviews and cancelled bookings in the weeks you make your margin. Storage capacity and a carrotanque arrangement are capital costs of the business, not optional extras.

Source: Essmar supply alerts and district calamity declaration, 2026

Rental income from a Santa Marta property is Colombian-source income and is taxable here even if you are not a Colombian tax resident.

The 183-day residency test decides whether Colombia taxes your worldwide income; it does not decide whether Colombia taxes Colombian rent. Non-resident owners still have Colombian obligations on the rent, and typically need a RUT and often a local representative. Owners who spend three months a year here routinely assume they are outside the system entirely.

Source: PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries — Colombia, income determination and non-residents

Assuming a digital-nomad visa or a foreign employer keeps you outside Colombian tax residency is the most common and most expensive error.

Residency is a physical-presence test and nothing about the visa class or the payer's location changes it. Santa Marta is pleasant enough that people stay longer than planned, cross 183 days in a rolling window without noticing, and acquire a worldwide-income filing obligation retrospectively. Count the days from arrival, including the days you flew in and out.

Source: DIAN residency rules; Estatuto Tributario art. 10

Common mistakes to avoid

Buying an apartment to let by the night without first reading the horizontal-property reglamento, which may prohibit accommodation outright.
Letting short-term without active RNT registration, which the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio can sanction.
Modelling a short-let return without pricing water storage in a city that has gone days without supply.
Assuming a digital-nomad visa or a foreign employer keeps you outside Colombian tax residency — only staying under 183 days in any rolling 365 does.
Believing that not being a tax resident means Colombian rental income is untaxed — it is Colombian-source and taxable regardless.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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