Colombia’s tariff is moderate, its VAT 19%, and its customs rules changed a lot in 2026. Here is the tariff with its peaks, the tax stack with a worked example, who can import, how Paraguayan goods enter under ACE 72, small shipments, free zones, Plan Vallejo, the 2026 trade disputes and the new penalty law.
Colombia sits in the middle of the region on tariffs: an average applied rate of about 6.8%, most lines between 0% and 15%, zero on many raw materials and capital goods not produced locally, and much higher protection on apparel, footwear, vehicles and some farm goods. Add 19% VAT and the tax side of most imports is predictable.
What makes 2026 interesting is everything around it: a new customs penalty law in June that cut the number of infractions by two-thirds, a short trade war with Ecuador that came and went, a US tariff on Colombian exports, and a customs authority (DIAN) preparing a new management system. This guide covers the tariff, the tax stack with a worked example, who can import, how Paraguayan goods enter under ACE 72, small shipments, free zones and Plan Vallejo, and the penalties.
For a side-by-side comparison of all six markets, see our regional customs guide.
Colombia’s customs tariff was reorganised by Decree 1881 of 2021 on the Andean NANDINA nomenclature. Most rates are 0%, 5%, 10% or 15%, with higher rates for agriculture, vehicles and clothing. Raw materials and capital goods not produced in Colombia are generally at 0%, a policy reviewed every six months; in 2025 the government proposed restoring duties on 37 items now produced locally.
Apparel
40% for non-agreement origins on chapters 61–62, applying also to goods leaving free zones for the domestic market.
Footwear
35% on low-priced non-agreement shoes below set FOB prices per pair, for five years from mid-2026.
Inputs for apparel and footwear
0% on 37 input lines from November 2025 to November 2027.
Farm goods
Andean price band adds variable duties on sensitive products.
Most of the peaks exclude trade-agreement partners, which matters for Mercosur and Paraguayan goods.
Law and practice: Decree 1881/2021; Decree 2598/2022 (apparel); Decree 0594/2026 (footwear); Decree 1184/2025 (inputs); WTO tariff profile 2025.
| Charge | Rate | Base |
|---|---|---|
| Customs duty (arancel) | Mostly 0–15%; higher on farm goods, vehicles; 40% on non-agreement apparel; 35% on low-priced non-agreement footwear | CIF value |
| Andean price band | Variable duties on sensitive farm goods | By product |
| VAT (IVA) | 19% general; 5% and exempt lists | CIF + duty |
| Excise (vehicles) | 8–16% | By product |
| Liquor consumption tax | Specific per alcohol degree plus ad valorem | By product |
| “Healthy” taxes | 20% on ultra-processed foods in 2026; specific tax on sugary drinks | By product |
VAT on imports is paid at clearance on the customs value plus duty and credited by the importer against VAT on its sales. Some goods are excluded or exempt, and a short list carries 5%. Product-specific taxes — on vehicles, liquor, ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks — are costs passed to consumers. Taxes introduced by the economic emergency decree of December 2025, including extra VAT on liquor imports, were struck down by the Constitutional Court in 2026.
Law and practice: Tax Statute arts. 459, 468-1, 513-1 and 513-6; Constitutional Court ruling C-006/26 on healthy taxes; ruling of April 2026 on Decree-Law 1474/2025.
| CIF US$100,000 | Non-agreement origin, 10% duty | Paraguayan origin (ACE 72, 100% margin) |
|---|---|---|
| Duty | 10,000 | 0 |
| VAT base | 110,000 | 100,000 |
| VAT 19% | 20,900 | 19,000 |
| Total at clearance | 30,900 | 19,000 |
| Of which pure cost for a VAT-registered importer | 10,000 | 0 |
For a VAT-registered importer, the cost of a non-agreement product is the duty; VAT comes back. For a Paraguayan product on a line with a full preference, the cost is zero. Colombia does not charge a separate customs processing fee on ordinary imports, which keeps the stack simple.
The importer must be registered in Colombia’s tax register (RUT) with the right status: domestic companies, individuals and branches of foreign companies. A foreign company with no Colombian entity or branch cannot be the importer of record.
Since 2019 a customs broker is no longer mandatory above US$1,000; importers can declare directly through their legal representative or a registered attorney. Many still use a customs agency for complex goods or high volumes. Authorised Economic Operators get faster controls and can pay a month’s duties early the following month.
Licences and permits
Through the foreign-trade single window (VUCE), about five working days: prior licences for weapons, chemical precursors and used machinery; INVIMA for food and medicines; ICA for agricultural goods; technical regulations for electrical equipment.
Advance declaration
Required for sensitive goods such as textiles, apparel, footwear and some machinery.
Value declaration
Customs value declared electronically; DIAN is completing the transition.
Inspection
Risk-based; only a small share of operations is physically inspected at major ports.
Law and practice: Decree 1165/2019, arts. 10 and 32–33; DIAN Resolution 046/2019; Decree 659/2024.
A foreign company cannot import into Colombia in its own name without a Colombian company or registered branch. Most exporters sell to a Colombian distributor or customer, who acts as importer, pays duty and VAT and credits the VAT. Payments for imported goods must be channelled through Colombia’s regulated foreign-exchange market, which in practice means a Colombian bank, and are reported as exchange operations.
Sell to an importer
Price FCA, CPT or DAP; the buyer clears and recovers VAT.
Branch or subsidiary
A Colombian SAS or a branch of the foreign company imports, holds stock and sells locally; a branch is a common route for foreign groups.
Free-zone distribution
Stock held in a free zone without duties or VAT, imported into Colombia as each order is sold.
Samples and spares
Express regime up to US$2,000 and 50 kg.
Our Colombia market-entry guide covers the entity choice. Whatever the model, agree in the contract who handles permits such as INVIMA registrations, because they are held by a Colombian party and can tie a product to one distributor.
Paraguayan goods enter Colombia under ACE 72, the Mercosur–Colombia agreement in force between Colombia and Paraguay since January 2019, which carried over the preferences of ACE 59. Colombia grants Paraguay preferences on 6,492 of 6,524 tariff lines — about 99.5% — with an average preference of about 97%. Most goods enter at 0%, but some lines carry a partial preference, as low as 14.3%; check the exact line before quoting.
Certificate of origin
Issued by Paraguay’s authorised bodies, paper with signature, valid 180 days; the clock stops while goods are in a free zone or under a temporary regime.
Third-country invoicing
Allowed, which helps Paraguayan exporters selling through a trading company.
Cumulation
With the Andean countries, under the agreement’s rules.
Peak duties
Colombia’s 40% apparel and 35% footwear measures exclude agreement origins, so qualifying Paraguayan goods escape them.
Law and practice: ALADI fact sheets for ACE 72 and ACE 59; Colombian Ministry of Trade (MinCIT). Colombia has 18 trade agreements in force.
| Postal and express shipments | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Up to US$200 FOB | No duty, whatever the origin (DIAN, 2026); IVA exemption only where a trade agreement requires it, in practice for US goods |
| Express up to US$2,000 and 50 kg | Simplified regime: flat 10% duty plus 19% VAT on CIF |
| Above, or commercial goods | Ordinary import |
DIAN confirmed in 2026 that the tariff exemption for shipments up to US$200 applies whatever the origin, while the VAT exemption applies only where a trade agreement requires it. An attempt in the December 2025 emergency decree to change the VAT threshold was voided by the Constitutional Court. For businesses, the express regime is useful for samples and spare parts; commercial stock goes through ordinary import.
Law and practice: Decree 1165/2019, art. 261 (as amended by Decree 1090/2020); DIAN Concepto 1470/2026.
Colombia’s free zones suspend customs duties and VAT on goods entering the zone and exempt domestic purchases of inputs from VAT. Industrial users pay a reduced 20% income tax on export income if they meet an internationalisation and annual sales plan, filed by 30 September of the previous year; other income is taxed at 35%. Users qualified before December 2022 keep the 20% rate unconditionally.
Goods leaving a free zone for the Colombian market are imported at that point and pay normal duties and VAT — including the apparel and footwear peaks for non-agreement origins.
Law and practice: Law 1004/2005; Tax Statute art. 240-1 as amended by Law 2277/2022; Decree 047/2024; Constitutional Court ruling C-384/2023.
Plan Vallejo for goods
Full suspension of duties and VAT on raw materials and inputs used in exported products.
Plan Vallejo for capital goods
Duty exemption and VAT deferral against export commitments.
Plan Vallejo for services
Exports of at least 1.5 times the imported value, with a guarantee.
Replacement plan
Duty-free replacement of inputs already used in exports, requested within 12 months.
Temporary import
Short term for six months, extendable by three; long term up to five years with duties paid in instalments.
Colombia has no classic drawback, and the export refund certificate (CERT) is set at 0%; Plan Vallejo does the job instead.
Law and practice: Decree-Law 444/1967; Decrees 285/2020 and 809/2023; Decree 1446/2022.
In February 2026 Colombia imposed a 30% tariff on 73 Ecuadorian product lines — rice, beans, plantain, cocoa, cane sugar, oils, footwear, ethanol and others — in retaliation for Ecuador’s “security fee” on Colombian goods. The Andean Community ordered both measures removed in May, and Colombia repealed its tariff in June 2026 with a 45-day phase-out. In July 2026 the US imposed a 12.5% tariff on many Colombian exports under a Section 301 action; Colombia has not retaliated and has asked for its suspension.
For importers into Colombia, the lesson from the Ecuador episode is that even within a customs union, tariffs can appear in weeks. Supply chains that depend on a single neighbouring source should have an alternative.
Law and practice: Decree 0170/2026 and Decree 0583/2026; Andean Community decision of 8 May 2026.
Cartagena and Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast handle most container imports from Europe, the US and Asia via Panama; Buenaventura on the Pacific is the gateway for Asian cargo to Cali and Bogotá. DIAN does not publish import clearance times, but its export data show that the slowest part of the process is usually the declarant and the terminal, not customs itself.
Because the customs value is the CIF value, freight and insurance are in the duty and VAT base. After customs come the domestic taxes that touch the importer’s cash: a financial transactions tax (GMF) of 4 per thousand on bank withdrawals and transfers, municipal industry and commerce tax (ICA) on resale, and VAT withholding regimes for some buyers. None of these is a customs charge, but all of them belong in the landed-cost model of a distributor.
For goods from Paraguay, sea freight via the River Plate or Brazilian ports and the Panama Canal is the usual route. Transit times are long and the duty saving under ACE 72 is real but modest compared with freight; product categories where Colombia’s peaks apply — apparel, footwear — are where the agreement makes the biggest difference.
Colombia’s customs penalty regime was rebuilt in 2026 after the Constitutional Court struck down the previous decree. Law 2586 of 19 June 2026 cuts infractions from 357 to 110 and seizure grounds from 42 to 26, counts sanctions per transport document, waives fines for a first minor infraction corrected within three years and for self-correction before DIAN notice, and lowers the fine for goods not presented.
Lower fines do not mean less control: DIAN has announced a new customs management system, a new risk-selection engine and advance data requirements. The safest assumption is fewer but better-targeted inspections.
Law and practice: Law 2586/2026; Constitutional Court ruling C-072/2025; DIAN roadmap announced September 2026.
NANDINA line, duty, peak measures, VAT rate, product taxes.
RUT with importer status; decide direct filing or a customs agency.
INVIMA, ICA or technical approvals through VUCE before shipping.
ACE 72 certificate for Paraguayan goods; check the line’s preference.
Free zone or Plan Vallejo if you process for export.
Cartagena, Barranquilla or Buenaventura, depending on origin and destination.
About 6.8% (simple average applied rate); most lines are 0–15%, with higher rates on farm goods, vehicles, apparel and footwear.
The duty and 19% VAT on CIF plus duty, plus product taxes on vehicles, liquor, ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks.
No. Since 2019 importers can declare directly through their legal representative or an attorney; many still use a customs agency.
Most enter at 0% under ACE 72 with a certificate of origin; a few lines have only partial preferences.
Colombia imposed a 30% tariff on 73 Ecuadorian lines in February in response to Ecuador’s security fee; both measures were removed by June 2026.
No. The importer of record must be registered in Colombia; foreign exporters sell to a Colombian importer or use a local SAS or branch.
Payments for imported goods must go through the regulated foreign-exchange market, in practice a Colombian bank, and are reported as exchange operations.
Colombia’s regime for suspending duties and VAT on inputs and capital goods used to produce exports.
Law 2586 of June 2026 cut infractions from 357 to 110, reduced seizure grounds and allows fine-free self-correction in many cases.
The southern neighbour, and the 2026 trade war.
Entity, tax and hiring basics.
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