There's one Colombian tax form almost no foreigner has heard of. Missing it is expensive.

Formulario 160, also called the Declaración de Activos en el Exterior, is Colombia's annual foreign asset declaration. Every Colombian tax resident with foreign assets above a low threshold must file it. Every year. On time.

The threshold is low. The penalties are automatic. The DIAN already knows about your foreign accounts through CRS reporting. And most foreigners find out about the requirement the year after they should have started filing.

Here's what you need to know.

Who Must File

You must file Formulario 160 if you are a Colombian tax resident and your total foreign assets exceed 2,000 UVT as of 1 January of the reporting year.

For 2026, that's COP 104,748,000 — approximately USD $32,460.

The threshold is total assets, not net wealth. Debt against foreign assets doesn't reduce the number.

Assets held anywhere outside Colombia count: bank accounts, brokerage accounts, retirement accounts still in your name (RRSPs, 401(k)s, superannuation, ISAs), real property, private company shares, cryptocurrency, foundations, trusts, insurance policies with cash surrender value, loans owed to you.

What You Have to Declare

Every foreign asset with a value above certain reporting thresholds.

Assets above 3,580 UVT (roughly USD $58,000) must be listed individually, with country, type, and value.

Assets below that threshold can be reported in aggregate.

Values are reported in Colombian pesos at the DIAN's official 1 January exchange rate for the asset's currency.

When You File

Formulario 160 is filed annually, on a calendar rolling deadline that depends on the last two digits of your NIT (Colombian tax ID). Deadlines typically fall between April and October, with different dates for different NIT ranges.

The DIAN publishes the calendar each year. Check it. Missing your specific date triggers penalties regardless of whether you owe money.

The Penalties

This is why the form matters:

• Late filing: 0.5% of the total value of the foreign assets for each month of delay, capped but rising fast. If we’re talking about a USD$800,000 property, that’s USD $4,000 per month maximum penalty.

• Non-filing (never filing): the penalty can reach 5% of the total foreign assets value, plus separate penalties for the underlying income that should have been declared. If we’re talking about a USD$800,000 property, that’s USD $40,000 maximum penalty.

In serious cases, the DIAN can reclassify undisclosed foreign assets as taxable income in Colombia — meaning your entire foreign portfolio's value can effectively become taxable, not just its income.

Compare this to the routine annual government filing fee of $0 (you file it yourself, or your FTR Accounting Partner charges a few hundred dollars to prepare and file it for you). The economics of compliance are overwhelming.

What Most People Get Wrong

The single biggest mistake: assuming the form is only about income-producing assets. It isn't. A dormant private pension fund, an unused foreign bank account, or a piece of land you inherited overseas all count.

Second: assuming the DIAN doesn't know. Colombia has been receiving automatic financial-account information under CRS since 2017, and the flow has only grown. Your foreign bank knows you live in Colombia. It reports your account details to Colombia every year. The gap between what the DIAN sees and what you declare is your risk exposure.

Third: assuming the M-Pensionado or any other M visa exempts you. It doesn't. Tax residency is what triggers the filing, not visa status.

Fourth: assuming your local Colombian suburban accountant has just ‘taken care of it’ with your tax return. They may have, or they may not even know about it. It’s not because they’re bad accountants, it’s because most local accountants are trained to meet the needs of average Colombian salary-earners, not the needs of foreign asset owners and expat businesspeople. If you go to a dentist for a back-ache, don’t be surprised when they get the diagnosis wrong.

If You've Missed It

If you should have filed Formulario 160 in previous years and didn't, you have options, but they need professional handling. Voluntary regularisation is significantly cheaper than being caught, and can even mean you don’t get fined if the genuine mistake is presented properly and voluntarily, but the mechanics matter. The DIAN periodically opens amnesty windows; even outside those windows, structured voluntary disclosure usually produces a better outcome than doing nothing.

The worst thing to do is to keep not filing and hope the DIAN doesn't catch up, because when they do, they won’t be polite about it...