Working as a freelancer in Colombia

i see two types of freelance:
- the lone wolf. at least in my experience, that is very difficult. but if you have a person's touch, people here are extremely friendly, so you can have success, particularly in bogota and maybe cali and barranquilla. medellin is closed...
- the cat. well, you know, nobody owns a cat... it goes to one place for basic food and sleeping, another place for other types of food, still another place for playing... so, that is my experience. i am a free-lance for quite a long time here in colombia, bogota, but i loan my services to many companies. when i go to a client, i am normally under some company's name.

hope this is useful, marcelo

@ marcelo. Can you elaborate on the legal aspects of freelancing in Colombia. I'd like to know how to establish a business here if that's possible. I seems completely unfair, for example to have to pay income tax to a country where I do not live. How can that be legally avoided? Too many other questions for this venue.

con gusto...

that is a little complicated...

well, you will need to pay taxes, which you should think before fix your rates. it is not like usa - normally, it is around 12.5%...

i use Cuenta de Cobro, which is a very informal way of invoice, but some companies don't accept it. also, if you are working with official (public) organizations, then you do need to have lots of documents...

not sure, as you say, how to respond in here. if you want, i can talk via skype, but we should fix a date and time, my free time just turned to be very short... take care, marcelo

Thanks for your reply and offer. We can connect on Skype if you wish. Some time at your convenience. My Spanish is less than terrible. Unfortunately, I only speak English with any fluency.

Maybe you can recommend an English speaking lawyer whom I could call.

Regards,
Raymond

hi, i personally don't know any lawyer who don't speak english. i can contact you with a friend, bittou, he is now in long island, but he is establishing himself in bogota, so he can give you some tips or direct you to people like that. take care marcelo

Maybe the lawyers in Bogota are more sophisticated than the ones I've found in Cali. Very few people here seem to speak English. Either that or they don't want to admit it. Sure, connect me with your friend and thanks.

Raymond

ok, you are in cali... yes, you are right...

i will be in cali in october, then we could meet. meanwhile, when you do a free-lance job, you ask the company or person if they accept a Cuenta de Cobro. normally, they will have a model even, so you can use it.

but you have to regularize your situation. in colombia, we don't need to declare taxes until $ 38,000,000 of income.

you need to get your rut, anyway, which is pretty easy for a foreigner - not sure if they give that via internet (although you can print it), but you can go to DIAN and inquire on it...

and if you work with public entities, well, that gets a little more complicated. take care, marcelo

What is a rut? Remember I am a total novice with this.

CaliRay wrote:

What is a rut? Remember I am a total novice with this.

For starters, see about the RUT (Registro único tributario) here:

http://www.dian.gov.co/contenidos/servicios/rut.html

Thanks for the link. I'll have a look.

There are several attorneys and accountants in Medellin that speak English and are very familiar with expats starting businesses in Colombia. I don't have one to refer you to at the moment,  but I've contacted a few so far and you might search there. I misplaced that info or I'd refer you to one

Thank you for that. I have a few contacts in Medellin. I will ask them.

CaliRay wrote:

@ marcelo. Can you elaborate on the legal aspects of freelancing in Colombia. I'd like to know how to establish a business here if that's possible. I seems completely unfair, for example to have to pay income tax to a country where I do not live. How can that be legally avoided? Too many other questions for this venue.

If you establish a business it is a legal entity, just like a natural person, the business is required to pay taxes in any nation on earth; how is that unfair? It has nothing to do with YOU living there or not, the BUSINESS is there.

Do you actually think that an expat could set up a business in the USA and not be subject to US taxes simply because he didn't reside there?

Self employed individuals are taxed in the country where they earn their income, regardless of residence. You would also require at the very minimum a TP-13 Visa (see link).

http://www.cancilleria.gov.co/en/proced … /temporary

Cheers,
James
expat.com Experts Team