Double taxation: the questions a buyer from Medellín settles before buying in Cielo Mar

A property in Colombia can carry tax consequences in two countries at once, and neither is settled at the sales office. What follows are not answers: they are the questions a buyer from Medellín needs settled before signing, and who to put them to.

We do not state here which countries have a treaty with Colombia, nor what anyone is required to declare, and the reason is practical: those lists and rules get amended, and one wrong assertion would repeat across every page. What can be set out is how the problem is built. There are two tax administrations with their own rules; there are two moments treated differently —holding the property, with its rental income, and selling it, with its ganancia ocasional (the gain taxed on sale)— and there is a personal condition, tax residence, which is not chosen but determined by rules and which changes what is withheld and what is filed. The DIAN is the authority on the Colombian side; the other side needs an accountant in that country; and the Cancillería explains the apostille of the certificates each administration will ask the other for. The seller substitutes for none of those three conversations.

The mortgage is requested from a Colombian bank, which studies it against the buyer's local credit history rather than against collateral abroad or seller financing: they ask for proof of income, check the centrales de riesgo, the credit bureaus, and order the avalúo, the appraisal, and the title study of the Cartagena property. There is one concrete question worth asking here: in which city the approval is decided, because the file is usually opened at the branch in your own city and then escalated elsewhere inside the bank, and whoever answers for the yes or the no is the mortgage department, not the adviser in front of you. Ask in writing for the approval letter and the disbursement instructions, because each disbursement rests on a different document: the promesa de compraventa first, and the registered escritura with the mortgage recorded on it afterwards. The transfer does not pass through the regulated exchange market and there is no foreign investment to register with the Banco de la República; proof of the source of funds is still assembled, and that is a separate matter. You can fly in to sign, so no poder and no apostille, but you manage from a distance: settle who receives the property, who pays the predial and the building fee, and who issues the paz y salvo. Tax questions go to the DIAN and to an accountant.

What sets Cielo Mar apart is that much of the buying happens before the property legally exists. Units sell off plan, and the counterparty is not an owner but a fiduciaria, a trust company, managing a patrimonio autónomo, a segregated trust estate, into which the landowner contributed the site. That changes the whole process. The first document signed is not a deed but an enrollment in the project; the money goes into a trust account rather than to a seller; and the deed is granted once the punto de equilibrio, the pre-sales break-even threshold, is reached and the building goes up, so in the early stage there is no unit folio to certify because none has been opened. Ask for the trust agreement and ask what happens if that threshold is never reached, who returns the money and on what terms. Who decides changes too: the governing document is the permit issued by the curaduría urbana, the private licensing office, and the condominium bylaws are still unregistered, so you read a draft. Utilities may be run by private operators belonging to the development itself, meaning the supply relationship does not start with the city water company.

What is specific to Cielo Mar

What to verify, step by step

1. Ask the DIAN, about your own case, how tax residence is determined, what is reported in Colombia for holding the property and what is reported on its sale, and which withholdings apply to someone who is not a tax resident.
2. The questions a buyer from Medellín has to settle before closing: in which city the loan approval is decided and who answers for it, not only who opens your file; which document supports each disbursement, and what proof of source of funds the bank and the notaría want, which is not a foreign investment registration and who receives the property, who pays the predial and the building fee, and who issues the paz y salvo when you do not live in Cartagena.
3. Take those same questions to an accountant in your own country and ask in writing whether a treaty exists between Colombia and that country and, if it does, what it says about rental income and about ganancia ocasional. That answer is theirs to give, not the DIAN's and not ours.
4. Ask the Cancillería which tax-residence certificates and which documents need an apostille or legalisation for one administration to accept them from the other.
5. Before transferring, confirm with the Banco de la República how the investment ends up registered, because the exchange registration is what later supports moving funds out, and the tax question is asked on that basis.
6. Decide with your accountant, before the promesa and not after, whether you buy personally or through a company, because the titleholder does not change without another deed.

Mistakes that cost money

• Asking about tax after signing. The structure of the purchase is decided beforehand, and it is the only part still open to choice.
• Assuming a treaty exists because someone said so in a buyers' group. Whether one exists, and what it says, is confirmed in writing by an accountant in each country.
• Believing that if tax was withheld in Colombia there is nothing left to do at home. There are two administrations and two separate filings; how they interact is exactly the question to settle.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a treaty between Colombia and my country?

We neither assert nor deny it here: the list is amended and a stale answer would cost you money. Ask the DIAN and an accountant in your own country, and get the answer in writing.

Will I pay twice on the same thing?

That is the right question and it has no general answer: it depends on your tax residence, on each country's rules and on whether a treaty exists. It is the conversation to have with an accountant in each country before signing.

Can a buyer from Medellín handle this without an accountant?

The DIAN explains the Colombian side, but neither administration resolves the combination of the two for you. That is what the accountant in each country is for.

Where to check it

• DIAN — the tax ID, withholding on sale and the capital gains tax
• Cancillería de Colombia — current visa requirements and the apostille of foreign documents
• Banco de la República — registration of foreign investment and the official exchange rate
• Cartagena de Indias — the rules of the municipality Cielo Mar belongs to

Official bodies. Specific figures are requested there, not copied from a listing.

Updated 2026-11-06