Colombia

Individual - Deductions

Last reviewed - 22 July 2024

Employment expenses

Employees are not entitled to deduct business-related expenses from their employment income.

However, independent workers are able to. Independent workers can choose to be treated as employees for income tax purposes (procedure and tax reliefs). If they choose to be treated as independent (rather than employees), they are able to claim costs and deductions deemed as 60% of their gross income.

Personal deductions

Charitable contributions

Some donations are allowed as discounts, provided they are made to certain institutions dedicated to development of health, education, culture, religion, sports, scientific and technological research, ecology and the protection of the environment, or to social development programs of general interest. Most of these donations are limited with respect to their deduction.

Mortgage interest deduction

For mortgage interest paid in Colombia, up to a maximum of COP 56,478,000 for FY 2024 (TU 1,200) is deductible annually.

Healthcare expenses

Healthcare payments (i.e. payments to companies who offer prepaid health and are monitored by the national health superintendent, payments for health insurance to insurance companies that are monitored by the financial superintendent) for the taxpayer, spouse, and children are deductible up to a maximum of TU 16 monthly, an equivalent of COP 9,036,480 annually.

Note that the amount paid by the employee to the mandatory health system (described in the Other taxes section) is deemed as non-taxable income (different from deductions).

Dependant deduction

For dependant deduction, the deductible limit is 10% of gross labour income until a maximum of TU 32 monthly, an equivalent of COP 18,072,960 annually.

Dependants are defined as:

Children of the taxpayer until 18 years old.
Children of the taxpayer between 18 and 23 years old who are studying in education institutions.
Children of the taxpayer older than 18 years who have psychological and physical dependence.
Spouse or living partner who has a psychological, physical, or economic dependence.
Parents or siblings of the taxpayer who have a psychological, physical, or economic dependence.

Additionally, employees are able to deduct TU 72 for each additional dependant, up to four dependants.

Interests paid on educational loans

Law 2010 of 2019 introduced a deduction for interests paid on educational loans granted by the Government Education Entity ICETEX. This deduction applies while the education loan is for the taxpayer’s higher education and it is capped to TU 100 annually (COP 4,706,500 for FY 2024).