Employer of Record Colombia
Hire a developer in Medellín or an analyst in Bogotá without registering a Colombian company. We become their legal employer, issue the contract under the Labour Code, pay contributions through the PILA each month, withhold income tax for DIAN and pay the prima and cesantías on the dates the law sets.
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Hire in Colombia quickly, with every step on record
People in our payroll team prepare each Colombian pay run; the portal is where you see it, check it and sign it off. Contracts, payslips and affiliation receipts are kept in one place for each employee.
- Track a new hire from signed offer to EPS, pension and ARL affiliation
- Approve the monthly pay run before it is paid
- Log a pay rise, leave request or change of hours in one form
- Download payslips, PILA receipts and contracts when needed
How the service works
Your hire’s legal employer is us, not you
You pick the candidate and manage their work; we hold the employment. The contract names us as employer, so we register the hire, run payroll in pesos and answer to DIAN and the UGPP for it. One local rule shapes cost: for staff paid under 10 minimum wages, the employer pays no health, SENA or ICBF levy (art. 114-1 of the Tax Code).
Before day one we affiliate the new hire to a health insurer (EPS), a pension fund and an occupational risk insurer (ARL). Each month we file the PILA, the withholding return and the electronic payroll document. When someone leaves, we pay the final settlement and prove the last three months of contributions were paid.
Employment costs
How much does a Colombian employee cost the employer?
Rates below apply to 2026 pay, with the minimum wage (SMMLV) at COP 1,750,905 a month since 1 January 2026.
Employer contributions
Below 10 SMMLV (COP 17,509,050 a month), the employer adds about 16.5% to salary: pension 12%, the family compensation fund (caja de compensación familiar) 4% and ARL insurance at 0.348% to 8.7% by risk class (0.522% at the class I starting rate). At 10 SMMLV or more, health 8.5%, SENA 2% and ICBF 3% switch on too, taking the total past 30% of the whole salary. Pension and ARL stop rising at a base of 25 SMMLV. Then come the statutory benefits: a service bonus (prima de servicios) of 30 days’ pay a year, severance savings (cesantías) of a month’s pay a year and 12% interest on them.
Employee deductions
Two items come off gross pay on every Colombian payslip, both paid over by the employer.
- Income tax withholding (retención en la fuente) under art. 383 of the Tax Code. After contributions and the 25% exempt share, nothing is withheld on a monthly base up to 95 UVT, which is COP 4,975,530 in 2026.
- Employee social security: 4% health and 4% pension, plus 1% to the pension solidarity fund once pay reaches 4 SMMLV (COP 7,003,620), rising in steps to 2% above 20 SMMLV. The prima is not salary, so no contributions are taken from it, though it does count for withholding in June and December.
Worked example
A Bogotá salary of COP 8,000,000
Employer cost
128,821,120
Pesos a year: salary, pension, ARL, caja, prima, cesantías and their interest, before our fee.
Net pay for the year
93,054,000
Pesos a year after contributions and withholding, prima included; 7,188,000 in a usual month.
Assumptions: indefinite contract, ordinary salary of COP 96,000,000 a year, single employee with no dependants, ARL class I, employer entitled to the art. 114-1 exemption, no overtime. The employer cost is 34.2% above base salary. The employee may owe about COP 436,000 more when filing the 2026 return in 2027. Our fee, from USD 560 a month, is not in these figures.
Every month we pay salary, file the PILA by its deadline (the 2nd to 16th business day, set by the employer’s tax number) and file the withholding return with DIAN. You get one invoice: the payroll cost in pesos as paid, with our fee shown separately in US dollars. The prima falls due by 30 June and 20 December, interest on cesantías in January.
Signed offer to payroll
What happens before the first day of work in Colombia?
The paperwork happens before the start date; after that, a monthly routine takes over.
Affiliation comes first. ARL cover starts the calendar day after the hire is registered, so we affiliate them to the ARL, an EPS, a pension fund and a caja at least the day before they start. If you want a probation period, it has to be in the written contract, and it can last two months at most.
We draft the contract in Spanish as an indefinite-term contract (contrato a término indefinido), the default in Colombia. It states the job, the place of work, pay and pay periods. Fixed-term contracts must be written and cannot run past four years in total since the 2025 labour reform (Ley 2466 de 2025). Any probation clause goes into the same signed document.
Each month runs on fixed forms. Contributions for health, pension, ARL, caja, SENA and ICBF go on one PILA (Planilla Integrada de Liquidación de Aportes). Withholding goes on the monthly return to DIAN, due between the 7th and 16th business day. The payroll support document (nómina electrónica) is sent to DIAN within the first 10 days of the next month. The UGPP audits that the contributions match pay.
Foreign hires need a visa before they can work. The worker visa (visa M trabajador) is issued by the Cancillería for a named employer and job, for up to three years. The digital nomad visa does not cover work for a Colombian employer, so it is no route for this kind of hire.
Hiring a foreign national also triggers reports: to Migración Colombia within 15 calendar days of the start, and to the Ministry of Labour’s RUTEC register within 120 days.
The service suits office and remote roles such as software, finance, customer support, design and sales. Roles with night shifts or Sunday work cost more: night hours now run from 7 pm and earn 35% extra, and Sunday or holiday work carries a 90% surcharge from 1 July 2026.
Onboarding
How soon can your Colombian hire begin?
Your own company means registering an SAS and setting it up as an employer before anyone can start. Hiring through us skips that, so the start date hangs on the candidate.
Send the offer terms
Role, salary in pesos, city and start date. We reply with the full yearly cost.
Contract in writing
Spanish contract with the job, pay and place of work, plus probation if you want it.
Notice from the current job
A Colombian employee resigning gives 30 days’ notice, usually the longest wait in the plan.
Affiliations done
EPS, pension fund, ARL and caja, in place no later than the day before work begins.
Severance fund chosen
The employee picks a cesantías fund, where the yearly deposit lands before 15 February.
The first payroll
You approve it in the portal; the employee is paid and DIAN gets the payroll file.
Your contact
One person who knows your Colombian team by name
Your account manager handles pay, leave and contract questions for each employee, whether they work in Bogotá, Medellín or Cali, and keeps every case on file.
Your teamCompany or EOR: a choice
Is it better to form an SAS or use an employer of record?
There are two routes. You can form a simplified joint-stock company (Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada, SAS) and employ staff yourself, or keep your business abroad and let us employ the people you choose.
Registering a company of your own
An SAS is formed by private document, authenticated and entered in the commercial register (Registro Mercantil) of the local Cámara de Comercio. It needs at least one legal representative, and capital may be paid up over two years.
Registration is the easy part. A new SAS sponsoring a worker visa must show four months of bank statements averaging 100 SMMLV of income a month, about COP 175 million, and the company carries the full tax and payroll calendar from its first hire.
- Monthly PILA and withholding returns
- Electronic payroll file to DIAN after every payroll month
- Internal work rules once headcount grows
- Written right-to-disconnect policy for staff
- SENA apprentices or a monthly payment from 15 workers
Hiring through EOR Colombia
We are the employer on the contract, so you need no Colombian company, tax number or bank account. One monthly invoice covers payroll costs as paid plus our fee, from USD 560 per employee depending on the role. If the role ends, Colombian termination rules apply to the job, with no company left to close.
- Labour Code contract from day one
- PILA, withholding and DIAN payroll files done
- Prima, cesantías and interest paid on time
- Leave, sick pay and holidays tracked
- Final settlement worked out on exit
So which way should you go?
Hire through us
You want one to ten people in Colombia soon, you are testing the market, or you would rather not run a Colombian payroll, tax calendar and set of corporate books. Forming an SAS later stays open; staff can then move to it with a new contract and a final settlement from us.
Times when a company pays off
You plan a large, permanent team, you will invoice Colombian customers, or you want a Colombian legal person to sign contracts in its own name. Registering is the quick part; after it, expect accountants, a payroll set-up and the monthly filings from the very first hire.
Not sure which fits? Tell us the roles, the salaries and your timing, and we will set out the yearly cost of each route using your own numbers, so you can compare them line by line.
Employee rights
Which rights does Colombian law give every employee?
The Labour Code (Código Sustantivo del Trabajo) sets the floor, as changed by Ley 2466 de 2025. Ministry of Labour inspectors can fine employers from 1 to 5,000 minimum wages per breach.
Annual leave
Fifteen working days of paid leave after each year of service, with dates set by the employer on 15 days’ notice. At least six days must be taken each year; up to half may be paid in cash if the employee asks in writing.
Public holidays
Colombia has 18 paid public holidays in 2026. Under the Ley Emiliani, nine of them move to the following Monday: San José (19 March), for example, was observed on Monday 23 March this year.
Sick pay
An employee off sick with a common illness receives two thirds of salary for up to 90 days, then half for days 91 to 180. Days 1 and 2 are on the employer; the EPS pays from day 3, provided the employee has at least four weeks of contributions and an EPS-validated sick certificate (incapacidad). There are no waiting days. A work accident or occupational disease is different: the ARL pays from the day after the event. Contributions keep running on the value of the benefit while the employee is off.
Maternity leave
Eighteen weeks paid at full salary, normally one before the birth and 17 after, paid by the EPS. Dismissal during pregnancy or the 18 weeks after birth needs Ministry of Labour authorisation.
Paternity leave
Two weeks of paid leave, taken within 30 days of the birth and paid by the EPS. Parents may also share the last six weeks of the mother’s leave once she has taken the first 12.
Bereavement leave
Five paid working days (licencia por luto) when a spouse or a close relative dies. The Code also gives paid time off for a serious family emergency, for voting and for court summons, and carers may ask for flexible hours, with an answer due in 15 working days.
How we keep track of entitlements
Leave balances, sick certificates and holiday dates sit in the portal, so each absence is paid at the right rate and by the right payer, employer, EPS or ARL. Before a dismissal we check for protected status, such as pregnancy or a spouse’s pregnancy, that needs prior Ministry authorisation.
Services
Our EOR services
The work is the same for one hire or twenty: a Colombian contract, payroll in pesos, the monthly filings, statutory benefits and someone to ask when an HR question comes up. The services page explains each part and how our price compares.
Our services ›Employ in Colombia with no company of your own
EOR Colombia signs the employment contract as employer, so your hire is on a Colombian payroll from the start date with full social security.
Payroll and withholding in pesos
Monthly pay, the art. 383 withholding table, the PILA and the electronic payroll file, with June and December pay runs that include the prima.
HR rules and employee questions
Probation, leave, disciplinary steps (five days to reply to charges since Ley 2466), and the indemnity rules for ending a contract without just cause.
Statutory benefits and extras
Prima, cesantías, interest and dotación where due, plus extras such as prepaid health plans, each with its payroll treatment.
Employing in Colombia
A practical guide tothe prima|in Colombia
Our guide to employing in Colombia covers contributions, the minimum wage, contracts, leave, termination and visas, with the article of law behind each rule and the 2026 figures. We revise it when a decree or reform changes a rule.
See the hiring guide ›Our approach
Why do clients hire in Colombia with us?
We only employ people in Colombia, so our work is the Labour Code, the PILA and DIAN's calendar, not a long list of countries. You see each cost line before you hire, and the same account manager answers from the offer letter to the final settlement.
Ask usCommon questions
No. The contract names us as employer; we register the employee with social security and DIAN, and run payroll. You choose the person and set their tasks and goals, and you pay one monthly invoice.
It depends on the candidate more than on us: the contract, the probation clause and the affiliations are prepared ahead, and affiliation is complete by the day before work begins. A candidate leaving another Colombian employer normally gives 30 days' notice, and a foreign national needs a worker visa, which the Cancillería decides within 30 calendar days of a full application.
Salary, plus employer contributions of about 16.5% below 10 SMMLV, plus prima, cesantías and their interest, which add about 17.7%. For COP 8,000,000 a month that averages about COP 10,735,000 a month to the employer. Our fee comes on top, from USD 560.
Yes, once they hold a visa that allows the work. The worker visa (visa M trabajador) is tied to one employer and job and lasts up to three years. Holders of the digital nomad visa may not take a job with a Colombian employer. After hiring, the employer reports the worker to Migración Colombia within 15 days. We do not promise that a visa will be granted.
Who are you hoping to hire?
A short note is enough: the job, the city and a gross monthly figure. Back comes the yearly employer cost in pesos and a likely start week.
Your employee can be anywhere in Colombia, from Barranquilla on the Caribbean coast to Cali in the south-west.
Send us the job
Call booking
Ready to employ your first person?
Pick a time for a 20-minute call about the contract, the costs and a likely start date.
Not taking new enquiries just now
Our Colombia team is at capacity at the moment, so we have paused new enquiries. Please check back soon.