Somebody told you there is a treaty. A forum post, a relocation consultant, possibly a preparer who should have checked. So you have been assuming that when both countries tax the same income, a treaty sorts it out.
It does not, because there isn’t one.
There is no income tax treaty between the United States and Colombia. Verified from both sides: the IRS list of US income tax treaty partners runs Canada, Chile, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic under “C” — Colombia is simply absent — and Colombian treaty registers do not list the United States as either in force or pending.
There is also no totalization agreement. The Social Security Administration’s list of in-force agreements includes only Canada, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay in the Americas. Colombia does not appear, even as pending.
This article explains where the confusion comes from and, more usefully, exactly what the absence costs you and what you use instead.
Figures verified 9 September 2026.
Then what are the agreements people keep referring to?
Two real instruments exist. Neither is an income tax treaty, and this is almost certainly the source of the confusion.
1. The Tax Information Exchange Agreement (2014). A TIEA is an information-sharing instrument. It lets the two tax administrations request and exchange taxpayer data. That is its entire function. A TIEA reduces zero withholding rates, allocates zero taxing rights, and provides zero double-tax relief. If someone tells you “the US and Colombia have an agreement,” this is usually what they have half-remembered.
2. The FATCA intergovernmental agreement. A Model 1 IGA, signed 20 May 2015 and in force 27 August 2015. Under it, Colombian financial institutions identify US account holders and report them to DIAN, which passes the data to the IRS.
Put those together and you get an unusually one-sided arrangement. Americans in Colombia carry the full information-reporting burden of a treaty relationship, with both governments able to see their accounts, and receive none of the reliefs a treaty would normally provide.
What does a tax treaty normally do, and what am I missing?
A modern income tax treaty typically delivers five things. Here is what each would have done for you, and what happens without it.
| What a treaty would provide | Status for US–Colombia | Consequence |
|---|---|---|
| Tie-breaker residence article | Absent | Both countries can treat you as resident on worldwide income simultaneously |
| Reduced withholding on dividends, interest and royalties | Absent | Colombia’s full domestic non-resident rates apply |
| Totalization / certificate of coverage | Absent (separate agreement, also missing) | Social contributions on both sides, no election out |
| Pension and social security articles | Absent | No agreed treatment of cross-border retirement income |
| Treaty-based credit arguments (including against the NIIT) | Absent | The litigated route is unavailable |
No tie-breaker means genuinely dual residence
In a treaty world, if two countries both claim you as resident, the treaty runs a tie-breaker — permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality — and one country wins. You end up resident of one, taxed as a non-resident by the other.
With no treaty, there is no tie-breaker. A US citizen who has crossed 183 days in Colombia is a US taxpayer on worldwide income and a Colombian tax resident on worldwide income at the same time. Both systems apply in full, simultaneously. The only thing standing between you and genuine double taxation is unilateral relief in US domestic law.
No reduced withholding on Colombian dividends and interest
Treaty partners routinely see dividend withholding cut to 15%, 10% or 5%, and interest withholding cut similarly. A US person receiving Colombian dividends gets none of that.
The Colombian domestic rates apply as written. Dividends paid to a non-resident are subject to 20% withholding under Article 245 of the tax code, as raised by Ley 2277 de 2022. Worse, where the distribution comes out of profits that were not taxed at the company level, the distribution is hit with 35% first and then 20% on the remainder — an effective 48%. Payments abroad for services, technical services, consultancy, royalties and interest carry standard withholding of 20% and 15% depending on the payment type.
There is no reduced-rate form to file, no residence certificate that helps, no treaty claim to make. The domestic rate is the rate.
No totalization means paying social security twice
This is the one that costs self-employed Americans the most, and it is the least discussed.
A totalization agreement does two things: it makes sure Social Security taxes, including US self-employment tax, are paid to only one country, evidenced by a certificate of coverage, and it lets you combine credits from both systems when claiming a benefit.
Without one:
- A self-employed American who is resident in Colombia pays Colombian contributions — health, pension, ARL — on their ingreso base de cotización.
- The same person owes US self-employment tax at 15.3% (12.4% Social Security to the wage base, $184,500 for 2026, plus 2.9% uncapped Medicare) on the same net earnings, because self-employment tax applies to Americans abroad on identical terms once net earnings reach $400.
- The Foreign Earned Income Exclusion does not reduce self-employment tax. Exclude every dollar from income tax and the 15.3% still applies to the full net profit.
- The foreign tax credit does not reach it either. Self-employment tax is not an income tax, so §901 credits cannot offset it.
There is no certificate to obtain and no box to tick. The only real mitigations are structural — a question of what entity you operate through — and those bring their own US filing obligations.
No treaty route to relieve the NIIT
The Net Investment Income Tax is 3.8% on the lesser of net investment income or MAGI above $200,000 (single), $250,000 (married filing jointly) or $125,000 (married filing separately). It applies to interest, dividends, capital gains, and rental and royalty income — so Colombian rental income and Colombian portfolio income are squarely inside it.
Two structural problems. First, income you exclude under §911 is added back to MAGI for NIIT purposes, so the FEIE cannot keep you below the threshold. Second, the foreign tax credit under §901 operates against Chapter 1 tax, while the NIIT sits in Chapter 2A — the credit does not reach it.
Taxpayers in treaty countries have litigated their way to a partial answer. The Christensen and Bruyea decisions allowed treaty-based credits against the NIIT under the France and Canada treaties respectively. That route requires a treaty. Colombia has none, so it is closed. For an American in Colombia, the NIIT is an unrelievable 3.8% sitting on top of whatever Colombia has already taken.
So how do I avoid being taxed twice?
Through unilateral relief written into US law. It is not as clean as a treaty, but it is real, and for most people it works.
The foreign tax credit (Form 1116) is the workhorse. It gives a dollar-for-dollar credit for Colombian income tax paid, against the US tax on the same income. It has no cap — which matters enormously here, because Colombian tax is uncapped too. It covers investment and rental income, not just earned income. And excess credits are not wasted: they carry back one year and forward ten.
The mechanics that decide whether it works for you:
- Seven separate baskets. Passive category, general category, branch, §951A, treaty-resourced, §901(j) and lump-sum distributions each get their own Form 1116. Credits do not cross baskets. Colombian salary is normally general; Colombian interest, dividends and most capital gains are normally passive. This is why an American in Bogotá can owe US tax on Colombian investment income while sitting on a pile of unused general-basket credits.
- A de minimis shortcut. If all your foreign income is passive, it was reported on qualified payee statements, and your total creditable foreign taxes are no more than $300 ($600 on a joint return), you can claim the credit directly on Form 1040 without filing Form 1116 at all.
- Only income taxes qualify. Generally only income, war profits and excess profits taxes are creditable. Whether specific Colombian levies — the ICA municipal turnover tax, the 4×1000 financial transactions tax, the minimum effective tax rate — qualify needs case-specific analysis with a US international tax specialist. Do not assume every line on your Colombian assessment is creditable.
The alternative is the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion, which excludes earned income up to a cap ($130,000 for 2025, $132,900 for 2026), plus a foreign housing exclusion. It is often the better answer at moderate incomes. Which one wins is a calculation, not a rule — and the widely repeated claim that “Colombia’s 39% beats the US 37% so the credit always wins” compares top marginal rates and is wrong as stated. We work it through in FEIE vs foreign tax credit in Colombia.
Is a treaty coming?
Nothing on this page should be read as a prediction. As of September 2026 there is no US–Colombia income tax treaty in force and none listed as pending on either side. Similarly, residence-based taxation legislation that would end citizenship-based taxation has not passed — the bill introduced in the 118th Congress died in committee and nothing has been enacted since.
Plan for the law as it is.
What you have instead of a treaty
No treaty means no tie-breaker, no reduced Colombian withholding, no totalization relief, and no treaty argument against the NIIT. What you do have is the foreign tax credit, the FEIE and the foreign housing exclusion — unilateral, uncoordinated, and entirely dependent on being claimed correctly on a filed return.
The practical implication is straightforward: because the reliefs are unilateral, the ordering of your two returns matters. Colombian tax has to be computed and paid before it can be credited, and the basket it lands in on Form 1116 determines whether it does you any good. That is an argument for having one adviser look at both sides together rather than two who never speak.
Frequently asked questions
Is there really no tax treaty between the US and Colombia? Correct. Colombia does not appear on the IRS list of US income tax treaty partners, and Colombian registers do not show the US as in force or pending. What exists is a 2014 Tax Information Exchange Agreement and a FATCA intergovernmental agreement — neither reduces any tax.
Does the FATCA agreement help me at all? No. It is a reporting instrument. It obliges Colombian financial institutions to identify US account holders and report them via DIAN. It gives you no relief and no reduced rates. See FBAR and FATCA for Americans in Colombia.
Can I use a treaty tie-breaker to be taxed only by Colombia? No. There is no treaty and therefore no tie-breaker article. US citizens and green card holders remain taxable by the United States on worldwide income no matter where they are resident.
I’m a green card holder who is a Colombian citizen. Does the missing treaty affect me differently? Yes, in one specific and expensive way. The bona fide residence test on Form 2555 is open to US citizens and to US resident aliens who are citizens of a treaty country. With no US–Colombia treaty, that route is unavailable to you and you must qualify under the physical presence test instead — 330 full days in a 12-month period.
Does the missing totalization agreement mean I get no US Social Security credit for my Colombian contributions? Right. Without an agreement there is no mechanism to combine coverage credits from the two systems, and no certificate of coverage to exempt you from one side. Your Colombian contributions build Colombian entitlements; your US self-employment tax builds US ones.
If you are being taxed on both sides, the question is whether the relief is being claimed properly. The Colombian Accountant works with Americans in Colombia on exactly this: the declaración de renta, the Form 1040, and making the foreign tax credit actually do its job. Get in touch for a look at your position.
This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Figures were verified on 9 September 2026 and change frequently — Colombian tax law in particular changed materially between December 2025 and September 2026. Confirm current figures and your own circumstances with a qualified professional before acting.