Deciding to liquidate a company would be a decision taken as a result of the evaluation of the ongoing business, according to the legal rules stated in the commercial code, a few steps must be followed to proceed with the liquidation of a company in Colombia here the steps to do it:
- The shareholders must meet to decide to dissolve the company and put the approval of the liquidation to a vote, with the minutes of the approved meeting and in which the main liquidator and alternate liquidator is designated if is necessary, the document must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce with the acceptance of the liquidators. With this, the name of the company must be followed by the expression "in liquidation".
- Subsequently with the updated certificate of existence and legal representation, must be presented to the tax authorities to update the RUT and RIT.
- An announcement must be published in a newspaper, giving notice to the general public that the company has been dissolved so that creditors can exercise their payment rights.
- The financial statement "Inventory of social assets" must be prepared within the month following the date of registration of the act in the Chamber of Commerce, the "Inventory of social assets" is a financial statement prepared for special purposes by the regulations according to accounting and financial information (NCIF) in Colombia and must be signed by the liquidator, the Statutory Auditor or Accountant.
- All liabilities will be canceled in the order prescribed by law, prioritizing labor payments and taxes and leaving the last remnant to shareholders.
- With the liabilities canceled, the liquidator must present the rendering of the financial statement "final liquidation account" and the report, which must be approved by the last shareholders' meeting.
- The record of the final settlement account must be registered with the Chamber of Commerce requesting the cancellation of the commercial register of the company in Colombia.
- Finally, the RUT must be canceled before the DIAN and the RIT in the case of taxes in the city of Bogotá.
When deciding to liquidate a company it is important to review the current state of the company, just to identify any problem or matter that requires immediate action, related to accounting, reporting, and tax problems. The estimated time of the settlement process depends on the progress of the issues involved.