The success of a tax return or offset process goes beyond simply filing a request with the relevant authorities. By understanding this, Auren has designed an integrated programme that allows companies to minimise potential contingencies during these processes. The programme consists of the following phases:

• Pre-Request Audit: Before filing the refund and/or offset request, our team will conduct an audit of the tax returns subject to the refund, focusing on aspects that may be relevant to the tax authorities. The results of this audit will be presented in a report to the client’s management.
• Filing the Request: Auren will handle the filing of the request, ensuring that all necessary formalities are met for the request to be accepted by the relevant authority.
• Support During the Audit: If the refund and/or offset process requires an audit by the DIAN (National Tax and Customs Department), Auren will directly handle the audit visit.

This is an informational obligation created by Law 2155 of 2021 under which legal entities and structures without legal personality are required to report their ultimate beneficial owners.
At Auren, we have a professional team that assists our clients with applying the regulation, identifying the ultimate beneficial owners, registering them and ensuring compliance with the ongoing obligation to update this information.

We advise companies on identifying, choosing and implementing tax alternatives and legal structures to optimise the tax burden within the current legal framework:

• Structuring and applying tax planning strategies to save or defer taxes in the short, medium and long term.
• Designing and implementing legal and tax structures to preserve company and family wealth
• Tax and corporate advice on company sales and reorganisation planning
• Drafting and implementing family protocols

Globalisation has increased the world’s economic levels, but it has also made it more complex for tax jurisdictions to establish the effective oversight of their taxpayers.
The oversight of international operations is crucial for each tax jurisdiction, and one of the most important tools available today for achieving this goal is transfer pricing. This regulation aims to ensure that transactions conducted within multinational groups (transactions between related parties) are carried out under market conditions and consequently do not interfere with the fair allocation of profits among the involved parties.
In Colombia, transfer pricing reports are mandatory for companies located in the country that engage in transactions with related parties residing abroad or with entities in low- or no-tax jurisdictions.
At Auren, we provide a thorough analysis of operations with related parties and operations with low- or no-tax jurisdictions that might trigger the obligation to file informational returns and transfer pricing documentation:

• Diagnosis of transfer pricing regime obligations
• Preparation and submission of the Informational Tax Declaration
• Transfer pricing study
• Preparation of local file
• Preparation of master file
• Preparation of files for submission and support in transmitting these files to the DIAN (National Tax and Customs Department)

We advise our clients on the application of tax regulations to ensure compliance and optimise the tax burden within the legal framework:

• Ongoing tax consulting service through verbal and/or written opinions for companies requiring professional guidance on the application of tax regulations
• Review and diagnosis of our clients’ status of compliance with formal and material tax obligations, providing recommendations to mitigate risks and ensure the timely fulfillment of tax obligations
• Joint advice with our Auren offices worldwide to provide clients with a global perspective on transactions
• Tax Due Diligence to verify the status of tax compliance within the context of company acquisitions or sales

The accuracy and timeliness of tax declarations are essential for fulfilling formal obligations with the government. Auren offers a team of experts with extensive experience, capable of preparing your company’s tax returns, including the following:

• Declaration of assets abroad: Annual report of assets located outside the country in accordance with current regulations.
• Income tax returns: For full or partial taxable years, in case the company is in the process of liquidation.
• ICA (Industry and Commerce Tax): Filed on a bi-monthly or annual basis, depending on the tax jurisdiction in which it is submitted.
• National Consumption Tax: Filed on a bi-monthly basis.
• Exogenous information (district, municipal and national): Auren has a team of professionals with extensive experience in reporting information, an appropriate system for preparing the data and procedures for reviewing, analysing, and comparing this with accounting information, ensuring a high level of reliability in the reported data.
• VAT (Value Added Tax): Filed on a bi-monthly or quarterly basis, depending on the applicable regulations.
• Withholding tax: Filed on a monthly basis.
• ICA withholding or self-withholding: Filed monthly, bi-monthly or annually, depending on the tax jurisdiction.

We provide guidance and support to companies in auditing processes (assessment, determination and penalties) carried out by the national tax authority and local authorities:

• Assistance in responding to information requests
• Preparation of responses to charge notices from the tax authorities
• Responses to correction requests and assessment processes
• Appeals against tax review and assessment determinations

We provide our clients with nominal legal representation to facilitate administrative activities, granting special powers (either on a permanent or occasional basis) to represent them before various public entities such as Chambers of Commerce, the DIAN (National Tax and Customs Office), the Tax Authorities, the Central Bank of Colombia, Notaries, entities related to social security or regulatory matters or in judicial and administrative proceedings, as well as vis-à-vis any private counterparts such as banks, among others.

At Auren, we are committed to complying with formal obligations for the prevention of risks such as money laundering (ML), the financing of terrorism (FT), the financing of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), corruption (C), transnational bribery (TB) and the protection of personal data (Habeas Data) of individuals. We offer the following services:

• Acting as a compliance officer, using technological tools and assurance procedures
• Designing and implementing systems and programmes such as SAGRILAFT (AML/TF), the Business Transparency and Ethics Programme (PTEE) and Personal Data Protection (PDP), among others
• Fulfilment of formal obligations in the area of compliance before various regulatory entities such as the UIAF, the Superintendence of Companies (Supersociedades), the DIAN, the Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC), among others
• Handling penalty proceedings in administrative or judicial settings related to fines due to the breach of compliance regulations
• Internal training on compliance matters for our clients’ staff
• Audits and diagnostics in compliance matters. Auren applies the most accurate methods currently used, which refer to companies’ income-generating capacity and comparable market operations. This exercise includes reviewing the sector environment, analysing financial statements, developing projection models and conducting discounted free cash flow analyses.

This service is offered to those companies that have no physical administrative headquarters but need a place to receive commercial correspondence, which also serves as a place for notifications from oversight and control bodies.

Auren provides legal advice on labour, immigration and social security matters, including issues related to the hiring and management of employees and compliance with the correct payment of social security and parafiscal contributions. Our services include the following:

• Ongoing consultancy in labour law and social security matters
• Development, compliance and updates regarding Internal Work Regulations
• Support in disciplinary and termination of employment contract proceedings (warnings, defences and employee penalties)
• Advice on the most suitable contractual form for the company’s needs
• Advice on labour protection matters (maternity, health, unions)
• Advice on the individual or collective suspension of employment contracts
• Support and guidance in dismissals and settlement of labour claims
• Design of salary policies aimed at optimising labour costs
• Preparation, modification and review of employment contracts
• Labour audits to verify compliance with labour obligations, social security contributions and parafiscal payments
• Support in the inspection processes by the UGPP and parafiscal entities (SENA, ICBF, and Compensation Funds)
• Immigration advice for foreign nationals in Colombia

The internationalisation of operations involves the use of foreign currencies and the execution of foreign exchange transactions that must comply with the requirements of the Colombian government, particularly the Central Bank of Colombia (Banco de la República). This applies to payments for the import and export of goods and services, external borrowing and international investments, whether channeled through the foreign exchange market using clearing accounts or authorised intermediaries, or through the free market when allowed. The following services are included:

• Foreign exchange advice for payments of all types of transactions, as well as for the registration, cancellation and substitution of international investments
• Compliance with the management of clearing accounts
• Design and structuring of foreign exchange transactions, optimising impacts from exchange rate differences and tax issues
• Handling of foreign exchange processes before the DIAN (National Tax and Customs Office) and the Superintendence of Companies, or judicial matters related to fines.
• Internal training in customs and international trade matters for our clients’ staff
• Audits and assessments related to foreign exchange and clearing accounts

Auren has experts and a strong track record in the planning and execution of international trade operations, as well as in managing the inherent risks involved. We offer the following services:

• Customs advice for the import, export and transit of goods
• Design and structuring of international trade operations, using customs and international trade tools such as free trade zones, international trading companies, the Vallejo plan, authorised economic operator (AEO), tariff preferences under trade agreements or free trade treaties (FTAs)
• Qualification of users in free trade zones
• Processing of authorisation for international trading companies.
• Approval of global guarantees
• Handling of customs processes in administrative or judicial settings, including official liquidations or the resolution of legal status (seizures and confiscations)
• Internal training on customs and international trade matters for our clients’ staff
• Audits and assessments related to customs and international trade

Our professional team conducts legal and tax Due Diligence processes prior to the sale and acquisition of companies in order to verify the compliance status of any obligations and identify any risks or contingencies that may influence the terms and price of the transaction.
The Due Diligence conducted by our professionals includes (but is not limited to) the following aspects:

• Compliance status with tax obligations on a municipal, district, regional and national level

• Review of legal aspects in the areas of corporate law, labour law, commercial law, personal data processing and any client litigation cases

Knowledge of the legal framework allows us to advise our clients in the selection and implementation of legal structures that best meet their market needs. In this regard, Auren provides the following services:

• Company incorporation and statutory amendments
• Preparation of corporate minutes
• Maintenance of corporate books
• Shareholder agreements
• Assistance in decision-making by corporate bodies
• Regulations for share issuance
• Support in compliance with legal requirements for companies
• Procedures with the Commercial Registry
• Registration of control situation
• Company dissolution and liquidation
• Processes involving the transformation, merger and demerger of companies
• Support in administrative and sanctioning proceedings before the Superintendence of Companies and other regulatory bodies
• Review of the compliance status with corporate obligations
• Support in the planning and implementation of international structures in jurisdictions outside Colombia

A comprehensive understanding of the legal and fiscal effects of the different legal structures applicable to each situation helps to reduce risks and optimise resources. Auren has a solid track record in the structuring and execution of various types of business and commercial contracts, offering the following services:

• Design, structuring and review of civil and commercial contracts and business transactions
• Support in contract negotiations
• Assistance during project execution
• Procedures before the Commercial Registry of the Chambers of Commerce.
• Pre-litigation and litigation collection processes for outstanding obligations
• In-house legal advice (legal outsourcing) and contract management