Updated June 16, 2026 · Fabio Castro Forero
DIAN requerimiento: how to respond without making the case worse
Responding to the DIAN is not a matter of sending documents in bulk. The response has to put facts, supporting documents, figures, deadlines and risks in order.
The DIAN and tax defense
Have you received a DIAN requerimiento? Before responding, sort out the type of action, the period, the figures, the supporting documents, the deadlines and the penalty risks.Dispute Resolution
Receiving a requerimiento especial from the DIAN is not the same as receiving a penalty. It is a formal notice in which the tax authority announces that it has doubts about your return and offers you the opportunity to explain them, correct them or rebut them before issuing a liquidación oficial. What you do within that period determines whether the case closes at this stage or escalates toward more costly consequences.
The difference between a taxpayer who responds well and one who responds badly does not always lie in whether they were right. Very often it lies in whether they understood the process, whether they prepared the response with order and legal argument, and whether they acted within the time the law allows them. A partial response, imperfect but filed on time, is usually far better than silence. Silence closes doors on you.
This guide explains what the requerimiento especial is, how it fits within the DIAN's review process, how the response should be prepared, what mistakes make it worse and when it is better to negotiate than to litigate. All of it grounded in the Colombian Estatuto Tributario and the rule that governs each stage.
In briefThe requerimiento especial (Estatuto Tributario, art. 703) is the prior notice the DIAN must send before amending your return. You have three months to respond (ET art. 707), counted from the date of notification. If you do not respond, or if the response is not convincing, the DIAN may issue a liquidación oficial de revisión (ET art. 710) within the six months following expiration of the response deadline. Against that liquidación you may file the recurso de reconsideración (ET art. 720) within the following two months. If you do not challenge that act and it becomes final and enforceable, the DIAN may collect directly by means of títulos ejecutivos (ET art. 828). Each stage has a peremptory deadline: losing it closes the door on that phase.
The map of the process
The timeline of the DIAN process: from the first signal to collection
The official assessment procedure does not begin with the requerimiento especial. For taxpayers who in fact filed a return, the starting point is a discrepancy the DIAN detects between what was reported and the information it holds in its systems: cross-checks with third parties, inconsistencies in electronic invoicing, differences between income tax and VAT returns, or information reported by banks, suppliers or customers. Before acting formally, the DIAN usually requests information or carries out verification visits. The formal path, however, follows a precise sequence.
For taxpayers who no filed a return although required to do so, the path is different: it begins with an emplazamiento para declarar (ET art. 715), which gives one month to meet that obligation. If you do not file within that month, the DIAN imposes the penalty for failure to file (ET art. 716) and may issue a liquidación de aforo (ET art. 717). That route, although related, is different from the review process for a return already filed. This guide focuses on the second situation: that of the taxpayer who filed and receives a requerimiento especial.
| Stage | Statute | Deadline | What you can do | What happens if you do not act |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emplazamiento para declarar (only if you did not file) | ET art. 715 | 1 month from notification | File the omitted return (with the late-filing penalty) | The DIAN imposes the penalty for failure to file (art. 716) and may issue a liquidación de aforo (art. 717) |
| Special inquiry | ET art. 703 | The DIAN serves it; you have 3 months to respond (art. 707) | File a written response with objections, evidence, a request for a tax inspection and legal arguments | The DIAN treats your silence as tacit acceptance and proceeds to assess |
| Liquidación oficial de revisión | ET art. 710 | 6 months from expiration of the response deadline (or of its expansion) | Prepare the defense for the appeal stage | The act becomes final and enforceable if it is not challenged in time |
| Motion for reconsideration | ET art. 720 | 2 months from notification of the liquidación | File the appeal with the competent office, with grounds of fact and of law and additional evidence | The liquidación becomes final and the DIAN may enforce collection directly |
| Jurisdicción contencioso-administrativa | ET art. 720, paragraph | 4 months from notification of the liquidación (if the return was amended or the additional tax was assessed and a substantive response was filed) | Go directly to the Consejo de Estado or the Tribunal without exhausting the vía gubernativa | Loss of the judicial action within the corresponding time limit |
| Administrative tax collection | ET art. 828 | From the moment the act becomes final and enforceable | Pay, request a payment plan or dispute the legality of the enforcement instrument | Attachment of accounts, assets and income; administrative cobro coactivo proceedings |
One aspect many taxpayers are not aware of: the six-month period the DIAN has to notify the liquidación oficial de revisión (ET art. 710) may be suspended. It is suspended for three months when a tax inspection is carried out, for as long as an accounting inspection lasts if the taxpayer requests it, or for two additional months when the request for evidence involves documents that are not in the case file. Those suspensions lengthen the period in which the DIAN may act, which is why it is advisable to keep precise track of every milestone in the process from the outset.
Read before responding
How to read a requerimiento especial: its parts, the glosas and what each term means
The requerimiento especial is a formal administrative act. Article 703 of the Estatuto Tributario provides that it must contain all the items the DIAN proposes to amend, with an explanation of the reasons on which it is based. Article 704 adds that it must include the quantification of the taxes, advance payments, withholdings and penalties that it seeks to add to the liquidación privada, the taxpayer's own self-assessed return. That means the DIAN cannot arrive with an assessment that includes items it did not mention in the requerimiento: what is not in the requerimiento cannot enter the liquidación de revisión (C. de Estado, Secc. 4ª, exp. 16534).
Before drafting a single word of the response, it is advisable to read the requerimiento from end to end and to build a matrix of its components. These are the elements you must identify:
A distinction that causes confusion: the requerimiento especial (ET art. 703) applies to those who in fact filed. It should not be confused with the liquidación de aforo (ET art. 717), which is the DIAN's tool for taxpayers who never filed a return. The procedure, the deadlines and the defense are different in each case. If you filed, the path is the requerimiento especial and the liquidación de revisión. If you did not file, the path goes first through the emplazamiento in article 715.
The requerimiento especial: the text of article 703 of the Estatuto Tributario
ET art. 703 provides: "Before making the liquidación de revisión, the Administration shall send the taxpayer, responsible party, withholding agent or filer, on one single occasion, a requerimiento especial containing all the items it proposes to amend, with an explanation of the reasons on which it is based." Article 704 adds that this requerimiento "shall contain the quantification of the taxes, advance payments, withholdings and penalties that it seeks to add to the liquidación privada."
The "on one single occasion" rule is important: the DIAN may issue only one requerimiento especial for each return it challenges. If you have already received it, that is the central document of the process. Any item the DIAN did not include in it cannot appear in the liquidación de revisión.
The most important stage
The response to the requerimiento: three months to build your defense
Article 707 of the Estatuto Tributario provides that the taxpayer has three months from notification of the requerimiento especial to state their objections in writing, request evidence, cure the omissions the law allows, ask the DIAN to carry out tax or accounting inspections, and generally respond to the requerimiento. That deadline is peremptory. It admits no ordinary extension at the taxpayer's request, although the DIAN may expand the requerimiento during that period if it considers it necessary.
The response to the requerimiento is the most important step in the entire process. It is the only formal opportunity to present evidence, raise defenses, correct omissions and build the case file that will later serve as the basis at the reconsideración stage or before the jurisdicción contencioso-administrativa. What is not said in the response to the requerimiento is hard to introduce later: article 723 of the ET provides that at the reconsideración stage the appellant may not object to the facts they expressly accepted in the response to the requerimiento.
What must the response include? There is no mandatory official format, but a well-structured response addresses each glosa separately and contains, as a minimum, these elements:
- Precise identification of the act being responded to: the requerimiento number, the date of notification, the tax period and the taxpayer's NIT.
- A response glosa by glosa. For each challenge: the taxpayer's position (full rejection, partial rejection or acceptance), the economic explanation of the transaction, the supporting documents and the rule that backs the position taken.
- Supporting documents, organized and indexed. Invoices, contracts, bank statements, withholding tax certificates, payment receipts, returns from other periods that explain the transaction, and any document that disproves the DIAN's challenge.
- The rule that supports each argument. The DIAN does not only want economic explanations; it wants to see the statutory provision, the concepto or the case law that justifies the tax treatment you gave the transaction.
- A request for evidence, where applicable. If you need the DIAN to carry out a tax or accounting inspection, or to request documents from third parties, this is the moment to ask for it. Requesting evidence triggers certain suspensions of the DIAN's deadline (art. 710).
- Amendment of the return, where appropriate. In some cases it is advisable to amend the return voluntarily during the response stage, especially where there are minor errors whose correction reduces the penalties. That decision requires calculating the impact on penalties and interest beforehand.
A partial response is better than not responding. If the deadline is about to expire and the documentation is not complete, it is preferable to file the response with what is available, to place on record the main arguments and the supporting documents at hand and, if possible, to request additional inspections or evidence that extend the DIAN's deadline. Total silence amounts to closing the door before time.
On partial acceptance of the proposed adjustment: if after reviewing the situation you conclude that some glosas are right and others are not, you may accept the former and contest the latter. Partial acceptance may reduce penalties if it is accompanied by a timely amendment of the return. On the other hand, if you accept an item in the response to the requerimiento, you will not be able to object to it at the reconsideración stage (ET art. 723). That decision must be taken with tax advice, weighing the cost of the sanción por inexactitud against the cost of litigating.
What makes the case worse
The five mistakes that turn a requerimiento (the DIAN's formal tax audit notice) into a larger debt
The DIAN's review process offers several stages of defense. What separates a taxpayer who comes out of it well from one who ends up paying more than they should is not always the substantive facts: very often it is procedural mistakes that close doors, create unwanted commitments or leave the case file without support. These are the five most frequent ones:
There is a sixth behavior that, without being technically a procedural mistake, tends to make matters worse: bringing in the accountant without a clear legal criterion. The accountant is essential for organizing the accounting records and explaining the transactions, but the response to a requerimiento especial is a legal act that requires knowledge of tax procedure, of the grounds for penalties and of the procedural deadlines. When the accountant and the tax attorney work together with a shared strategy, the case file turns out far more solid.
The strategic decision
When it is better to accept the proposed adjustment and when it is worth litigating
One of the most important decisions in the process is not technical but strategic: how much does it cost to litigate compared with how much it costs to concede? That question has no universal answer, but it does have concrete variables worth calculating before making the decision.
The analysis starts with the amount in dispute. If the glosa (each specific item the DIAN challenges) involves an adjustment of five million pesos with the sanción por inexactitud (the penalty for an inaccurate return) included, the cost of qualified tax counsel to litigate all the way to the administrative-law courts may far exceed that amount. If the proposed adjustment is five hundred million with penalties that accumulate month after month together with late-payment interest, the analysis changes completely.
Penalty reductions for accepting in time. The Estatuto Tributario provides for reductions in the sanción por inexactitud when the taxpayer amends the return and accepts the additional tax at early stages of the process. Accepting at the requerimiento especial stage and amending the return may mean a smaller penalty than the one you would face if you wait for the liquidación oficial. That difference has to be calculated before deciding, not after the assessment has become final.
The strength of the supporting evidence. If the DIAN is challenging a transaction that you carried out, that was real, that has an invoice, a contract, a verifiable payment and a coherent economic explanation, the decision to contest has a basis. If the transaction was questionable from the outset, if the supporting documents are incomplete or if the facts reported are hard to explain coherently, partial acceptance and a timely amendment are usually the most orderly way out.
The risk that the process escalates. A liquidación oficial de revisión (ET art. 710) that is not challenged in time becomes final and enforceable. Once it does, the DIAN may collect it through cobro coactivo (ET art. 828), its own administrative enforced-collection route, by attaching bank accounts, withholding refunds and income, and applying other administrative measures. That collection is fast and does not wait for court decisions. Anticipating that scenario is part of the risk analysis.
| Factor | Favors accepting the adjustment | Favors contesting |
|---|---|---|
| Strength of the supporting evidence | Incomplete or inconsistent supporting documents | Real transaction, documented and coherent |
| Amount in dispute | Low amount compared with the cost of litigating | High amount with a significant impact on your assets |
| Penalty reductions | Significant reduction for accepting at an early stage | Base penalty already reduced, or exemption possible |
| The DIAN's position | Technically well-founded challenge | Challenge based on a debatable interpretation or on incorrect source information |
| Taxpayer's record | History of prior amendments or ongoing proceedings | Clean record and consistent returns |
| Cash capacity | Immediate payment is possible and closes off the risk | Litigation buys time to get organized without paying before there is a decision |
On the contencioso-administrativo route: article 720 of the ET sets out an alternative path for certain taxpayers who have filed a substantive response to the requerimiento and have either amended the return or paid the additional tax proposed. That path allows them to go directly to the jurisdicción contencioso-administrativa (Colombia's administrative-law courts) within the four months following notification of the liquidación oficial, without having to exhaust the recurso de reconsideración (the administrative appeal filed before the DIAN itself). It is an option worth assessing with a tax attorney once the process has moved past the requerimiento stage and the legal position is well documented.
Practical tools
Table of stages and document checklist for responding to the requerimiento
The following table summarizes the stages of the tax review process, the deadline for each one, what the taxpayer can do and the consequences of not acting. Use it as a quick reference to locate where you are in the process and what comes next:
| Stage | Deadline | What you can do | What happens if you do not act |
|---|---|---|---|
| Emplazamiento para declarar — the formal demand to file a missing return (ET art. 715) | 1 month from notification | File the omitted return and pay the late-filing penalty | Penalty for failure to file (ET art. 716) and possibly a liquidación de aforo, the assessment the DIAN issues on its own (ET art. 717) |
| Requerimiento especial (ET art. 703) | 3 months to respond (ET art. 707) | File a written response with objections, evidence, requests and legal arguments | The DIAN proceeds to assess; facts not objected to are treated as accepted |
| Liquidación oficial de revisión (ET art. 710) | The DIAN has 6 months from expiration of the response deadline to notify it | Prepare the recurso de reconsideración | If it is not challenged within the following 2 months, the act becomes final and enforceable |
| Recurso de reconsideración (ET art. 720) | 2 months from notification of the liquidación | File the appeal with legal grounds and evidence; or go directly to the administrative-law courts if the requirements in the paragraph of art. 720 are met | The assessment becomes final and the DIAN may start cobro coactivo |
| Cobro coactivo (ET art. 828) | From the moment the act becomes final and enforceable | Pay, request a payment plan or dispute the legality of the enforcement instrument | Attachment and pursuit of assets and bank accounts |
Below is a checklist of the ten documents you should gather before drafting the response to the requerimiento especial. You can check off each item as you collect it:
- The tax return under challenge with its filing number, date and corresponding payment receipt.
- Prior amendments to the challenged return, if there were any, with their dates and justifications.
- Electronic invoices and supporting documents for the challenged transactions, organized by glosa and by period.
- Contracts and service orders related to the costs, deductions or income under challenge.
- Bank statements and payment receipts that demonstrate the actual flow of the transaction.
- Withholding tax certificates withheld or received in the period under review.
- Accounting books or financial statements for the period in which the challenged transactions took place.
- Tax reconciliation between the accounting result and the tax return.
- Tax conceptos, DIAN resolutions or case law supporting the treatment you gave to the transactions.
- A copy of the requerimiento especial itself with the notification date and the filing number, so that you have the exact deadline and the frame of reference for the response.
Laws and case law cited
- Estatuto Tributario (Decreto 624 de 1989), arts. 703, 705, 706, 707, 710, 711 and 714 — requerimiento especial, notification periods, response, correspondence with the liquidación oficial and finality of the return. Source.
- Consejo de Estado (Colombia's highest administrative court), Sección Cuarta (Fourth Section, tax matters), rad. 17205 (2011) — the requerimiento especial is a prior and necessary act before the liquidación de revisión, and it must state its reasons. Source.
- Consejo de Estado, Sección Cuarta, rad. 16534 (2010) — principle of correspondence: the liquidación may address only the glosas proposed in the requerimiento. Source.
- Consejo de Estado, Sección Cuarta, rad. 21185 (2016) — once the finality period has expired without the requerimiento being notified, the return can no longer be modified, not even by the DIAN. Source.
We answer your questions
Frequently asked questions
Can I request an extension to respond to the requerimiento especial?
What exactly is the liquidación oficial de revisión, and when is it issued?
What happens if the DIAN does not notify the liquidación oficial within the article 710 deadline?
Can I negotiate the amount of the debt directly with the DIAN?
When do you have to pay the debt the DIAN is collecting?
Can the DIAN's tax proceeding lead to a criminal case?
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Resolve your DIAN requerimiento with professional support
At Cafore Abogados we support companies and individuals in responding to requerimientos, in the vía gubernativa (the administrative-review stage) and in court defense against the DIAN, with an evidentiary strategy and control of the risk.




