Deusto Estudios Cooperativos

General legal framework for cooperatives in Colombia

Antonio José Sarmiento Reyes — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

This article aims to provide an overview of current cooperative legislation in Colombia, highlighting key aspects of the cooperative sector and the state entities responsible for its promotion and oversight, as well as the legal structure within cooperatives. All of this is framed within the broader context of the «solidarity economy system,» which includes not only cooperatives but also employee funds, mutual associations, and other non-profit organizations.

Received: 5 March 2026
Accepted: 16 March 2026

Solidarity Economy Organizations Developing Savings and Credit Operations in Colombia: An Approach to Their Characteristics, Supervision, and Regulation

George Alexis Santana Cetares — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

In Colombia, cooperatives are part of a group of entities known as solidarity economy organizations. Within the solidarity economy sector, there are different legal forms that are permitted to engage in savings collection and loan placement activities with their members or third parties. This variety of legal forms in the solidarity economy sector, while certainly having advantages in terms of generating financial inclusion, also presents difficulties, as legislative progress has caused the initial characteristics that justified the existence of various legal forms to disappear, and regulatory asymmetries have begun to emerge. Therefore, the State, through the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit — Financial Regulation Unit, has been advancing a series of regulatory initiatives and studies to alleviate asymmetries and strengthen the solidarity savings and credit sector.

Received: 14 November 2025
Accepted: 4 Febrero 2026

The cooperative insurance activity in Colombia

Alejandro Rodríguez Zárate — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

The article analyzes cooperative insurance activity in Colombia from its constitutional, legal, and jurisprudential foundations, emphasizing that the concept of insurance activity is broader than that of the insurance contract and is characterized by the collective assumption of risks through mutuality mechanisms. Based on this approach, two main forms of exercising this activity within the cooperative sphere are identified: cooperative insurance companies and mutual welfare, assistance, and solidarity funds. Cooperative insurers carry out insurance activity through insurance contracts under a technical and prudential regime comparable to that of commercial insurers, although with particularities derived from their legal nature, especially regarding capitalization, governance, and surplus distribution, which generate competitive disadvantages. Mutual funds, in turn, constitute collective resources administered by cooperatives that cover risks without forming an insurance contract, as there is no premium nor transfer of risk, but rather solidarity-based coverage among members. Their regulation is fragmented and imprecise, which hinders their development. The article concludes that cooperative insurance activity requires regulatory updating that recognizes its specific characteristics and enables its adequate participation in the insurance market.

Received: 7 October 2025
Accepted: 17 January 2026

Regulation of mutual associations in Colombia

Alberto García Muller — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

This article analyzes the legal regime of mutual associations in Colombia. It begins with the generic characterization of what is a mutual worldwide, to be able to make comparisons with its treatment by national legislation. Later. and central part of the document, the most important and, or novel aspects of the legal regulation of mutual societies in Colombia, are studied in some detail, according to the very new and, in general, the well-formulated mutual law in force of 2021. Finally, the main challenges facing mutual partnerships in the twenty-first century are described.

Received: 16 November 2025
Accepted: 12 February 2026

Cooperative Associated Work in Colombia: Possible causes of its limited development

Martha Luz Camargo De la Hoz — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

The main objective of this article is to show the current state of cooperative associated work in Colombia and the reasons why, being one of the modalities through which it can work, it has not had a real development in the country. I consider it possible that the improper use to which this model was subjected is the cause of the current situation, having generated a degree of mistrust that has not been overcome and that has dragged down many of the associated work cooperatives that existed, which have been disappearing for various reasons. It is imperative to seek mechanisms to publicize the characteristics that are of the essence of this work modality and the benefits than can represent the workers and their families belonging to a cooperative of associated work — CTA, where in addition to obtaining economic compensation according to Due to the work carried out and having social security, it is possible to access other benefits and services of a social and economic nature that derive from the cooperative and supportive nature of this type of organization.

Received: 4 October 2025
Accepted: 24 January 2026

Tax regime applicable to cooperatives in Colombia

Guillermo Sandoval Medina — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Cooperatives in Colombia are defined as non-profit associative enterprises and are legal entities under private law. Cooperatives, as enterprises, are economic actors that interact in the market alongside private and public commercial enterprises. As an economic actor within the market, cooperatives fulfill their constitutional obligation to contribute to the expenses and burdens of the State, generally under the same conditions as other entities, notwithstanding the existence of exceptional tax treatments, which are justified by the nature of entities that do not pursue profit but rather the generation of social well-being, thus helping the State achieve its objectives. For this reason, cooperatives have historically enjoyed special or differential tax treatment, especially in the case of direct taxes. This document presents a summary of the tax status of cooperatives in Colombia with respect to income tax. Income tax in Colombia is the most important tax in the country today.

Received: 7 July 2025
Accepted: 11 November 2025

Challenges in promoting the community-based, popular, and solidarity economy outlined in Colombia’s National Development Plan

Juan Fernando Álvarez — Fri, 22 May 2026 00:00:00 +0200

Following the review of concepts of community, popular, and solidarity economy, their specificities, and common elements, the article seeks to identify the promotion of community, popular, and solidarity economy in the National Development Plan through a word frequency analysis. The findings highlight the challenges of interweaving diverse concepts in a context where the notions of community economy and popular economy lack a legal trajectory. This may result in the promotion of solidarity economy being subsumed into the construction of the former. It is necessary to organizationally structure the popular and community economy to take advantage of the available institutional framework through alliances with the solidarity economy, universities, and other enterprises in the territories.

Received: 12 November 2025
Accepted: 18 January 2026