Colombia Final Settlement (Liquidación)
Estimate the Colombian final settlement in 2026: cesantías, interest, prima, vacations and the art. 64 indemnity for dismissal without just cause.
Colombia — Código Sustantivo del Trabajo (Labor Code, arts. 64, 186, 249 and 306), Ley 52 de 1975 and Decretos 1469 and 1470 de 2025, in force on 10/24/2026.
Estimate for guidance only: check the official sources or a licensed professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
What does the final settlement include?
Pending salary, cesantías and their interest for the current year, the proportional prima of the semester, unused vacations and, if you were dismissed without just cause, the indemnity of art. 64 of the Labor Code.
How is the indemnity for an indefinite contract calculated?
For salaries below 10 minimum wages: 30 days of salary for the first year and 20 more days for each further year, proportional for fractions. From 10 minimum wages: 20 days for the first year and 15 for each further year.
And for fixed-term or work contracts?
A fixed-term contract pays the salary for the time left until the agreed end. A contract for a work or task pays the time left to finish the work, never less than 15 days.
Why are days counted as 360 per year?
Colombian payroll uses 30-day months: every month counts 30 days, and the 31st or the end of February count as day 30. A full year is 360 days.
How are vacations paid at the end of the contract?
Each year of service gives 15 working days of paid vacation. Unused days are paid in money: salary × days worked ÷ 720, without the transport allowance.
When must the employer pay?
At the end of the contract. If salaries and benefits are not paid then, art. 65 of the Labor Code may require one day of salary for each day of delay, within the limits of the law.
How the Colombia final settlement calculator works
This calculator estimates the final settlement (liquidación) owed to an employee in Colombia when the employment contract ends in 2026. It is meant for workers, HR teams and small employers who want to check the amounts before signing the termination paperwork. Enter the monthly salary, choose an ordinary or integral salary, and say whether you receive the transport allowance. Then give the hire date, the last day of work, the reason for termination (resignation, dismissal with or without just cause, or the end of the agreed term or work) and the contract type: indefinite, fixed term, or for a work or task. Vacation days already taken and unpaid days can be added too.
Days are counted with the commercial 360-day year used in Colombian payroll. Cesantías are the salary plus the transport allowance times the days worked in 2026 divided by 360 (art. 249 of the Labor Code), and their interest is 12% per year, prorated (Ley 52 de 1975). The prima de servicios (art. 306) is calculated on the days of the current semester. Vacation compensation is the salary times the days of service divided by 720 (arts. 186 and 189). For a dismissal without just cause, the indemnity of art. 64 (Ley 789 de 2002) depends on the contract type, the time served and whether the salary reaches 10 minimum wages. The 2026 minimum wage is COL$ 1,750,905 and the transport allowance COL$ 249,095.
Example: a salary of COL$ 2,500,000.00 on an indefinite contract from 03/01/2022 to 09/30/2026, dismissed without just cause, with 45 vacation days already taken. The base with the transport allowance is COL$ 2,749,095.00. The result is cesantías of COL$ 2,061,821.25, interest of COL$ 185,563.91, prima of COL$ 687,273.75, vacations of COL$ 1,979,166.67 and an indemnity of COL$ 8,472,222.22 (101.67 days of salary), for a total of COL$ 13,386,047.80. This is an estimate: it ignores salary averaging, deductions, cesantías of earlier years and late-payment penalties, so confirm the final figures with a labor lawyer or accountant.