Colombian employment settlement
v1Ejemplo de AXIOMAComposición del método
Las fórmulas se ejecutan de arriba abajo. Un paso usa el resultado de otro anterior cuando lee una variable con el mismo nombre.
- Monthly salary
- Type of salary
- Minimum wage for the year
- Transport allowance for the year
- Start date
- End date
- Vacation days already taken
- Days of salary still unpaid
- How it ended
- Type of contract
- Agreed end of the contract
Paso 1: Fórmula Base for benefits
- Usa
- Monthly salaryentrada
- Type of salaryentrada
- Minimum wage for the yearentrada
- Transport allowance for the yearentrada
- Produce
base_prestaciones
Paso 2: Fórmula Days worked
- Usa
- Start dateentrada
- End dateentrada
- Produce
dias_trabajados
Paso 3: Fórmula Days of severance pay in the year
- Usa
- Start dateentrada
- End dateentrada
- Produce
dias_cesantias
Paso 4: Fórmula Severance pay
- Usa
- Type of salaryentrada
- Base for benefitsdel paso 1
- Days of severance pay in the yeardel paso 3
- Produce
cesantias
Paso 5: Fórmula Interest on severance pay
- Usa
- Severance paydel paso 4
- Days of severance pay in the yeardel paso 3
- Produce
intereses_cesantias
Paso 6: Fórmula Days of bonus in the half-year
- Usa
- Start dateentrada
- End dateentrada
- Produce
dias_prima
Paso 7: Fórmula Service bonus
- Usa
- Type of salaryentrada
- Base for benefitsdel paso 1
- Days of bonus in the half-yeardel paso 6
- Produce
prima
Paso 8: Fórmula Pending vacation
- Usa
- Days workeddel paso 2
- Vacation days already takenentrada
- Monthly salaryentrada
- Produce
vacaciones
Paso 9: Fórmula Unpaid salary
- Usa
- Base for benefitsdel paso 1
- Days of salary still unpaidentrada
- Produce
salario_pendiente
Paso 10: Fórmula Days of compensation
- Usa
- How it endedentrada
- Type of contractentrada
- Monthly salaryentrada
- Minimum wage for the yearentrada
- Days workeddel paso 2
- End dateentrada
- Agreed end of the contractentrada
- Produce
dias_indemnizacion
Paso 11: Fórmula Compensation for dismissal
- Usa
- Monthly salaryentrada
- Days of compensationdel paso 10
- Produce
indemnizacion
Paso 12: Fórmula Settlement total
- Usa
- Severance paydel paso 4
- Interest on severance paydel paso 5
- Service bonusdel paso 7
- Pending vacationdel paso 8
- Unpaid salarydel paso 9
- Compensation for dismissaldel paso 11
- Produce
total_liquidacion
base_prestacionesdias_trabajadosdias_cesantiascesantiasintereses_cesantiasdias_primaprimavacacionessalario_pendientedias_indemnizacionindemnizaciontotal_liquidacion
salariotipo_salariosmmlvauxilio_transportefecha_ingresofecha_retirodias_vacaciones_disfrutadosdias_sin_pagarmotivo_terminaciontipo_contratofecha_fin_pactadatotal_liquidacionHow it is worked out
Work out a final settlement in Colombia: severance pay and its interest, service bonus, vacation and dismissal compensation by contract type and how it ended.
When a contract ends, the statutory benefits that have accrued and not been paid are settled: the current year’s severance pay and its interest, the half-year’s service bonus and pending vacation, plus any salary owed. If the dismissal was without just cause, the compensation in article 64 of the Labour Code is added, which depends on the type of contract and the time worked. Days are counted the way payroll counts them: 30-day months and 360-day years.
The formulas that run, in order
- Base for benefits
base_prestaciones = salario + (tipo_salario == "ordinario" and salario <= 2 * smmlv ? auxilio_transporte : 0) - Days worked
dias_trabajados = diasComerciales(fecha_ingreso, fecha_retiro) - Days of severance pay in the year
dias_cesantias = diasComerciales(fechaMayor(fecha_ingreso, inicioDelAño(fecha_retiro)), fecha_retiro) - Severance pay
cesantias = tipo_salario == "integral" ? 0 : base_prestaciones * dias_cesantias / 360 - Interest on severance pay
intereses_cesantias = cesantias * 0.12 * dias_cesantias / 360 - Days of bonus in the half-year
dias_prima = diasComerciales(fechaMayor(fecha_ingreso, inicioDelSemestre(fecha_retiro)), fecha_retiro) - Service bonus
prima = tipo_salario == "integral" ? 0 : base_prestaciones * dias_prima / 360 - Pending vacation
vacaciones = max(dias_trabajados * 15 / 360 - dias_vacaciones_disfrutados, 0) * salario / 30 - Unpaid salary
salario_pendiente = base_prestaciones / 30 * dias_sin_pagar - Days of compensation
dias_indemnizacion = motivo_terminacion != "despido_sin_justa_causa" ? 0 : tipo_contrato == "indefinido" ? (salario < 10 * smmlv ? 30 + max(dias_trabajados - 360, 0) * 20 / 360 : 20 + max(dias_trabajados - 360, 0) * 15 / 360) : tipo_contrato == "obra_labor" ? max(diasComerciales(fecha_retiro, fecha_fin_pactada) - 1, 15) : max(diasComerciales(fecha_retiro, fecha_fin_pactada) - 1, 0) - Compensation for dismissal
indemnizacion = salario / 30 * dias_indemnizacion - Settlement total
total_liquidacion = cesantias + intereses_cesantias + prima + vacaciones + salario_pendiente + indemnizacion
Each formula reads what the earlier ones produced, by its name. The fields arrive with an example filled in: put your own numbers in and run it again.
What if the calculation were yours?
This calculator is not hand-written: it is an Axioma method, formulas that run one after another. Open it to see every step, adapt it to your case or run it for a whole payroll from a spreadsheet.
A settlement from start to finish
On a salary of 3,000,000 pesos, an open-ended contract from 1 March 2023 and dismissal without just cause on 30 September 2026, the base for severance and bonus is 3,249,095 pesos, because it includes the transport allowance. Severance pay for 2026, over 270 days, is 2,436,821 pesos, and its interest 219,314.
The second half-year’s bonus, over 90 days, is 812,274 pesos. Pending vacation is 23.75 days —53.75 earned over 1,290 days worked, minus 30 taken—, which at 100,000 pesos a day comes to 2,375,000. Compensation is 81.67 days, 8,166,667 pesos, and the total reaches 14,010,076.
How much compensation each contract brings
On an open-ended contract, someone earning under 10 minimum wages gets 30 days’ salary for the first year and 20 for each further year, in proportion to fractions. From 10 minimum wages, 17,509,050 pesos in 2026, it is 20 days for the first year and 15 for each one after.
On a fixed-term contract the salary for the rest of the term is paid: dismissed on 30 June with a contract running to 31 December, that is 180 days of salary. On a contract for a specific job, what remained of the job is paid, and never less than 15 days. The 2025 labour reform left these figures unchanged.
When there is no compensation
Resignation, dismissal with just cause, mutual agreement and the end of the term or the job bring no compensation: everything else in the example is still paid, minus that last item. With the same figures and a resignation, the settlement would be 5,843,409 pesos.
Statutory benefits, on the other hand, are always paid, whatever the reason. Only an all-inclusive salary carries no severance, interest or bonus, because it already includes them: then the settlement is the vacation, any salary owed and, after a dismissal without just cause, the compensation.
How the days are counted
Payroll in Colombia counts 30-day months: from 1 January to 30 September is 270 days, just as a whole year is 360 and a whole February is 30. Severance pay and its interest run from 1 January, because earlier years were paid into the severance fund before 14 February.
The bonus runs from 1 January or 1 July, depending on the half-year of the end date, and vacation over the whole time worked: 15 working days for every 360 days, minus those already taken. If the start date came after those dates, each item counts from the start date.
Frequently asked questions
- What does a final settlement in Colombia include?
- The year’s severance pay and the interest on it, the half-year’s service bonus, untaken vacation and any salary owed. If the dismissal was without just cause, also compensation, which depends on the type of contract and the time worked.
- Does the transport allowance count in the settlement?
- Yes, for anyone earning up to two minimum wages: it is part of the base for severance pay, its interest and the service bonus. It does not count for vacation or compensation, which are paid on the salary without the allowance.
- How long does the employer have to pay the settlement?
- It is due when the contract ends. If the employer does not pay the salary and benefits owed, article 65 of the Labour Code makes it pay one day of salary for every day of delay during the first 24 months, known as the late-payment penalty.
- Are health and pension deducted from the settlement?
- Only from salary owed, which pays contributions like any salary. Severance pay, its interest, the bonus, vacation paid in money and compensation are not part of the contribution base, so this calculation shows them gross, before deductions.