Colombian business days and deadline calculator
Calculate working days between two dates or add business days to a deadline in Colombia. Skips weekends and the national holidays, 9 July included.
Runs on your deviceRuns entirely in your browser: nothing you type or upload leaves your device.
An informational estimate; not legal, employment or tax advice.
How to use it
- Choose Working days between two dates, or Add working days to a date. The presets fill in the usual CPACA terms: 15, 10 or 30 business days.
- Pick the dates, and tick the Saturday option if Saturday is a working day for your case.
- Read the business days or the deadline, with the weekend days and holidays skipped. Between two dates, open the list of holidays in the period.
Deadlines that count only business days
Many Colombian deadlines run in business days (días hábiles), not calendar days. The best known is the derecho de petición: under article 14 of the Código de Procedimiento Administrativo y de lo Contencioso Administrativo (CPACA), as substituted by Ley Estatutaria 1755 de 2015, the entity or company that receives a general petition has 15 business days to answer.
Requests for public documents or information must be answered within 10 business days, and consultations to an authority about matters in its charge within 30. Judicial terms under the Código General del Proceso also skip weekends and national holidays. A holiday left out of the count moves the deadline by a day, and in a legal procedure that can make an answer or an appeal late.
The tool counts the business days between two dates, both included, or adds business days to a date, counting from the next day. The calculation runs in your browser.
Calculating a 15-day statutory deadline: a worked example
Suppose you submit an official claim to tienda-ejemplo.co on Monday, 16 March 2026. The law grants the business 15 working days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays.
Counting begins on Tuesday, 17 March. That week contributes 4 business days (Tuesday through Friday). The following Monday, 23 March 2026, is a public holiday (Día de San José, moved from 19 March under Ley 51 de 1983), leaving 4 business days that week (total: 8). The next week (29 March to 3 April) contains Holy Week: Thursday, 2 April (Jueves Santo) and Friday, 3 April (Viernes Santo) are official holidays, adding only 3 working days (total: 11). The final 4 business days fall from Monday, 6 April through Thursday, 9 April 2026. The 15th business day arrives on Thursday, 9 April 2026. In the tool, choose Add working days, set 16 March 2026 as the start date and press Right of petition (15 business days): the deadline shows as 2026-04-09.
Saturdays, local holidays and what the count leaves out
Whether Saturday counts depends on the case. Courts and public entities are closed on Saturdays, so for their terms Saturday usually isn't a business day. A job or a contract with a Monday-to-Saturday week may count it: tick the Saturday option then.
The calculator skips every national holiday: those of Ley 51 de 1983 (Ley Emiliani) and, from 2026, 9 July (Ley 2578 de 2026), moved to the next Monday like most of them. It doesn't know local patron saint festivities or días cívicos declared by a mayor's office for one municipality; count those yourself.
FAQ
Is Saturday a business day in Colombia?
For judicial procedures and administrative matters before public entities, Saturday is not a business day. In private labor contracts with a Monday-to-Saturday schedule, Saturday is a regular working day.
What is the Ley Emiliani (Ley 51 de 1983)?
It is the Colombian law that moves most religious and civic holidays falling on weekdays to the following Monday, creating long holiday weekends (puentes festivos).
How are business days counted if a deadline ends on a holiday?
Under Colombian civil and administrative rules (Ley 4 de 1913), when a statutory term expires on a weekend or public holiday, the deadline moves to the next working day.
Does Holy Week (Semana Santa) count as business days?
Only Holy Thursday (Jueves Santo) and Good Friday (Viernes Santo) are official national holidays. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday are regular working days under national law, although judicial courts often decree collective recess.
How many business days do I have to respond to a derecho de petición?
Under CPACA (Ley 1755 de 2015), general requests require a response within 15 business days. Document requests must be answered in 10 business days, and consultations to an authority about matters in its charge in 30 business days.
Guides for this tool
- G26Severance pay in Colombia: how to calculate the liquidaciónHow a Colombian final settlement is worked out: cesantías, their interest, the prima and unused vacation, with the formulas and two worked examples.
- G28Working days in Colombia: how to count a deadlineHow to count working days to a deadline in Colombia: Sundays, Saturdays, the 2026 holidays, derecho de petición terms and a worked example.
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