A Paraguayan company takes days to open and years to keep in good standing. Here is every monthly and annual obligation — tax, corporate, beneficial owners, invoicing and payroll — the calendar that sets the dates, and what happens when one is missed.
A Paraguayan EAS can be formed online in a few days, and many foreign founders treat it as a one-off purchase. It is not. Every company — active or not, with or without employees — has monthly and annual obligations with the tax authority (DNIT), and with social security, the Labour Ministry, the beneficial-owner register and the municipality if it has staff or premises. Miss them and the consequences are practical rather than theoretical: a blocked tax number, no electronic invoices, a frozen bank account.
In 2024, more than 320,000 of Paraguay’s 1.1 million tax numbers were suspended or blocked. Most belonged to people who stopped filing. This guide is the checklist we use for foreign-owned companies: the deadline system, what is due every month and every year, the corporate formalities, electronic invoicing, penalties, and what it costs to have it done properly.
Paraguay does not use one due date for everyone. Most returns and payments fall on a day of the month set by the last digit of the company’s tax number (RUC), before the check digit. Informative returns, including financial statements, fall one day later. If the day is not a business day, the deadline moves to the next one.
| RUC digit | Returns and payments (day) | Informative returns (day) |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 7 | 8 |
| 1 | 9 | 10 |
| 2 | 11 | 12 |
| 3 | 13 | 14 |
| 4 | 15 | 16 |
| 5 | 17 | 18 |
| 6 | 19 | 20 |
| 7 | 21 | 22 |
| 8 | 23 | 24 |
| 9 | 25 | 26 |
A company whose RUC ends in 4 files its monthly VAT on the 15th and its financial statements on the 16th of the relevant month. Our tax calendar tool builds the full year for any RUC digit and exports it to your calendar.
Law and practice: DNIT General Resolution 38/2020 (“perpetual calendar”), confirmed in force by the DNIT in March 2025.
| Every month | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| VAT return (Form 120) | Output VAT on sales minus input VAT on purchases; 10% standard, 5% reduced | DNIT, Marangatu, on the RUC-digit day |
| Purchase and sales ledger | Every invoice issued and received, registered electronically | DNIT, in the month after the period |
| Withholdings | IRE, IRP, non-resident tax and VAT withheld on payments; IDU when dividends are paid | DNIT; confirm the pro-forma and pay early in the month |
| Social security (IPS) | 16.5% employer and 9% employee on payroll, excluding the aguinaldo | IPS, REI system |
| Labour information book | Monthly digital payroll record | Labour Ministry (MTESS) |
| Electronic invoices | Every sale invoiced through SIFEN | DNIT; e-Kuatia’i is free for small issuers |
Two points catch foreign owners out. First, the VAT return is due even when there were no sales; a nil return is still a return, and missing a run of them leads to suspension of the RUC. Second, withholdings are the company’s responsibility, not the supplier’s: pay a foreign consultant, a landlord or a shareholder and you may have to withhold tax and declare it the following month.
Law and practice: Law 6380/2019 (VAT, IRE, IRP, IDU, INR); DNIT General Resolution 38/2020, arts. 2–7. The IDU withholding calendar is published by the DNIT each period; check the current notice.
| Every year (December year-end) | Deadline | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate income tax return (IRE, Form 500) | April, RUC-digit day | 10%; SIMPLE regime files in March |
| IRE advance payments | May, July, September, November | Based on the prior year’s tax |
| Financial statements to the DNIT | April, informative-return day (extended to June in 2025 and 2026) | New disclosure of distributable profits from FY2025 |
| External tax audit report | 8th month after year-end | Only above the revenue threshold |
| Shareholders’ meeting | After year-end, approving the accounts | Mandatory even for a one-shareholder EAS |
| Beneficial owners update | 30 June | Can confirm unchanged data |
| Annual RUC data update | By RUC digit | Name, address, activities, contacts |
| Labour book annual confirmation | Set by MTESS (31 October 2026 for 2025) | Replaces the old annual planillas |
| Municipal licence (patente) | Calendar set by each municipality | Based on assets |
| Dividend tax (IDU) | When dividends are resolved or deemed paid | 8% residents, 15% non-residents |
The financial statements deserve attention. Since fiscal year 2025, the notes must reconcile retained earnings, identify distributable profits and show what was done with them — dividends, capitalisation, reserves or profits still pending. The DNIT uses this to check that dividend tax was paid on what was distributed. Companies that let profits sit in the shareholder’s current account without a resolution will find the gap visible.
Law and practice: DNIT General Resolutions 38/2020, 49/2026 (expanded notes) and 50/2026 (extension of the FY2025 deadline to June 2026).
Most foreign-owned companies are in the general IRE regime: 10% on net profit, full accounting, financial statements and quarterly-style advance payments. Smaller businesses can use the simplified regimes, but not all forms qualify.
IRE general
Any company. Full books, financial statements, Form 500 in April, four advance payments.
IRE SIMPLE
Prior-year income up to Gs 2,000 million. Open to sole proprietorships and a residual category of entities; tax on the lower of real net income or 30% of billing. Check eligibility before choosing an EAS for it.
RESIMPLE
Sole proprietors with up to Gs 80 million of income, fixed monthly payments. Not available to an EAS or SRL.
Choosing the regime is part of choosing the company form. If you want the lightest possible administration and work alone, a sole proprietorship may be better than an EAS; if you want limited liability, foreign shareholders or investors, accept the general regime and its paperwork.
Law and practice: Law 6380, arts. 26–27.
Companies above a revenue threshold must appoint an external tax auditor, who reviews the year’s tax compliance and files a report with the DNIT in the eighth month after year-end. The threshold was set at Gs 6,000 million of annual sales and later updated to about Gs 9,200 million; sources disagree on which figure applies today, so check the current DNIT rule before you rely on being below it. Suppliers to the State have their own threshold.
The auditor is not a formality. They test VAT, withholdings, transfer pricing documentation where applicable and the use of any tax benefits. Companies under incentive regimes need the auditor to certify that the conditions were met. Budget for it from the year you expect to cross the threshold, not the year after.
Law and practice: Law 2421/2004, art. 33; DNIT General Resolutions 30/2019 and 53/2020.
An EAS (Law 6480/2020) must hold an ordinary shareholders’ meeting every year, even with a single shareholder. The meeting approves the financial statements and the management report, decides what to do with the result, elects or confirms the administrators and, if there is one, the statutory auditor (síndico), and sets their fees. Notice is at least five days; the minutes are uploaded through the government portal (SUACE) within 15 days.
Books
Journal, ledger, inventory and balances, minutes of meetings and of the administration, share register.
SRL
Same logic: approval of accounts by the partners and minutes; no share register but a register of quotas.
Changes
New administrators, capital changes and transfers of shares or quotas are registered and reported.
Records
Keep books and supporting documents for at least the five years the DNIT can audit.
Law and practice: Law 6480/2020 (EAS) and Decree 3998/2020; Civil Code provisions on SRLs and SAs.
Every Paraguayan company must report its legal structure and its beneficial owners — anyone holding 10% or more of the capital, more than 25% of the votes, or control by other means — to the register run under the Treasury’s legal office. A new company files within 45 business days of incorporation; changes are reported within 15 business days; and an annual update is due by 30 June, when unchanged data can be confirmed.
This is the obligation with the sharpest teeth. Failure to file can be fined at 50 to 500 daily minimum wages or up to 30% of the profits or dividends to be distributed, and the company’s RUC can be blocked and its bank operations stopped. For a foreign-owned company with a holding chain, the work is in documenting the chain up to the individuals; do it once, properly, and the annual confirmation is quick.
Law and practice: Law 6446/2019, arts. 3–9, and Decree 3241/2020.
Paraguay’s electronic invoicing system, SIFEN, is being made mandatory group by group, with the last groups due by September 2027. For foreign founders the key rule is simpler: any legal entity registered since 1 April 2025 can issue only electronic documents. There is no paper-invoice phase for a new EAS.
e-Kuatia’i
The DNIT’s free invoicing tool for small issuers, with a free qualified electronic signature.
e-Kuatia with your own software
For larger volumes or integration with an ERP or online shop; costs depend on the provider.
State suppliers
Mandatory electronic invoicing since January 2026.
Foreign clients
Invoices to foreign clients also go through SIFEN; see our services export guide on VAT.
Law and practice: Decree 872/2023; DNIT General Resolutions 21/2024 (art. 9) and 52/2026 (groups 19–24, June 2026 to September 2027).
A company with staff registers as an employer with IPS and the Labour Ministry. Social security is 25.5% in total — 16.5% from the employer and 9% from the employee — on all pay except the aguinaldo (one extra month a year, paid by 31 December) and family allowances. The minimum wage is Gs 3,044,000 a month from July 2026, so the minimum employer contribution is about Gs 502,000 a month.
The Labour Ministry now runs a monthly digital labour information book, which replaced the old annual payroll forms, with an annual confirmation set by resolution — 31 October 2026 for the 2025 year. Late IPS payments carry a monthly surcharge, and an employer behind on IPS cannot obtain the compliance certificates banks and public buyers ask for.
Law and practice: Decree 6225/2026 (minimum wage); Decree 1989/2024 and MTESS Resolutions 462/2026 and 805/2026 (labour information book).
Foreign-owned companies follow the same calendar as local ones, but a few obligations land differently when the owner or the money sits abroad.
Dividends to a foreign owner
The company withholds 15% IDU when dividends are resolved or deemed paid, and declares it the following month. An SRL with no distribution date in its bylaws is deemed to distribute in the fourth month after year-end, so decide on retention or distribution in time.
Payments to the parent
Management fees, royalties or interest paid to a foreign parent carry non-resident tax (INR), withheld by the company, and above the size threshold they need transfer pricing support.
Documents from abroad
Changes in a foreign corporate shareholder, its representatives or its owners must reach the beneficial-owner register within 15 business days, with apostilled and translated documents. Build that into the group’s routine.
Local representative
The administrator signs returns and minutes. If no administrator lives in Paraguay, someone with a power of attorney and electronic signature must be able to act every month.
Dormant companies. A company with no activity is still a taxpayer. It files nil VAT returns every month, the annual IRE return and financial statements, the beneficial-owner update and the shareholders’ meeting. Founders who open a company “for later” and leave it unattended usually find it suspended when they need it. If the company will not be used for a year or more, either keep a minimal compliance service running or close it properly.
Closing a company. Dissolution and liquidation require a shareholders’ resolution, final financial statements, the cancellation of the RUC with the DNIT — which checks that everything has been filed and paid — and the cancellation of registrations with IPS, the Labour Ministry and the municipality. Abandoning a company does not close it: obligations and penalties keep accruing until the RUC is formally cancelled.
| Problem | Consequence |
|---|---|
| Late tax payment | Surcharge of 4% rising to 14% of the tax, plus interest |
| Late or missing return | Fine from Gs 50,000 upwards on the official scale |
| Tax underpaid | 50% of the tax omitted; 1–3 times for fraud |
| Beneficial owners not filed | Fine of 50–500 daily minimum wages (about Gs 5.9–58.5 million) or up to 30% of profits; RUC blocked; no banking |
| Consecutive returns not filed | RUC suspended; no invoices, no compliance certificate |
| IPS paid late | 1% surcharge a month, up to 50% of the debt |
| Patente paid late (Asunción) | Surcharge rising from 2% to 20% over six months |
Most penalties are modest in money and severe in effect. A suspended RUC stops invoicing, which stops revenue. A blocked RUC prevents the compliance certificate, which stops bank operations and public tenders. Restoring status means filing everything missing, paying surcharges and waiting for the system to update.
Law and practice: Law 125/1991, arts. 171–176; DNIT General Resolution 13/2019; Law 6446/2019; Asunción Law 881 (patente).
VAT return, ledger, withholdings, IPS, labour book, e-invoices.
Close the books; prepare financial statements; plan dividends.
IRE return and payment; financial statements (or June if extended).
Shareholders’ meeting and minutes; beneficial-owner update by 30 June.
IRE advance payments; external tax audit report in August if required.
RUC data update, patente, labour book confirmation, changes in owners or administrators within 15 business days.
Accounting fees vary widely: a dormant company costs little to keep compliant, while payroll, audited statements or incentive regimes add work every month. Whatever the fee, it is the cheapest insurance a Paraguayan company can buy.
On a day of the month set by the last digit of the RUC: from the 7th (digit 0) to the 25th (digit 9) for returns and payments, one day later for informative returns.
In the fourth month after year-end — April for a December year-end — on the RUC-digit day, using Form 500.
Yes. An EAS must hold an annual ordinary meeting to approve the accounts, even with a single shareholder, and upload the minutes within 15 days.
By 30 June each year, with changes reported within 15 business days and new companies filing within 45 business days of incorporation.
For new legal entities registered since 1 April 2025, yes, from the start. Other taxpayers join by group until September 2027.
Fines and surcharges, and after consecutive missed returns the RUC is suspended, which stops invoicing and banking.
Only above a revenue threshold set by the DNIT; check the current figure, as sources cite both Gs 6,000 million and about Gs 9,200 million.
Every deadline by RUC digit, exportable to your calendar.
Monthly bookkeeping, returns and payroll, at a fixed fee.
Tell us what your Paraguayan company does and whether it has staff. We take over the calendar, the returns and the registers — fixed monthly fee, quoted within one business day.
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