When this item was published, ten days remained on a rule most foreign residents in Paraguay have never heard of and a minority of them urgently needed. Under Decreto 5154/2025, the DNIT waived 100% of late-payment and financing interest on overdue tax obligations, and the window closed on 31 August 2026.
Update, 13 September 2026: the window has closed. Overdue balances now carry the ordinary late-payment surcharge, and payment plans granted from 1 September cost 1.4% a month under Decreto 6478/2026, as our report on installment interest explains.
What the Regime Actually Covers
The scope is defined by date rather than by amount. It reached monthly tax obligations for periods closed up to December 2023, and annual obligations for the fiscal year closed on 31 December 2023. Anything that fell due after that is outside it.
The terms were unusually generous for a tax authority that has spent this year tightening enforcement:
| Element | Terms |
|---|---|
| Late-payment and financing interest | Waived in full |
| Minimum first payment | 10% of the debt |
| Installments, debts up to G. 500 million | Up to 24 months, interest-free |
| Installments, above G. 500 million | Up to 36 months |
| Above G. 1,000 million | Longer than three years, subject to approval |
| Fines for evasion | 50% discount, where the fine is unpaid and stays above the legal minimum |
Uptake has been real but modest. By 13 July 2026 the regime had brought in G. 108,000 million, about US$17.9 million, from 1,228 taxpayers across 2,226 approved payment plans. Two thirds of that amount came from small taxpayers. In a country where the tax take is around 11% of GDP, the revenue is a rounding error and the number of files closed is not.
Who This Is Not For
Worth saying plainly, because most readers of this site can stop here. If you arrived in Paraguay in 2024 or later, or you hold residency without a RUC, or your RUC has been filed correctly since you opened it, this changes nothing for you. There is no pre-2024 debt to regularize.
Who Needed to Check Before 31 August
Three situations warranted a look, and they still do now that ordinary interest applies. The third is the one that catches people.
You registered a RUC before 2024 and let filings slip. A dormant obligation does not become dormant just because you stopped using the number. Any return your registered obligations called for still had to be filed, even with nothing to pay, and the interest on the resulting liabilities is what this regime waived.
You bought an existing Paraguayan company. Liabilities travel with the entity, not with the previous owner's good intentions. If the acquisition happened without a proper tax due-diligence, pre-2024 obligations may be sitting there unnoticed.
You have a company you stopped using but never closed. This is the trap. A Paraguayan company keeps its filing obligations while it is inactive, so a business someone abandoned in 2022 has been quietly accruing exactly the kind of debt this decree was written for. Closing a company properly is a separate procedure from ceasing to trade, and skipping it does not stop the clock.
Carrot and Stick in the Same Year
Read this next to everything else the DNIT has done in 2026 and it stops looking generous and starts looking deliberate. The same year has brought a public list of tax debtors, bank data flowing to the tax authority, wallet-level crypto reporting and further rounds of mandatory electronic invoicing.
An amnesty is the cheapest way to clear the backlog before the enforcement machinery starts producing cases. It also fits the fiscal arithmetic we covered yesterday, where public salaries absorb 53% of tax revenue and the state has ruled out raising rates. Collect what is already owed, then make it harder not to pay.
Nothing here touches the territorial system. What the decree settles are domestic obligations that had already fallen due; income earned abroad sits outside the Paraguayan income tax base either way.
US citizens and green-card holders: settling a Paraguayan liability does not settle a US one. If you own a Paraguayan company, your US filing obligations continue regardless of what you agree with the DNIT, and a foreign entity generally brings its own information returns with it. Take US-qualified advice on the entity, not just on the tax bill.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Paraguay Tax Amnesty
Does Paraguay's 2026 tax debt amnesty forgive the tax itself?
No. The principal remains payable in full. What was waived was the late-payment and financing interest on it, plus half the fine where an evasion penalty applies and has not already been paid.
What happened after the Paraguay tax amnesty closed on 31 August 2026?
The ordinary rules returned, so interest now accrues on overdue obligations as normal, and new payment plans carry 1.4% monthly financing under Decreto 6478/2026. The decree was described as exceptional and temporary, and the window closed on schedule.
Does a dormant Paraguayan company still need to settle its tax filings?
Probably yes. Inactive companies keep their filing obligations, so the balance may be larger than you expect. The interest-free window has closed and every month of delay now adds ordinary interest, so an early look costs less than a late one.
Not sure whether an old RUC or a company you stopped using is carrying a balance? The DNIT account statement answers that, and a Paraguayan accountant can request and read it for you. We can suggest one. Get in touch.
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Terms, thresholds and eligibility under Decreto 5154/2025 turn on the individual file. Have a Paraguayan tax professional read your account statement before you sign an installment agreement or transfer anything.
Sources
- ▹DNIT: Gobierno establece régimen excepcional para regularizar deudas impositivas sin recargos
- ▹Última Hora: régimen para regularizar deudas con DNIT ya permitió recaudar casi USD 18 millones
- ▹ABC Color: DNIT regularizó en junio deudas tributarias por más de G. 13.000 millones
- ▹Mersan: novedades tributarias, julio 2026
About the author
Yannick Schroth
Founder · Paraguay relocation support
Spends regular time in Paraguay and, with his team on the ground in Asunción, guides international nomads, entrepreneurs and investors through residency, the cédula and the RUC paperwork.
