Paraguay's tax authority publishes the names of people who owe it money. The current edition of that list, analyzed in reporting on 16 August 2026, carries 4,669 taxpayers, and the composition is the part worth reading closely: 96% of them are small taxpayers, not the large companies most people would picture.
Update, 13 September 2026: an overstatement in this item has been narrowed. Whether a return is due when all your income is foreign depends on the obligations registered in your RUC; it is not a blanket rule for every tax resident.
What the List Actually Is
The Lista de Contribuyentes Morosos is not a leak or an investigative scoop. The DNIT publishes it itself, with the taxpayer's RUC, name and category, and updates it as circumstances change. The legal basis is Article 188 of Ley 125/91, as amended by Ley 2421/04.
You land on it when a tax debt has become firm and has been outstanding for more than 90 days. At that point the DNIT issues a debt certificate, which functions as a Título Ejecutivo Fiscal: an instrument that lets the state move to enforced collection rather than continuing to ask.
Among the largest taxpayers on the list, the obligations involved are the ordinary ones: IVA, IRE General, IVA withholdings, IRACIS and contraventions.
Who Is on It, and What the 96% Does Not Say
The breakdown is 4,481 small taxpayers (96.0%), 179 medium (3.8%) and 9 large (0.2%).
One caveat matters before anyone draws conclusions. The published documents do not state individual amounts, so that 96% is a share of headcount, not of money owed. Nine large debtors could plausibly account for more of the outstanding value than four thousand small ones. The figure tells you who gets caught, not where the debt sits.
The analysis behind these numbers was prepared by MF Economía e Inversiones. The DNIT also notes that the list moves: entries come off it as people pay or otherwise resolve their position.
How a Dormant RUC Gets You There
This is the part with direct relevance for readers of this site, and it is not about evasion.
If you registered a RUC in Paraguay, for example as a step toward a certificate of tax residence, this concerns you. A RUC is not a dormant registration that sits quietly until you use it. Each obligation registered against it, an annual IRP return for example, generally has to be filed on schedule even when all your income is foreign-source and the tax due is zero. Which obligations your RUC carries depends on your category, and your accountant can read them off the registration.
Miss those filings and the consequence is not silence. Contraventions accrue, they harden into a firm debt, and after 90 days the mechanism above applies in exactly the same way it does to a Paraguayan shopkeeper. Nobody publishes a category called "foreigner who forgot"; they are simply small taxpayers.
To be clear about what is not known: there is no data on how many of the 4,669 are foreign residents, and being listed is not evidence of intent. Our guide to the RUC and annual filing covers the obligation itself.
What It Means if You Hold a Paraguayan RUC
Two practical points, neither dramatic.
Check that your filings are actually being made, rather than assuming they are. If you engaged someone to handle the annual return, confirm it was filed for each year, because a nil return that nobody submitted looks identical to an unfiled one.
And if you hold a RUC you no longer need, close it deliberately instead of abandoning it. An unused registration keeps generating obligations, and the cheapest moment to deal with that is before a certificate exists.
This also fits a pattern we keep reporting. Paraguay is not raising rates; it is improving visibility and collection, which is the same policy behind e-invoicing, the bank data exchange from 2027 and a tax take built on enforcement. None of it touches the 0% on genuinely foreign-source income. All of it rewards being tidy.
US citizens and green-card holders: a Paraguayan delinquency list has no bearing on your US position. The United States taxes worldwide income on the basis of citizenship, so your American filings continue regardless of your Paraguayan standing. Take advice from a US-qualified professional.
Frequently Asked Questions About Paraguay's Tax Debtor List
Is Paraguay's list of tax debtors really public?
Yes. The DNIT publishes it on its own portal with RUC, name and taxpayer category, under Article 188 of Ley 125/91 as amended by Ley 2421/04. It is updated over time, and entries are removed when the underlying debt is resolved.
Can I end up on Paraguay's tax debtor list without owing any tax?
In principle yes, because the trigger is a firm debt rather than unpaid income tax specifically. Missed annual filings generate contraventions, and those become debts in their own right even when the tax owed on your foreign income is zero.
Do I have to file in Paraguay if I only earn abroad?
Often, yes, but it turns on the obligations registered in your RUC rather than on residency as such. If your registration carries an annual return, it is due even when all income is foreign-source and nothing is owed. The territorial system removes the tax, not the filing obligation.
Not sure whether your Paraguayan filings are actually up to date? A Paraguayan accountant can pull your DNIT status and tell you, and we are happy to recommend one. Get in touch.
Disclaimer: This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Published lists change as debts are settled, and individual circumstances differ. Confirm your own standing with the DNIT or a qualified Paraguayan adviser before acting.
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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.
