Doing business in Paraguay in 2026: how to start

A 10% corporate tax and permanent residency for investments from USD 70,000. Paraguay grew 6.6% in 2025 and now holds two investment-grade ratings, but the rules are tightening: by 2028 it will start sending data on foreigners' bank accounts abroad automatically. Ten niches, real tax numbers, banks and the path to a passport.

In the space of eighteen months Paraguay picked up two investment-grade ratings: Moody's moved it to Baa3 in July 2024 and S&P to BBB- in December 2025. The economy grew 6.6% in 2025, and company profits are still taxed at 10%. For an entrepreneur that is a rare combination: the country is becoming safer in the eyes of banks and large investors, while its corporate tax stays 2.5 to 3.5 times lower than its neighbours'.

But the rules are tightening. Paraguay has committed to start automatic exchange of foreigners' bank account data by 2028. Cheap power contracts for crypto miners expire on 31 December 2027. Since 6 July 2026, moving from temporary to permanent residency requires documented proof of income. Even so, the rules remain noticeably softer than in Brazil, Argentina or Uruguay. Below: where the money is in Paraguay, how much tax you will actually pay, what to expect from banks and how to get to a passport.

Why Paraguay now: the economy in numbers

In January-August 2026 Paraguay exported USD 14 billion of goods, 24.7% more than a year earlier, and is on course for a record export year (data from the BCP, Banco Central del Paraguay, the central bank). Soy and maquila exports are growing fastest, while inflation sits below the central bank's target.

Investment grade from two of the three agencies opens the door to large institutional money: in February 2026 the finance ministry sold its first 12-year global bonds denominated in guaraníes, worth the equivalent of USD 1 billion. Since 1 May 2026 the EU-Mercosur agreement has been provisionally applied (Mercosur, Mercado Común del Sur, is the South American customs union that includes Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay). Paraguay ratified it by Law 7634/2026.

Now the uncomfortable part. The IMF expects the budget deficit to widen to 3.5% of GDP in 2026 from 2.0% a year earlier, against a 1.5% ceiling under the fiscal responsibility law. The causes are the partial repayment of state arrears built up in 2023-2025 and weaker revenue due to the strong guaraní. The finance ministry itself projects 3.2% in 2026 and 3.9% in 2027, and promises to return to the ceiling only in 2028. Fitch's positive outlook assumed the ceiling would be met in 2026, so a third investment-grade rating depends on meeting that ceiling.

The second point is the strong guaraní. In 2025-2026 Paraguay's currency risk has come from appreciation, not devaluation: exporters lose revenue when converting, and an investor holding dollars pays more for local assets and salaries than a year ago.

What business to start in Paraguay: 10 niches in numbers

The biggest money in Paraguay is in soy, beef and electricity, but the entry ticket there is measured in thousands of hectares and megawatts. Small and mid-sized businesses do better in what grows around them: maquila, service exports, rental property and services for the tens of thousands of people moving in.

1. Soy and beef: a big game for big money

Paraguay brought in a record soy harvest in the 2025/26 season: 11.5 million tonnes by the USDA's estimate. In January-August 2026 the country shipped 7.4 million tonnes of beans worth USD 2.9 billion, USD 907 million more than a year earlier. 86% went to Argentina and 10% to Brazil.

Exports are controlled by global traders: Bunge holds 19%, Cargill 16%, ADM 10%. A newcomer's place is not in grain trading but in the services around it: storage, transport, machinery.

Beef earned a record USD 2.17 billion in 2025, up 18% (SENACSA, the national animal health service). The biggest buyers are Chile, the United States and Taiwan. But in January-August 2026 beef export revenue fell 8.8% and volume by almost a quarter: prices per kilo rose, but shipments shrank. The main catch in agricultural Paraguay is the weather: drought hits both the harvest and the river used to ship it.

2. Power, data centres and mining: money until 2027

Almost 88% of the electricity Paraguay consumed in 2025 came from the Itaipú dam on the Brazilian border. That is the main magnet for miners and data centres. The state utility ANDE (Administración Nacional de Electricidad) has put them in a separate tariff group, GCIE (Grupo de Consumo Intensivo Especial, the special energy-intensive consumer group), and sells them power at USD 37.08-59.76 per megawatt-hour. The real cost of supply may be USD 80 or more, though this has not been officially confirmed.

The money is serious: ANDE earned USD 295 million from crypto mining in 2025 and expects USD 350 million in 2026. Canada's HIVE Digital is expanding its Yguazú site, taking its Paraguayan capacity to 400 MW, and applications for another 6,300 MW are on the table, more than the entire Itaipú capacity available to Paraguay (6,067 MW).

The catch is a date. All GCIE contracts expire on 31 December 2027, and ANDE calls the deadline non-extendable. The industry is lobbying for an extension to 2037. ANDE's engineers' union proposes an auction from 2028 with a 700 MW cap and a floor price of USD 56 per megawatt-hour, and a study backed by the Inter-American Development Bank, allows for a 45.6% rise in 2026-2030 in the high-voltage tariff paid by large consumers. Entering mining now means betting on a decision that has not been made yet.

Grey schemes end badly here: under Law 7300/2024, stealing electricity for mining carries up to 10 years in prison and confiscation of equipment. In May 2026 a court in Ciudad del Este sentenced the owner of a mining farm wired to the grid around the meter to two years of actual prison.

How fast the rules can change is shown by the British company ATOME. In April 2026 it took a final investment decision to build a USD 665 million green-hydrogen fertiliser plant in Villeta, backed by loans from international development banks. On 17 September 2026 ATOME notified Paraguay of a dispute under the UK-Paraguay investment protection treaty over the repeal of two decrees granting it a preferential tariff. If talks fail within three months, the company intends to file at ICSID, the World Bank's investment arbitration centre.

3. Maquila: a factory for Brazil taxed at 1%

Maquila is a regime under which a Paraguayan company manufactures goods or provides services to order for a foreign company, exports the result and pays a single 1% tax. Maquila exports hit a record USD 1.31 billion in 2025 and USD 1.01 billion in January-August 2026, up 30.2% (BCP). The sector employs about 40,000 people, up from 35,357 at the end of 2025.

The rules have been rewritten. Law 7547/2025 took effect on 9 September 2025 and replaced maquila Law 1064/1997; programmes under the old law kept the old terms for another 12 months, until 9 September 2026. The 1% tax is now charged on the higher of two amounts: value added in Paraguay or the export invoice. Benefits are granted for up to 20 years with the option to extend, and the implementing regulation, Decree 5714, was issued on 6 April 2026.

Who it suits: a manufacturer selling into Brazil or Argentina and looking for a cheap nearby base. The 2025 export mix: auto parts 34%, clothing and textiles 16%, aluminium 14%. The catch: 60% of shipments go to Brazil and another 14% to Argentina (BCP, January-August 2026), and 91% of programmes are concentrated in Alto Paraná, Central department, Asunción and Amambay. A downturn in Brazil becomes your downturn. For life and business in Alto Paraná's main industrial city, see our Ciudad del Este guide.

4. IT, BPO and service exports

The new maquila law extends the 1% rate to services for the first time: software development, BPO (business process outsourcing, such as accounting and customer support) and call centres. Paraguay's BPO sector employs about 12,000 people, is growing 12-14% a year (Revista PLUS), and service exports under the maquila regime reached USD 47 million in 2025.

Who it suits: an IT company with foreign clients that needs a tax base in the region and a Spanish-speaking team. Entry is cheaper than in manufacturing: an office and people. The catch: maquila requires a foreign client and exported output, and salaries carry standard contributions to IPS (Instituto de Previsión Social, the state social security fund): 16.5% paid by the employer and 9% by the employee.

5. Asunción real estate: rents are rising, statistics are missing

Rents in Asunción average USD 6-10 per square metre a month. Prime districts cost more: Las Lomas USD 12-16, Manorá around 12.5, Villa Morra around 12, Ycuá Satí around 11. Occupancy is about 97%, and a two-bedroom, 100 m² flat in a prime district rents for USD 1,100-1,350 a month.

Example calculation: such a flat brings in USD 13,200-16,200 a year before costs and taxes. Sale prices in prime districts start at USD 210,000-280,000 per unit, downtown from USD 100,000, usually for older houses that need renovation. There are no independent statistics on price per square metre or yields in Paraguay, so test any 6-9% yield promised in broker brochures against a specific property.

Taxes: residential rent and property sales carry IVA (Impuesto al Valor Agregado, value added tax) at the reduced 5% rate, and property tax (impuesto inmobiliario) is 1% of the cadastral value a year. A purchase of USD 200,000 or more lets you apply for permanent residency under the Investor Pass, a direct permanent residency route for investors (details below), but only if the property is rented out or held for capital growth, not used as your own home. We select properties through investment property in Paraguay; for neighbourhoods, see the Asunción guide.

6. River logistics: the world's third fleet and shallow water

Paraguay is landlocked but has about 3,400-3,500 river vessels, the third largest river fleet in the world after China and the United States. Soy, beef and maquila goods travel down the Paraguay and Paraná rivers to ports in Argentina and Uruguay.

The catch is water. On 2 November 2024 the Paraguay River at Asunción fell to a record low of minus 1.61 metres. In October 2025 the water dropped again, and convoys had to cut their loads by about a quarter. The second project is the Bioceanic Corridor, a road route from Brazil across the Paraguayan Chaco and northern Argentina to Chile's ports. The Carmelo Peralta - Porto Murtinho bridge, financed by Itaipú, was joined in July 2026, but the route is not yet operating: access roads and border facilities are still being built. Warehouses along the corridor are a bet on the future, not on next year.

7. Forestry and pulp: patient money

Plantation forests grew from 204,631 to 339,866 hectares in 2022-2024 (INFONA, the National Forestry Institute), and forestry exports hit a record USD 101.3 million in 2025. The flagship project is the Paracel pulp mill: about USD 2.8 billion for 1.8 million tonnes of pulp a year. IDB Invest, the private-sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank, approved up to USD 165 million for infrastructure, and site works began in May 2026.

Who it suits: investors with money to lock up for years and contractors around the construction. The catch: production is expected in 2030, and Paracel only expects to close its financing in 2027.

8. Tourism: a record built on one country

Paraguay received 3,657,194 foreign visitors in 2025, 91.24% more than a year earlier, of whom 2,029,678 were tourists. Receipts came to about USD 1.42 billion (SENATUR, the National Tourism Secretariat).

The Investor Pass grants permanent residency for a tourism project from USD 150,000 with an approved business plan. The catch: 80% of visitors are Argentines. If the flow from Argentina drops, there is nothing yet to replace it.

9. Private healthcare

Private subscription health plans (prepaga) cover 500,000-550,000 people in Paraguay, 7-8% of the population. Their number grew 8-10% in 2025, with about 18 companies in the market.

The catch: there are no official statistics on this market, and there is no data at all on private education. Partnering with an existing clinic makes more sense than building from scratch.

10. Services for newcomers

Paraguay issued 40,600 residence permits in 2025, 42% more than a year earlier: 29,976 temporary and 10,624 permanent. Applications reached 47,687 (+63%), and in the first 20 days of 2026 there were 79% more than in the same period of 2025. Brazilians received 58% of all permits; Russian citizens received 509, ranking ninth.

Demand for rentals, translations, accounting and insurance is growing around this flow. The catch: a business built on one type of client can lose them with a single resolution from the immigration service.

Taxes in Paraguay: how 10/10/10 really works

The 10/10/10 formula means three taxes at 10%: on company profits, on value added and on personal income. It is true but incomplete: when dividends are paid, another 8% or 15% is added, and the total burden on a business owner comes to roughly 17-24% (example below). The system rests on tax reform Law 6380/2019, and taxes are collected by DNIT (Dirección Nacional de Ingresos Tributarios, the national tax authority).

Example calculation: what the owner keeps

Take a Paraguayan company with USD 100,000 of profit that pays everything out to its owner. Figures are rounded, the calculation is simplified and ignores special regimes.

If you are tax resident elsewhere, tax there comes on top. Paraguay has double tax treaties only with Chile, Qatar, Taiwan, the UAE and Uruguay. There is no treaty with Russia, and Paraguay does not grant a credit for foreign tax.

A second example: a resident freelancer with PYG 180 million (about USD 30,500) a year of service income. Ignoring the expenses the law allows you to deduct, IRP comes to 8% on the first 50 million (4 million), 9% on the next 100 million (9 million) and 10% on the remaining 30 million (3 million). That is PYG 16 million in total, about USD 2,700, or 8.9% of income.

The territorial principle: where it works and where it does not

IRP taxes individuals only on Paraguayan-source income. But the source line is not where many people assume. Fees for services performed from abroad for a Paraguayan company or another IRP payer are taxable under the law. And DNIT has issued no direct guidance on individuals' interest from foreign banks, so Murblz specialists check such cases separately.

Companies face stricter rules. For a Paraguayan company, interest, commissions and capital gains on deposits in foreign banks, as well as exchange differences, count as Paraguayan-source income and are taxed at the 10% IRE rate (Law 6380/2019). A Paraguayan company is not an offshore holding for foreign money; it is a tool for doing business on the ground.

You become tax resident in Paraguay if you spend more than 120 days in the country in a year (Law 6380/2019). That does not automatically end your residency elsewhere: in Russia, for example, anyone who spends 183 days in the country within 12 consecutive months is resident. How to count days and what dual residency can cost you is covered in our article on the 183-day rule.

Paraguay vs its neighbours: a tax comparison

On corporate tax, Paraguay beats its neighbours by a factor of 2.5 to 3.5. On personal income tax the gap is even wider: 10% against 27.5-36%.

Sources: DNIT, Brazil's Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal). BRL is the Brazilian real.

The conclusion is simple: for a business that genuinely operates in the region, Paraguay is the cheapest of the four on taxes. But Brazil and Argentina have huge domestic markets, and Uruguay has stronger institutions. For more on the neighbours, see taxes in Brazil, taxes in Argentina and Uruguay: all programmes.

Special regimes: when tax drops below 10%

In September 2025 Paraguay passed a package of three laws that replaced the regimes of the 1990s. The old names, Law 60/90 and maquila Law 1064/1997, still appear in marketing, but new projects now follow the new rules.

Where the tax traps are

• Retained earnings. DNIT Resolution 49/2026 requires companies to disclose the composition and purpose of profits held in reserves, starting with the financial statements for the year ending 31.12.2025. DNIT is also preparing a rule on the maximum time profits can sit in reserves. DNIT head Óscar Orué gave an example: money held in reserves for three years would have to be distributed or capitalised in the fourth, and he puts company reserves at about USD 9.5 billion. Business questions whether the idea is constitutional, and it has not become law.
• Crypto assets. Under DNIT Resolution 47/2026, residents report crypto transactions above USD 5,000 a year carried out through foreign platforms or without an intermediary, starting with the 2026 tax year. DNIT links this directly to joining CARF (the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, the OECD standard for exchanging crypto data). More in our article on crypto and relocation.
• E-invoicing. Since 1 April 2025 all new legal entities must use electronic invoices in SIFEN (Sistema Integrado de Facturación Electrónica Nacional), DNIT's national e-invoicing system.
• The budget. On 3 September 2026 President Santiago Peña publicly ruled out raising taxes. But a deficit of 3.5% of GDP puts pressure on the tax authority, and control is tightening through reporting rather than rates.

For a country-by-country tax comparison, see taxes by country.

How to open a bank account in Paraguay and what about CRS

Paraguay has about 15 banks, with assets above USD 37 billion in 2025, yet the biggest of them, Itaú, Continental, Basa and BNF, publish no requirements on their websites for foreigners without a local ID. Digital lender ueno bank says it plainly: without a Paraguayan cédula you cannot become a client. The cédula de identidad is the national ID card issued to citizens and to foreigners with residency.

The system itself is sound: according to the IMF, banks' capital adequacy is 17.3% and liquid assets equal 24.3% of liabilities and capital. The one warning sign: consumer lending is growing 22.8% a year.

What actually works

• Documents first, account second. The working set is a cédula plus a RUC (Registro Único de Contribuyentes, the tax ID issued by DNIT). That is why accounts are usually opened after residency, not before.
• Company accounts. A simplified joint-stock company, EAS (Empresa por Acciones Simplificadas), can be registered online, but its legal representative must hold a cédula. Until the owner has residency, they appoint a representative under a power of attorney. The bank looks at the ultimate owner and at the source of funds.
• Source of funds. Prepare documents in advance: contracts, statements, tax returns, proof of asset sales. How to get through this check without a refusal is covered in our article on source of funds.
• Russian citizens. We found no official restrictions from the BCP or SEPRELAD (Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes, Paraguay's financial intelligence unit). Our assessment: banks with foreign shareholders (Itaú is a Brazilian group, GNB a Colombian one) and any bank routing dollars through US correspondent banks will scrutinise clients from Russia more closely.

The backdrop for these checks is calm: Paraguay is not on the grey list of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money-laundering body), and GAFILAT, the FATF's Latin American regional group, gave it moderate effectiveness ratings in 10 of 11 areas in a 2022 evaluation, and a low one for money-laundering investigations and convictions. How we match a bank to your needs is described on personal accounts in Paraguay and business accounts in Paraguay; for general rules, see our article on opening a bank account abroad.

CRS in Paraguay: what exists and what does not

CRS (the Common Reporting Standard of the OECD) is the system under which banks report foreigners' accounts once a year to their own tax authority, which passes the data on to the client's country of tax residence. Paraguay is not yet part of it, but it has made the commitment.

According to OECD documents, Paraguay has not yet signed up to CRS. But the idea that Paraguay is outside CRS forever is also wrong: exchange on individual requests works today, and automatic exchange is due to start by 2028.

No CRS does not mean no tax

Let us be blunt: CRS is a transport for data, not the source of a tax obligation. If you are tax resident in a country that taxes worldwide income, you must declare foreign accounts and income there, whether or not data ever arrives from Paraguay. A Russian tax resident, for example, notifies the Federal Tax Service of any foreign account opened, files an annual report on its cash flows unless an exemption applies, and reports profits of foreign companies under the CFC (controlled foreign company) rules. US citizens above the reporting thresholds file FBAR and Form 8938 regardless of CRS. The breach happens the moment you fail to file, not the moment data is exchanged.

The legal effect people look for in a no-CRS country comes from something else: territorial taxation. If you move to Paraguay, spend more than 120 days a year there and cease to be tax resident in your former country, your foreign personal income is, as a general rule, outside Paraguayan IRP. That is a public, verifiable regime, not a grey zone. But leaving your former country's tax residency is governed by that country's rules, not Paraguay's.

We help you open an account in Paraguay legally (we choose the bank and prepare the documents; the bank makes the decision) and set up your reporting: CFC notifications and filings, tax residency planning, source-of-funds documents. We do not help hide money. What an account outside automatic exchange does and does not give you is covered in detail in our article on no-CRS bank accounts in 2026.

The step-by-step remote procedure is in our article on how to open a bank account in Paraguay remotely.

How an entrepreneur gets residency and citizenship in Paraguay

The clock to Paraguayan citizenship runs for three years, but it starts on the date of your permanent residency resolution, not on arrival. That is why the standard route through temporary residency takes about five years, while the Investor Pass cuts it by roughly two: permanent residency is granted straight away. Russian citizens need no visa to enter: an agreement signed in 2013 and in force since October 2014 allows stays of 90 days in every 180.

DNM fees are set in jornales, units of the daily minimum wage: since 1 July 2026 one jornal equals PYG 117,077, about USD 20, and temporary and permanent residency cost 25 jornales each. Every family member pays, plus apostilles, translations, certificates and the cédula fee.

Investor Pass: permanent residency straight away

The Investor Pass is a programme launched by MIC Resolution 283/2026 of 21 April 2026. The investor receives a CIE certificate and applies for permanent residency without two years of temporary status, which starts the three-year citizenship clock immediately.

The minimum applies per person: two partners sharing USD 70,000 will not get two permanent residencies. Criminal records, including Interpol, and the source of funds are checked. A company with no turnover and no staff is a bad idea: the law allows residency to be revoked over sham transactions. Full requirements are on our page Paraguay residency.

Permanent residency under the new rules: prove your income

DNM Resolution 407/2026 introduced 12 categories of proof of means, from employees and freelancers to shareholders and pensioners. For applications filed from 6 July 2026 you must prove both income and that you actually carry on the declared activity. Official announcements set no minimum amounts.

The practical takeaway: someone who spent two years on a temporary card without setting anything up in Paraguay risks a refusal. It is easier for those who build a clear record from day one: a company, tax returns, a job, an account with real activity. Status is also lost through long absence: temporary after a year abroad without approval, permanent after three years.

Citizenship and the Article 150 trap

Article 148 of Paraguay's Constitution requires naturalisation applicants to be adults, to have three years of residence, a regular professional activity in the country and good conduct. The Supreme Court counts the three years from the date of the permanent residency resolution. You need an employment certificate with the employer's IPS and RUC numbers, or a business licence (patente comercial) and RUC if you are self-employed, a court application (legal support is handled by Murblz specialists together with locally licensed partners), filing in person and an oath. The exam on history, geography and the constitution is taken in Spanish or Guaraní. Timelines and documents are covered on our page Paraguayan citizenship.

Now the main trap. Article 150 of the Constitution strips a naturalised citizen of Paraguayan citizenship in two cases: absence from the country for more than three years without a valid reason (by court decision) and voluntary acquisition of another citizenship. Law 7052/2023 on multiple citizenship applies only to Paraguayans by birth. We found no dual citizenship treaty between Paraguay and Russia.

The takeaway: obtain every other citizenship you are planning before the Paraguayan one, not after. According to available information, naturalisation does not require renouncing your existing citizenship, but we found no official guidance on this, so Murblz specialists check such a plan before filing. How different countries treat a second passport is covered in our article on dual citizenship. Families have a separate route: a child born in Paraguay is a citizen from birth.

The grounds for residence are covered in our article on how to get Paraguayan residence: 4 ways.

The main risks of Paraguay that brochures leave out

Corruption in Paraguay remains high. It does not show up in tax tables, but it decides how a dispute with a partner or an official will go. The IMF and the World Bank explicitly urge the country to strengthen its anti-corruption institutions.

• Informal economy. 60.1% of non-agricultural workers are informal, about 1.66 million people (INE, the National Statistics Institute, 2025). Competitors who pay no taxes or social contributions are common.
• Regulatory risk in energy. The ATOME dispute after the tariff decrees were repealed, miners' contracts expiring on 31.12.2027, possible tariff increases. The revision of Annex C to the Itaipú treaty with Brazil, which drives the tariff, is unfinished, and the current tariff of USD 19.28 per kilowatt of capacity a month is set only for 2024-2026.
• The budget. A deficit of 3.5% of GDP in 2026 against a 1.5% ceiling, plus the state's accumulated arrears from 2023-2025.
• Climate and rivers. The record low water of 2024 and low levels in 2025 hit river logistics and soy.
• Dependence on neighbours. 86% of soy exports go to Argentina, three quarters of maquila to Brazil and Argentina, 80% of tourists are Argentine, and energy is tied to Brazil through Itaipú.
• Currency. The guaraní gained about 20% against the dollar in a year. Exporters lose revenue on conversion, and guaraní income swings when converted to dollars.
• Political calendar. Municipal elections are held on 4 October 2026.

Who Paraguay is not for

• Anyone looking for an offshore vehicle for foreign income through a company: IRE taxes a Paraguayan company's foreign interest and exchange gains.
• Anyone who wants a passport without living in the country: the court assesses your real ties to Paraguay, and status is lost through long absence.
• Anyone planning another citizenship after the Paraguayan one: Article 150.
• Anyone hoping to hide accounts from their home tax authority: that breaks the law regardless of CRS, exchange on individual requests already works, and automatic exchange starts by 2028.
• Anyone building a business on a single perk such as a cheap power tariff: such perks get revised here.
• Anyone who needs visa-free travel to the United States: neither residency nor a Paraguayan passport provides it.

Who it suits

• An entrepreneur who is genuinely relocating and running a business on the ground or producing for Brazil and Argentina.
• An investor with USD 70,000 or more who needs permanent residency straight away and a clear path to citizenship.
• A remote professional ready to spend more than 120 days a year in Paraguay and close tax residency in their former country.
• A family for which a second passport in South America is a long-term goal.

If you are still choosing between countries, start with our overview Paraguay: all programmes.

Our services in Paraguay

We handle the whole route: from the company and bank account to temporary residency, permanent residency and naturalisation. Legal representation before Paraguayan authorities and courts is handled by Murblz specialists together with partners licensed in Paraguay.

If holding your whole structure in Paraguay does not pay off, we will find a company in another jurisdiction: see company registration.

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