Services · Company formation

Company registration in Peru: how to start a business

Updated 1 October 2026

No minimum capital, but a Peruvian company cannot be opened alone: the law requires two members. A foreigner may own 100% of the company, yet cannot run it without a Peruvian migration status. Here are the entity types, steps, fees, taxes and banking.

Is it worth opening a company in Peru

Peru has no minimum share capital, and a foreigner owns 100% of a company on the same terms as a Peruvian. Legislative Decree 662 (Decreto Legislativo 662, the foreign investment promotion law) gives foreign investors the same rights as local ones and lets them freely transfer profits and capital abroad.

There are two conditions, and both are worth knowing before the first payment. First, the General Companies Law (Ley General de Sociedades, Law 26887) requires at least two members. If only one member is left and a second one does not appear within six months, the company is dissolved by operation of law. A sole owner is left with the individual enterprise E.I.R.L.

The second condition concerns the manager. The tax authority SUNAT (Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y de Administración Tributaria - National Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration) records as the company's legal representative only a holder of a Peruvian document or a foreigner whose migration status allows earning income in Peru. A tourist stamp gives no such right.

Now the taxes. The general profit tax rate is 29.5%, and a Peruvian company pays it on worldwide income. That is higher than 27% in Chile and almost three times the 10% in Paraguay, though lower than 35% in Colombia. Small businesses get relief: 10% on the first 82,500 soles of annual profit.

A good fit for those opening a real business on the Peruvian market - trade, manufacturing, services, exports - or moving to the country and ready to obtain resident status.

Not a fit for those looking for low taxes on foreign income: 29.5% on worldwide profit plus 5% on dividends leaves no room for that. Nor for those who want to run the company entirely from abroad without a local manager.

Which company to open in Peru: S.A.C., S.R.L. or E.I.R.L.

The choice almost always comes down to two forms, S.A.C. and S.R.L.: both limit the owners' liability to their contribution, allow 2 to 20 members and do without a board of directors. The difference is who can see the list of owners and how a stake is sold.

S.A.C. is the usual choice of foreign owners. Shares pass to a new owner by an entry in the share ledger (matrícula de acciones), which the company keeps itself. Only the founders remain in the public registry, and new shareholders are not visible there.

S.R.L. is stricter. A participation is sold only by a notarial deed recorded in the public registry, the other partners have the right to buy it first, and the list of partners is always public.

S.A.C.S. is of little use to a foreigner without Peruvian documents: the founding act is signed with a digital signature, which requires an electronic DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad - the identity card of a Peruvian citizen) or a certificate from a provider accredited in Peru.

Can a foreigner open a company in Peru without residency

Own it - yes, run it - no. The law does not require shareholders to be citizens or residents of Peru. The one restriction is constitutional: Article 71 bars foreigners from owning, directly or through companies, land, mines, forests, water and energy resources within 50 kilometres of the border.

Management is harder. To activate the company's tax number, the RUC (Registro Único de Contribuyentes - single taxpayer registry), its legal representative shows SUNAT one of these documents: a DNI, a foreign resident card (carné de extranjería), a temporary stay permit, or a passport with a migration status that allows earning Peruvian-source income. Tourists may not carry out paid activity.

That leaves three working scenarios:

• A local general manager. A Peruvian citizen or a foreigner with residency runs the company and represents it before SUNAT, the bank and the municipality.
• Investor resident status. The National Superintendency of Migration (Superintendencia Nacional de Migraciones) grants it for an investment of at least 500,000 soles transferred from abroad in a single payment through a Peruvian bank. For an applicant abroad the fee is 57.60 soles and the review period is 30 business days. With this status the owner manages the company personally.
• Work status. The company hires the foreigner under an employment contract approved by the Ministry of Labour. The Foreign Workers Hiring Law (Decreto Legislativo 689) caps their share at 20% of staff and 30% of payroll.

Can it all be done remotely. Yes. The founder issues a power of attorney to sign the incorporation documents. Peru joined the Hague Convention in 2010, so the document is apostilled, translated into Spanish by an official translator and recorded in the Peruvian registry. The other route is a power of attorney issued at a Peruvian consulate.

If the founder comes in person. To sign before a notary, a tourist needs a permit to sign contracts (permiso para firmar contratos). The migration authority issues it online, free and automatically, for 30 days or until the permitted stay ends. It allows signing documents, but not working as a manager.

The law does not require a separate company secretary. A registered address in Peru is mandatory: the bylaws state it, and a document confirms it at tax registration.

How to register a company in Peru: steps and timeline

When the founders are in Peru and the documents are ready, registration takes 7-15 calendar days. With owners abroad acting through a power of attorney, it stretches to two months: the powers of attorney and the notarial deed take the longest.

The registry is kept by SUNARP (Superintendencia Nacional de los Registros Públicos - National Superintendency of Public Registries). Documents are filed online through its SID-SUNARP portal (Sistema de Intermediación Digital - digital intermediation system).

The licence deadline is set by the Framework Law on Operating Licences (Law 28976): the municipality first inspects high-risk premises for safety. The licence has no expiry date.

How much does it cost to open a company in Peru

For registering a company with a capital of 10,000 soles the state charges 115.80 soles plus a small fee for recording the manager. The main costs are elsewhere: the notary, powers of attorney with an apostille and translation, a registered address and bookkeeping.

Some fees are calculated in UIT (Unidad Impositiva Tributaria - the tax unit in which Peru expresses fees, fines and tax thresholds). For 2026, Supreme Decree 301-2025-EF set 1 UIT at 5,500 soles.

Example calculation. An S.A.C. with a capital of 10,000 soles: 26.40 soles for the name, 59.40 soles for the review of documents and 30 soles for the entry (10,000 / 1,000 x 3). The total is 115.80 soles, not counting the fee for recording the manager, the notary and the licence.

The capital can be any amount, but banks usually open the capital deposit account from 1,000 soles - the same figure is given by the state portal gob.pe. Investor resident status requires 500,000 soles.

Peru also has free registration. Supreme Decree 008-2026-PRODUCE, published on 28 May 2026, extended for three years the exemption from registry fees for companies with a capital of up to 1 UIT (5,500 soles) set up through the Business Development Centres of the Ministry of Production (Centros de Desarrollo Empresarial, CDE). The programme is designed for local micro-businesses: the founding act is prepared there only during a visit in person.

What taxes does a company pay in Peru

Out of 100 soles of profit, 66.98 soles reach a non-resident owner: 29.5% goes to profit tax and another 5% is withheld from dividends. A Peruvian company pays tax on worldwide income, so foreign revenue cannot be kept out of the tax base.

Example calculation for a small business. A company under the RMT earned 150,000 soles of profit in a year. On the first 82,500 soles the tax is 10% - 8,250 soles. On the remaining 67,500 soles the tax is 29.5% - 19,912.50 soles. The total is 28,162.50 soles, or 18.8% of profit instead of 29.5% under the general regime.

The 18% IGV rate includes the municipal tax (Impuesto de Promoción Municipal). Exports are not subject to IGV, and the exporter refunds or offsets input tax. On every account transaction the bank also charges 0.005% - the financial transactions tax ITF (Impuesto a las Transacciones Financieras).

Companies with more than 20 employees are required by law to give them 5% to 10% of pre-tax profit, depending on the sector.

Peru has few double tax treaties: with Chile, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Switzerland, Portugal, Japan and the Andean Community countries. There is no treaty with Russia or Belarus, so withholding tax in Peru applies at the full rates.

What a company files each year and whether Peru has a beneficial ownership register

The fine for an unfiled beneficial owner declaration starts at 5 UIT - 27,500 soles in 2026, hundreds of times more than the registration fees. A Peruvian company reports even with zero turnover.

• Monthly. The company files an IGV return with SUNAT and pays an advance on profit tax; the deadline depends on the last digit of the RUC. Under the general regime the advance equals 1.5% of monthly revenue or the amount under the calculated coefficient, if that is higher.
• Once a year. The tax year is the calendar year. The annual profit tax return is filed the following year on a schedule that SUNAT approves annually.
• Annual meeting. The Companies Law obliges shareholders to meet within the first three months after the end of the year and approve the financial statements.
• Legal reserve. An S.A. and an S.A.C. set aside at least 10% of profit until the reserve reaches one fifth of the capital.

Audit. An ordinary private company does not need a statutory audit. The law requires it from open joint-stock companies S.A.A. (Sociedad Anónima Abierta) and from companies supervised by the securities market regulator SMV (Superintendencia del Mercado de Valores). The rule that obliged large private companies to submit audited statements to the regulator was struck down by Peru's Constitutional Court in 2016.

Beneficial owners. Peru has no public register of ultimate owners, but they must be disclosed to the tax authority. Legislative Decree 1372 obliges companies to file a beneficial owner declaration with SUNAT on electronic form 3800 (Formulario Virtual 3800). A beneficial owner is an individual who directly or indirectly holds at least 10% of the capital or controls the company in another way.

In 2026 the turn of the smallest companies came. Under SUNAT Resolution 168-2025, companies with 2024 income from 25 to 50 UIT file the declaration in July 2026, from 10 to 25 UIT in September, and up to 10 UIT in November. The November deadline also covers companies that obtained or activated a RUC between 1 January 2025 and 30 November 2026. When the beneficial owner changes, the declaration is updated within 30 business days.

The fine for failing to file or for incomplete information is 0.6% of annual net income, but not less than 5 UIT (27,500 soles) and not more than 50 UIT (275,000 soles). SUNAT waives the fine for those who correct the breach voluntarily.

Murblz specialists take care of bookkeeping, returns and reporting - see the audit and reporting section.

Bank accounts and citizens of Russia and Belarus

The company opens its first account before registration: with a cash contribution, the notary executes the founding act only with the bank's confirmation of the deposit. The bank opens an operating account for an already registered company, and the checks there are tougher.

Large Peruvian banks ask a company for the same set: a recent SUNARP registry extract showing the representatives' powers (no older than 15-30 days), the taxpayer card with the RUC number, the incorporation documents and the representatives' identity documents. Banks ask for the representative's document - a DNI or a foreign resident card - so here too a manager with Peruvian status is needed.

The rules are set by the banking regulator SBS (Superintendencia de Banca, Seguros y AFP - Superintendency of Banking, Insurance and Pension Funds). Its Resolution 2660-2015 obliges a bank to identify the beneficial owner of every company. For non-resident customers and foreign legal entities the resolution prescribes enhanced due diligence: in practice this means questions about the source of funds, the ownership structure and the purpose of the account.

Citizens of Russia and Belarus. Peruvian law does not restrict their right to own a company: Decree 662 does not divide investors by nationality. Peru has not joined the sanctions against Russia. Entry is simple too: according to the table of Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Russians need no tourist visa for up to 90 days within 180, and Belarusians need no tourist visa either. For a business trip citizens of both countries need a visa.

But the absence of sanctions does not mean an easy account. The bank decides under its own internal rules: it must identify the beneficial owners and may ask for documents on the source of their funds. The chances are better for a company with real activity in Peru: an office, a local manager and contracts with Peruvian counterparties.

Options for international payments are collected in the business accounts section.

What we do

Murblz handles company registration in Peru from the choice of entity type to the opening of the operating account.

• we select the form - S.A.C., S.R.L., E.I.R.L. or a branch - and calculate taxes in advance under the general regime and the RMT; if Peru does not pay off for the task, we say so before the work starts;
• we prepare powers of attorney, the bylaws and the founding act, and arrange translations and apostilles;
• we reserve the name, support the capital deposit and the signing before a notary, and file the documents with SUNARP;
• we obtain and activate the RUC and choose the tax regime at SUNAT;
• we help with a registered address and the municipal operating licence;
• we bring in Murblz accounting and tax specialists for monthly returns, annual reporting and the beneficial owner declaration;
• we assemble the compliance package for the bank and support the opening of the operating account.

Legal representation - the role of the company's legal representative before SUNAT, acting under a power of attorney before a notary, representation before state bodies and in court - is handled by Murblz specialists together with partners holding a local licence.

If the goal is life in Peru and not only business, see our materials on Peruvian citizenship and the guide to Lima. To compare Peru with its neighbours, see the pages on company registration in Chile, Colombia and Paraguay. All jurisdictions are in the company registration and company registration abroad sections.

See also

Business account · Personal account · Investment property

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