For Peruvians

How tax residency works

Peru uses the idea of tax domicile rather than residence. Under article 7 of the Income Tax Law (Ley del Impuesto a la Renta), a Peruvian national is domiciled if they are domiciled in Peru under the ordinary civil law rules. Domiciled individuals pay tax to SUNAT (Superintendencia Nacional de Aduanas y de Administración Tributaria, the national tax and customs authority) on worldwide income; non domiciled individuals pay only on Peruvian source income.

There are two ways to lose domicile. The first is to acquire residence in another country and leave Peru: under article 4 of the regulations, the change takes effect on the date both conditions are met, however long you have been away. SUNAT confirmed this reading in a 2026 report. The second applies if you cannot prove residence abroad: you stay domiciled until you have been absent for more than 183 calendar days in any 12 month period, and the change then takes effect only from 1 January of the following year.

Domicile comes back as soon as you return to live in Peru, unless the return is transitory, meaning 183 days or fewer in Peru in any 12 months. The address on your DNI (the national identity document) in the RENIEC register does not decide your tax status either way.

• While domiciled, most foreign income, such as rent from property abroad, interest from foreign accounts and fees for services performed abroad, is added to your employment income and taxed on the progressive scale from 8% to 30%.
• Foreign income is counted when you receive it.
• Gains on foreign shares receive the lower capital income rate only in limited cases, such as securities traded through the MILA (the integrated market of Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru); otherwise they too go on the 8% to 30% scale.
• Losses made in low or no tax jurisdictions are not taken into account.

Leaving properly

Peru has no exit return and no rule that keeps you domiciled because your new country taxes lightly. What matters is that you can show when you acquired residence abroad and when you left, so keep the documents from the start.

1. 01

   Obtain residence abroad

   Secure your residence permit or residence visa in your new country. It is the document the faster route to non domicile relies on.

2. 02

   Leave and keep the proof

   Keep your residence card, visa and travel records, including a certificate of migratory movements (Certificado de Movimiento Migratorio) from Migraciones, the immigration authority.

3. 03

   Tell your Peruvian payers

   Inform your employer, tenants and any Peruvian company that pays you, so they withhold tax at non domiciled rates from the date your status changes.

4. 04

   File the last domiciled return

   Your accountant files the annual return covering the income you received while domiciled and checks your RUC (Registro Único de Contribuyentes, the taxpayer register) details.

5. 05

   Watch your time in Peru

   Keep return visits transitory, 183 days or fewer in any 12 months, or you become domiciled again.

Exit tax, property and investments

Peru has no exit tax for individuals: leaving does not trigger tax on unrealised gains. What changes is how your Peruvian income is taxed afterwards.

Under article 54 of the Income Tax Law, non domiciled individuals pay 5% on dividends from Peruvian companies, 5% on gains from selling Peruvian property and 5% on other capital income, including rent. Employment income for work done in Peru is taxed at a flat 30%, and gains on Peruvian shares sold outside Peru at 30%, or 5% when sold through the Lima Stock Exchange.

Work you perform abroad after you stop being domiciled is foreign source income, so Peru does not tax it, even if your employer is Peruvian. SUNAT applied this in its 2026 report on a remote worker who moved abroad.

While you are still domiciled, Peru’s international fiscal transparency rules can attribute to you the passive income of foreign companies you control in low tax jurisdictions, even if nothing is distributed. Setting up a company abroad before your domicile has actually changed does not take that income out of Peruvian tax.

Pensions and social security

Peru has two pension systems. The ONP (Oficina de Normalización Previsional) runs the public SNP (Sistema Nacional de Pensiones), and AFPs (Administradoras de Fondos de Pensiones) run the private system of individual accounts. Your rights in both stay in your name when you move abroad.

The ONP generally pays a full pension from age 65 after 20 years of contributions, and since 2021 people with 10 to 19 years can receive a smaller proportional pension. Pensioners who live in a country with a social security agreement with Peru can ask for payment there; Peru has agreements with Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, South Korea, Spain and Uruguay, which also let you combine contribution periods.

The 2024 pension reform, Law 32123, set up a multi pillar system, prohibits withdrawals from AFP accounts except in limited cases and removes the option to take up to 95.5% of the fund at retirement for affiliates under 40. Congress has still approved extraordinary withdrawals as exceptions, most recently up to 4 UIT (Unidad Impositiva Tributaria, the tax unit, S/ 5,500 in 2026) under Law 32445 of September 2025, open until January 2026. Bills for a ninth withdrawal were filed in 2026 but have not been approved, so do not plan your move around one.

Peru does not tax pensions that arise from your own work, such as retirement and disability pensions. EsSalud health cover depends on contributions, so arrange private international health insurance before you go.

Dual citizenship

Peru allows dual nationality. Under article 53 of the Constitution and the Nationality Law (Law 26574), Peruvian nationality is lost only by express renunciation before a Peruvian authority, so Peruvians by birth who take another nationality keep their own.

Dual nationals exercise the rights and obligations of the nationality of the country where they live, and Peruvians by birth keep the rights the Constitution reserves for them. Children born abroad to a Peruvian parent are Peruvian by birth if they are registered, usually at a consulate, while they are minors.

A second citizenship does not change your tax position. Domicile follows the rules in article 7, not your passport.