Accounting and Tax Advisory
Uruguay HUB
More than a stable country, Uruguay is a strategic tool for optimizing your operations and improving your results. With modern infrastructure and unique tax advantages, it offers the ideal setting to keep your investment protected while you expand beyond your borders.
Uruguay como Hub para hacer negocios en la región.
On a volatile continent, Uruguay is the most stable, predictable and reliable business platform in Latin America. Its security and clear rules allow business owners to plan for the long term.
Uruguay stands out for its political and social stability and its legal certainty. The rules are clear and respected, creating a business climate in which 84% of foreign investors are satisfied.
La infraestructura a nivel tecnológico es de primer nivelIts technology infrastructure is world-class, with 90% of households connected to fiber optics, 5G available and a clean energy matrix (almost 100% renewable).
Strong investment in education has produced a multilingual, skilled workforce, complemented by a high quality of life.
But Uruguay is not just a safe place; it is a tool for optimizing operations and expanding efficiently. Whether you use Uruguay as a pilot market or as a base for doing business, the jurisdiction makes it possible to achieve certain operational and tax efficiencies.
The country offers a “menu” of specialized tax regimes and a territorial income tax system. The key to success is not only choosing the right option, but also having a specialized ally to help you maximize the benefits Uruguay offers.
Below are the main and best-known regimes:
Zonas Francas (Services and Logistics Hub)
Free Port and Free Airport (Logistics Hub)
Designed for local or foreign companies that move physical goods and are looking for a regional distribution center.
Foreign companies are exempt from all taxes as long as the goods are bound for third countries. Local companies operating under this regime enjoy an IRAE exemption provided that no more than 5% of their income comes from sales in Uruguay; in other words, at least 95% must come from sales abroad.
Permitted activities include inventory management, relabeling, repackaging, breaking bulk and re-exporting goods. These activities do not confer “Mercosur” origin.
Goods of foreign origin remain within the customs area (such as the Port of Montevideo or Carrasco Airport) completely exempt from import duties, while retaining their origin.
The regime requires substance within the port or airport facilities.
Commercial Intermediation or Trading (Triangulation of Goods and Services)
The perfect tool for pure commercial intermediation, with no need for heavy logistics infrastructure.
Under Resolution 51/997, taxpayers can operate from Uruguay with a low tax burden, provided that the goods traded do not pass through Uruguayan territory and the services are neither rendered nor used in Uruguay.
If these conditions are met, the effective income tax rate is just 0.75% of the gross margin, that is, the difference between the purchase and sale price of the goods and/or services being intermediated.
Export of Services Rendered Entirely Abroad
If these conditions are met, the effective income tax rate is just 0.75% of the gross margin, that is, the difference between the purchase and sale price of the goods and/or services being intermediated.
Software Regime
A key pillar of Uruguay’s innovation “hub” is the IRAE exemption for the technology industry. Income from “software production” (which requires intellectual property registration) and from “software development and related services” (such as implementation, support and testing) can be fully or partially exempt, provided that substance and activity requirements in Uruguay are met.