Uruguay: local rules

Uruguay applies the arm's length principle in Chapter VIII of Title 4 (IRAE) of the Ordered Text 2023 (TO 2023), articles 46 to 57. These are the old articles 38 to 46 of the 1996 Ordered Text, renumbered. Dealings between an IRAE taxpayer and a related party are treated as made between independent parties only if the terms follow normal market practice. If not, the DGI adjusts them with the methods in article 49, but it must prove the departure (art. 46). Parties are related when the same people direct or control both, or have decision power over the taxpayer through capital, credit rights or any other influence (art. 47). Dealings with entities in low or nil tax jurisdictions or regimes are presumed to be with related parties, with no proof to the contrary allowed (art. 48). Decreto 56/009 sets the detail. A jurisdiction is low or nil tax if it taxes income from Uruguayan activities, assets or rights at less than 12% and has no information exchange agreement or treaty with an exchange clause that fully applies (art. 3).

The main yearly filing is the transfer pricing sworn statement, Formulario 3001, with the transfer pricing study attached as a PDF. It is due from IRAE taxpayers with related party or low tax jurisdiction dealings (Decreto 56/009 art. 1) when those dealings exceed UI 50 million in the year (Resolución DGI 2084/009 numeral 10, as amended by 2098/009 and 745/011), or when the DGI has notified them. Free zone users are left out for dealings not taxed by IRAE. It is due in the 9th month after the fiscal year end, on the day set by the DGI calendar for the taxpayer's group. The DGI can also ask for the support behind the prices, and the taxpayer gets at least 8 months from year end to deliver it (Decreto 56/009 art. 15). Members of a multinational group with consolidated revenue of at least EUR 750m also file the master file and the country-by-country (CbC) report within 12 months after the group's reporting year (Decreto 353/018 arts. 5 and 9, Resolución DGI 94/019 numeral 8). A group entity in Uruguay that does not file the CbC report because it is filed abroad and can be exchanged still has to give the DGI the yearly information on the reporting entity before the group's year end (numeral 9). Uruguay has no separate local file.

Article 49 of Title 4 lists five methods: comparable uncontrolled price, resale price, cost plus, profit split and transactional net margin. The taxpayer uses the method that fits the type of transaction best, and the regulations may add others. Decreto 56/009 art. 4 defines each method. The analysis may test the Uruguayan party or the foreign party (art. 5). If the foreign party is tested, the taxpayer needs proof certified in the country of origin by a reputed independent auditor, translated and legalised. Comparability looks at the transaction, the functions, assets and risks, the contract terms and the economic circumstances (art. 6). Imports and exports of goods with a public, transparent market price must use that price unless the taxpayer proves otherwise (art. 50). For related party commodity trades through a foreign intermediary, the comparable price method is mandatory, using the market price on the loading day, unless the intermediary meets the tests in art. 51. Advance pricing agreements of up to three fiscal years are allowed (art. 53), and can be made with other tax authorities under treaties.

Breaching a transfer pricing formal duty is fined in a graded way under article 100 of the Código Tributario, using the fine in the fourth paragraph of art. 469 of Ley 17.930 (art. 57 of Title 4). That fine is up to 1,000 times the maximum contravention fine in art. 95 of the Código Tributario. The art. 95 amounts are updated each year by decree: for 2026 the range is UYU 680 to UYU 13,220 (Decreto 344/025), so the transfer pricing fine can reach about UYU 13.2m. A tax adjustment itself carries late payment charges under art. 94 of the Código Tributario: a fine of 5% if paid within 5 working days of the due date, 10% up to 90 days, and 20% after that, plus a monthly surcharge. Fraud is punished under arts. 96 and following, which were not studied in depth.

Uruguay has enacted a domestic minimum top-up tax, the Impuesto Mínimo Complementario Doméstico (IMCD). Ley 20.446 of 16 December 2025 (art. 665) added Title 21 to the Ordered Text 2023, in force from the date of promulgation. It sets a 15% minimum effective rate in Uruguay for constituent entities in groups with revenue of at least EUR 750m in two of the four prior years (arts. 2 and 3 of Title 21). The tax arises at the end of the fiscal year (art. 13). The first year in scope is therefore the first fiscal year that ends on or after 16 December 2025, which is the year ended 31 December 2025 for a calendar year group. Each Uruguayan constituent entity must file a sworn statement (the Global Information Return) with the DGI no later than 15 months after the year end. The DGI may extend that to 18 months for the first year of application, but no such extension was found (art. 71). A local entity can file for all, and the Executive can name the entity that files and pays. The law gives no payment date. Decreto 206/026 (31 August 2026) and DGI Resolución 2400/026 (23 October 2026) set a compensation route for entities with fiscal stability clauses. Title 21 art. 74 says the Executive must exempt Uruguayan entities of groups whose ultimate parent is in a jurisdiction that is exempted or excluded from the income inclusion rule and UTPR, but no decree doing this was found. I found no Uruguayan income inclusion rule or UTPR.

The annual IRAE return is due in the 4th month after the fiscal year end, on the day in the DGI calendar for the taxpayer's group (Resolución DGI 1478/2007 numeral 4, as changed by Resolución 2403/2020 art. 2). The same return covers the Net Wealth Tax for companies. The DGI sets the days each December in a yearly calendar. In 2024 to 2026 the CEDE group, which includes large taxpayers, mostly files on day 22 and the NO CEDE group mostly on day 24 to 26, moved when the day is a weekend or holiday (2026 calendar, Resolución DGI 2284/2025). The DGI does not always follow that pattern: in March 2024 it set the 21st for both groups, before Tourism Week, and in April 2025 it set the 23rd. It also extends single dates by resolution (for example 22 April 2026 to 23 April 2026). Código Tributario art. 49 moves deadlines that fall on a non-working day to the next working day, so rollWeekends is true. Pillar Two and CbC dates count from the group's year end.