New deadlines for reporting ultimate beneficial ownership to the Peruvian tax authorities

Legal entities and certain legal arrangements within the scope of Peru’s disclosure rules are obliged to implement suitable mechanisms allowing the collection and storage of data relating to the identity of their Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBO). This information supports the data that must be shared with the Peruvian tax authorities by filing a UBO informative return using Virtual Form 3800. Depending on the infringement, penalties for noncompliance could be between US$36,316 to US$60,526, with the legal representative or the manager of the obliged parties jointly and severally liable.

Scope of rules

The UBO disclosure requirements have been effective in Peru since 2019, with the aim of fighting tax avoidance and evasion, and preventing money laundering and terrorist financing. The provisions are also intended to comply with mutual administrative assistance obligations in tax matters.

Under the scope of these rules, legal entities domiciled in Peru and legal arrangements, such as trusts, investment funds, and consortiums established in Peru, are required to gather information to identify their UBOs and disclose it to the tax authorities. Such an obligation also applies to nondomiciled legal persons that have incorporated a branch, agency, or other permanent establishment in Peru. This includes legal arrangements, such as investment funds and trusts, established abroad whose manager or administrator is domiciled in Peru, or foreign consortium agreements with a party domiciled in Peru.

Criteria for identifying UBOs

A UBO is understood to be a natural person who effectively owns or controls the legal entity, directly or indirectly through family members, spouse, other legal entities, or a proxy. Ownership or control applies if a person owns 10% or more of the equity capital. Other criteria include a person entitled to designate or remove the management bodies, board of directors, or other supervisory bodies, has decision-making power in financial, operational, or commercial matters, or exercises any other form of control over the company.

If no UBO can be identified under these criteria, the obliged party must report the individual who occupies the highest position in the legal entity and permanently document the situation on the company’s website.

In the case of legal arrangements, the UBO would be a person such as the settlor, trustee, beneficiary, or any other natural person who, as a participant or investor, exercises effective control of the legal arrangement through, for example, influencing decision-making. This includes participants or investors who are duly entitled to profits from the legal arrangement.

Approval of 2022 and 2023 deadlines

The first filing of the UBO informative return in December 2019 only applied to certain domiciled companies classified as main taxpayers by the tax authorities. Other parties were required to comply with this obligation based on a time frame to be approved by the tax authorities. However, the implementation process was delayed due to Covid-19.

On 24 March 2022, the Peruvian tax authorities published Resolution N° 000041-2022/SUNAT, providing guidelines for submitting the UBO informative return in 2022 and 2023.

Domiciled legal entities or persons not obliged to file in 2019 must monitor the net income reported in their monthly and annual Value Added Tax and Corporate Income Tax returns accordingly. As shown in the table, the results must then be compared with certain thresholds to assess their UBO reporting deadline.

Legal arrangements registered as domiciled taxpayers up to 31 December 2022 that remain active at the time of filing must comply with the December 2022 deadline with a due date of 13-23 January 2023, depending on the last digit of the Tax ID number.

The UBO return must contain the beneficial owner’s information up to the last calendar day of the abovementioned periods. It must be noted that there is a specific format to gather from each UBO, which requires signatures certified by a notary or other means to ascertain the identity of the natural person.

Penalties and actions required

Noncompliance with the UBO due diligence obligations or disclosure to the tax authorities could trigger penalties up to 0.6% of the annual net income reported, with a limit of approximately US$60,526. Such penalties could seriously impact the reputation or image of the legal entity or multinational groups involved.

As of June 2022, all parties impacted by the recent guidelines must now ensure they have implemented adequate internal procedures in preparation for the applicable due dates, which will support the accuracy of the data that must be reported to the tax authorities.