Register a company in Paraguay

As a shareholder, yes. A foreigner without Paraguayan residence can own shares in an EAS, and the file is submitted digitally. A power of attorney signed abroad is accepted once it is apostilled or legalised and, if it is not in Spanish, translated by a translator registered with the Supreme Court. The legal representative is another matter. That person files with an electronic identity that can only be obtained with a Paraguayan cédula, and goes to the tax office in person for biometrics. If you do not hold a Paraguayan cédula, someone who does has to take that role.

Registration starts from $2,900. Notary, apostille and translation fees and a legal address, if you need ours, are quoted separately. With an EMI or online bank account, from $4,800. No state fee is published for registering an EAS, and a cash deposit applies only when cash capital exceeds 1,200 minimum salaries, which the official FAQ puts at PYG 3,478,857,600, subject to minimum-wage changes.

Under the official EAS FAQ, the legal representative must be Paraguayan or hold a Paraguayan cédula, without exceptions. For the RUC, the tax authority asks a foreign representative for a Paraguayan-issued cédula whatever the company form, so switching to an S.R.L. does not avoid it. A foreign shareholder without residence cannot sit on the management body: the FAQ asks for permanent residence, MIC Resolution 623/2020 accepts temporary or permanent, and we confirm which line applies to your file. A one-person EAS also names a substitute representative.

Decree 3998 sets a maximum of 3 business days on the model bylaws, and the official FAQ speaks of 72 business hours; with your own bylaws it is 8 business days. SUACE opens the electronic file within one business day, and observations must be answered within 3 business days or the file is dropped. The RUC comes after registration, once the legal representative has given biometrics in person. An S.R.L. or S.A. has a 15-business-day limit through SUACE. Our preparation time before filing is confirmed in your quote.

IRE, the corporate income tax, is 10% of net Paraguayan-source income, and capital and currency gains are taxed at the same 10%. IDU on dividends is 8% for residents and 15% for non-residents. Royalties and other payments abroad carry the 15% non-resident tax on a presumed base. VAT is 10%, with 5% for property sales and rent and a short list of goods, and returns are monthly. Corporate tax is prepaid in four equal instalments in May, July, September and November, and the annual return is due in April for a December year-end. Once gross income reaches PYG 6 billion in a year, an external tax audit becomes compulsory.

As a rule, no. Law 6380/2019 defines Paraguayan-source income as income from activities carried on in the Republic, and PwC's summary puts it in one line: foreign-source income is not taxable. Interest, commissions and capital gains are the exceptions, counted as Paraguayan-source when the investor is resident in Paraguay. Article 6 looks at where the work is done, so we map your income streams before you rely on the rule.

The Company + Bank Account package opens an account with an EMI or online bank remotely, on a KYC file we prepare. For a Paraguayan bank, BCP Resolution 9 of 29 December 2020, written for the EAS, requires a yes or no within 5 business days of a complete file, and the usual anti-money-laundering checks still apply. The rule does not say what a bank may ask of a foreign shareholder, so we confirm those requirements for your case. Exchange is free, and contracts in foreign currency are enforceable in the agreed currency.

For most foreign founders, the EAS: it can have a single shareholder and is filed online. An S.R.L. needs 2 to 25 partners holding quotas of PYG 1,000 each, a public deed before a notary, half of any cash capital deposited in a bank, and up to 15 business days through SUACE. It may also use IRE SIMPLE, the simplified regime for prior-year income up to PYG 2 billion, while MIC's table puts the EAS on the general regime. An S.A. needs at least two shareholders and a statutory auditor (síndico), and it is the form for activities regulated by the central bank, which the EAS and the S.R.L. may not carry on.

The regime now runs under Law 7547/2025, which MIC lists as in force from 8 September 2025, regulated by Decree 5714/2026. A maquila pays a single 1% tax on its value added in Paraguay or its export invoice value, whichever is higher, and programme income is exempt from other national taxes, IRE, IDU and INR included. VAT is not exempt, but maquilas can claim the exporters' VAT refund. A pure maquila may sell locally up to 10% of the volume it exported in the last year, with nationalisation duties due on those sales. Programmes approved under Law 1064/1997 continue for 12 months. Applications are filed electronically through SIMEX, free of charge, and MIC gives 90 days as the processing time.

Not to form an EAS. The official EAS FAQ says the $70,000 and five-jobs condition belongs to the Constancia del Inversionista, a separate certificate, and not to company formation. An EAS still needs capital that is sufficient for its purpose, stated in the deed and paid in within 2 years.