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Paraguay business and legal glossary: Spanish terms explained in English

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Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Stable

Paraguayan forms, laws and agency websites use Spanish terms and acronyms that English guides often blur, such as EAS, SUACE, RUC, IRE, IDU, INR, jornal and aguinaldo. This glossary gives each term a plain English meaning and the law, decree or resolution that defines it, so you can check the source. Values quoted are those in force on 28 October 2026.

USD figures use PYG 5,868.31 per US dollar, the Banco Central del Paraguay reference quotation for 28 October 2026 retrieved on the verification date. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

IRE rate	10 %Ley 6380 art. 21, as of 2019-09-25 · in force
IDU for nonresident recipients	15 %Ley 6380 art. 43, as of 2019-09-25 · in force
Jornal mínimo	117077 PYGDecreto 6225/2026, as of 2026-07-01 · in force
Beneficial owner capital threshold	10 %Ley 6446 art. 4 a), as of 2019-11-29 · in force
Beneficial owner voting threshold (more than)	25 %Ley 6446 art. 4 b), as of 2019-11-29 · in force

The rule

1. EAS (Empresa por Acciones Simplificada): a simplified share company formed by one or more individuals or legal entities, always commercial in nature, with capital divided into shares; a one member EAS cannot form or join another one member EAS.Ley Nº 6480/2020, Art. 1 and 10, 2020-01-08 official text · verified 2026-10-28

2. SUACE (Sistema Unificado de Apertura y Cierre de Empresas): the one stop shop through which EAS documents are filed and published and which also runs the Investor Certificate process.Ley Nº 6480/2020; Resolución MIC Nº 0283/2026, Ley 6480 art. 6 and 8; Res. 0283 art. 2 and 4, 2026-04-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. RUC (Registro Único de Contribuyentes) and Marangatu: the taxpayer number, whose last digit before the check digit sets the monthly due day and the month of the annual data update, and the DNIT online system where that update is made.Resolución General Nº 38/2020 and Nº 79/2021 (as stated by the DNIT), Perpetual calendar; annual RUC update, 2025-03-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. IRE (Impuesto a la Renta Empresarial): the corporate income tax on Paraguayan source income from all economic activities, at 10 percent of net income, accrued at the close of the calendar tax year.Ley Nº 6380/2019, Art. 1, 7 and 21, 2019-09-25 official text · verified 2026-10-28

5. IDU (Impuesto a los Dividendos y las Utilidades): the tax on distributed dividends and profits, 8 percent for resident and 15 percent for nonresident recipients. INR (Impuesto a la Renta de No Residentes): the 15 percent tax on Paraguayan source income of nonresidents.Ley Nº 6380/2019, Art. 43 and 76, 2019-09-25 official text · verified 2026-10-28

6. IVA (Impuesto al Valor Agregado): value added tax, settled monthly, at 10 percent in general and 5 percent for listed items such as residential rent, real estate sales, basic foods and medicines. IVA Débito is output tax; IVA Crédito is input tax.Ley Nº 6380/2019, Art. 86, 87, 88 and 90, 2019-09-25 official text · verified 2026-10-28

7. Jornal mínimo and salario mínimo: the daily and monthly legal minimum wages for unspecified activities, PYG 117,077 and PYG 3,044,000 from 1 July 2026, used as units for many fines and fees.
Example: About US$19.95 and US$518.72.Decreto Nº 6225/2026; Resolución MTESS Nº 670/2026, Decreto art. 2, 2026-06-17 official text · verified 2026-10-28

8. Aguinaldo: the annual complementary pay of one twelfth of all pay earned in the calendar year, payable before 31 December.Ley Nº 213/1993 Código del Trabajo, Art. 243, 1993-06-29 official text · verified 2026-10-28

9. Beneficiario final (beneficial owner): an individual who directly or indirectly holds 10 percent or more of capital, controls more than 25 percent of votes, manages or regularly uses or benefits from the entity's assets, can appoint or remove part of its management or supervisory bodies, or controls it under its bylaws.Ley Nº 6446/2019, Art. 4, 2019-11-29 official text · verified 2026-10-28

10. Maquila: a regime for companies that, under a contract with a company domiciled abroad, carry out industrial processes or services using local labor and resources on goods temporarily imported for re export, or provide services used abroad; it pays a single 1 percent tax.Ley Nº 7547/2025, Art. 1 and 37, 2025-09-08 official text · verified 2026-10-28

11. Zona de seguridad fronteriza: the 50 km strip along land and river borders where foreigners from neighbouring countries, and companies mostly owned by them, cannot own rural land without a decree.Ley Nº 2532/2005, Art. 1 and 2, 2005-02-17 official text · verified 2026-10-28

12. Residencia temporal and residencia permanente: temporary residence for up to two years, renewable, normally the step before permanent residence, which allows a foreigner to live in Paraguay indefinitely. Constancia de Inversionista Extranjero (CIE): the MIC certificate that lets an individual investor skip temporary residence.Ley Nº 6984/2022; Resolución MIC Nº 0283/2026, Ley 6984 art. 46 and 47; Res. 0283 Annex I art. 1 a), 2026-04-21 official text · verified 2026-10-28

13. Gerencia General de Impuestos Internos and Gerencia General de Aduanas: the DNIT units that replaced, in legal references, the former Subsecretaría de Estado de Tributación (SET) and the Dirección Nacional de Aduanas.Ley Nº 7143/2023, Art. 23, 2023-08-04 official text · verified 2026-10-28

14. Abogacía del Tesoro: the finance ministry legal office whose favourable opinion is needed when an EAS changes the model bylaws or uses other bylaws.Ley Nº 6480/2020, Art. 8, 2020-01-08 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Acronym	Spanish	English
BCP	Banco Central del Paraguay	Central Bank of Paraguay
CONACOM	Comisión Nacional de la Competencia	National Competition Commission
CONASAM	Consejo Nacional de Salarios Mínimos	National Minimum Wage Council
DNIT	Dirección Nacional de Ingresos Tributarios	National Revenue Directorate (taxes and customs)
DNM	Dirección Nacional de Migraciones	National Migration Directorate
EAS	Empresa por Acciones Simplificada	Simplified share company
IDU	Impuesto a los Dividendos y las Utilidades	Dividend and profit distribution tax
INR	Impuesto a la Renta de No Residentes	Nonresident income tax
IPS	Instituto de Previsión Social	Social Security Institute
IRE	Impuesto a la Renta Empresarial	Corporate income tax
IRP	Impuesto a la Renta Personal	Personal income tax
IVA	Impuesto al Valor Agregado	Value added tax
MADES	Ministerio del Ambiente y Desarrollo Sostenible	Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development
MIC	Ministerio de Industria y Comercio	Ministry of Industry and Commerce
MTESS	Ministerio de Trabajo, Empleo y Seguridad Social	Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security
RUC	Registro Único de Contribuyentes	Taxpayer registry number
SEPRELAD	Secretaría de Prevención de Lavado de Dinero o Bienes	Anti money laundering secretariat
SUACE	Sistema Unificado de Apertura y Cierre de Empresas	One stop shop to open and close businesses

Acronyms used across this guide

Worked example

A DNIT form asking for the RUC, IVA Débito and IVA Crédito for the month, and an IDU line for a dividend to a nonresident parent, is asking for the tax number, output and input VAT, and the 15 percent dividend tax.

Step by step

Use the Spanish term when searching official sites; English translations are not standardized.
Check the cited article when a term drives a tax or fine, because amounts in jornales change every July.
Read older references to the SET or the Dirección Nacional de Aduanas as the DNIT general managements.

Common traps

Salario mínimo and jornal mínimo are different units: a 50 jornal fine is about 1.9 monthly minimum wages.
Beneficial owner status is triggered at 10 percent of capital (or more than 25 percent of votes), so even minority holders may need to be identified.
An EAS is always commercial in form, but its tax treatment follows the nature of its activities.

Sources

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