A new regime may be available to individuals who acquire Uruguayan tax residency from 1 January 2026, provided they meet the conditions of article 24-Bis, including the prior-residency requirements. The widely quoted 6% rate is not automatic.
Each one conditions the next, and none is satisfied by the previous one.
The date you acquire tax residency decides which generation of the regime applies to you. The two do not combine. Up to 31 December 2025 the earlier article 24 regime applied, closed going forward by article 649 of Law 20.446. From 1 January 2026, article 24-Bis of Title 7 applies.
You must first become a tax resident under article 2 of Title 7: more than 183 days in the country, your centre of economic or vital interests here, or another recognised ground, including the investment ground of Decree 148/007. Without a ground in place, there is no option to elect.
Only then do you look at which route can sustain the benefit. There are three alternatives and meeting one is enough. They enable the article 24-Bis election for someone who is already resident. They do not create residency by themselves.
The election has an initial period and a defined path afterwards. What applies once that period ends is not a single rate: it depends on whether a qualifying investment is held in each year.
Meeting one of them can be enough. Which ones are available to you, and what each requires in practice, has to be verified case by case.
| Route | Broad threshold |
|---|---|
| Physical presence | More than 183 days per calendar year, in each year the election is used. No investment required. |
| Real estate | Qualifying urban property above UI 12,500,000, acquired from 1 January 2026 and valued at updated tax cost, under article 5-SEXIES of Decree 148/007. No statutory minimum of days. |
| Investment funds | At least UI 625,000 per year in qualifying productive, research or innovation funds. Operational formalities are subject to terms set by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. |
The implementing rules for these routes have been changing. Thresholds, formalities and conditions must be checked against the regulation in force at the time of the decision, not against a summary.
The period below assumes residency acquired in 2026. For a different starting year the whole line shifts.
| Period | Rate | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Years 1 to 11 · 2026 to 2036 | 0% | The year of the change of residency plus the ten following. Electing the non-resident regime, the practical effect equals 0% on the covered income. |
| After that initial period | Depends on the option exercised | Different treatments may be available depending on the option taken and on whether the applicable presence or investment conditions are met in each year. The 6% rate is one of them, and it is conditional. Another is a flat annual personal income tax amount, set by Law 20.446 at UI 1,875,000 per year, reduced to UI 1,250,000 where the presence condition or a qualifying direct capital investment under article 5-SEPTIES of Decree 148/007 is met. Which one fits, if any, has to be determined case by case. |
Not by itself. Residency is acquired under the grounds of article 2 of Title 7, and an investment ground exists with its own threshold. The property route of article 24-Bis is something different: it is one of the ways to sustain the benefit for someone who is already a resident, and it has its own requirements.
No. Once the initial period ends, 12% is the default. The 6% is a once-only election and it requires a qualifying investment to be held in each year: annual units in eligible funds, or property above the stated threshold. If the investment is not held in a given year, 12% applies.
That is what the investment routes are meant to allow. Whether one of them works for you depends on the amounts, the formalities and the conditions required by the regulation in force at that moment, which is why this has to be checked case by case rather than from a summary.
The one in force when you acquired residency. Up to 31 December 2025 the earlier article 24 regime applied, and article 649 of Law 20.446 closed it going forward. The two generations do not combine, so the date you acquired residency is the first thing to establish.
No. It concerns the covered income under this regime. It says nothing about social security contributions, company obligations if you operate through an entity here, or any other tax that may apply to your situation. Those are separate analyses.
This page is informative and does not replace advice on a specific case. Whether a ground is met, and whether a route can be sustained, depends on the facts and the documentation.
Thresholds expressed in indexed units are restated periodically, and the US dollar figures shown are approximate. Check the current values before deciding.
We review your dates, your grounds for residency and your intended route, and tell you what can be sustained and what cannot. If you will also keep working for clients or a company abroad once you are here, that is a separate question and we cover it in moving to Uruguay and working remotely.