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Taxes in Peru: Expired tax periods and SUNAT’s power to adjust
10. December 2025
The Peruvian Supreme Court has ruled that the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) cannot issue or modify tax determinations for fiscal years already barred by the statute of limitations, even if those resolutions show zero debt or are intended only to recalculate losses or carry-forwards that affect later years. Ecovis explains the verdict.
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Main legal principles
- The statute of limitations (Article 43 of the Tax Code) limits SUNAT’s power to determine, audit, sanction, or collect taxes from prescribed years.
- Issuing a “verification” or “adjustment” that modifies tax results of a prescribed period is a prohibited act of determination.
- Only factual references to past periods are allowed, provided they do not reopen those periods or alter their legal effects.
“We will assist you in reviewing your tax assessments.”
Octavio Salazar Mesias, Partner, ECOVIS Peru, Lima, Peru
The case
SUNAT acknowledged that 2002 was time-barred but still issued a determination reducing that year’s loss, which consequently affected 2003.
The Supreme Court declared such action invalid, reinforcing that no tax action may modify closed years, regardless of whether the outcome is monetary or not.
Implications for taxpayers
- Increased legal certainty: Prescribed years are definitively closed.
- Defence tool: Companies can challenge SUNAT adjustments that indirectly alter prior losses or credits.
- Audit strategy: SUNAT may reference old data but cannot issue new determinations over barred periods.
Recommendations
Taxpayers should:
- Review ongoing audits to ensure that no findings relate to time-barred years.
- Consider an appeal under Article 43 if a zero-debt decision alters losses or balances from previous years.
- Properly document the continuity of tax losses and credits without reopening closed periods.
