Peru Company Formation & Entity Choice

Entity types, capital and incorporation

The most common vehicle for SMEs is the Sociedad Anonima Cerrada (SAC), a closely held corporation. Companies are governed by the General Corporations Law (Ley General de Sociedades) and registered with SUNARP, then with SUNAT for the RUC tax number. There is no fixed statutory minimum capital for most companies.

• Sociedad Anonima Cerrada (SAC) — Closely held corporation; 2 to 20 shareholders; limited liability (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887))
• Sociedad Anonima (SA) — Standard corporation; suited to larger companies; mandatory board of directors (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887))
• Sociedad Comercial de Responsabilidad Limitada (SRL) — Limited liability company; 2 to 20 participants holding participations (not shares) (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887))
• Empresa Individual de Responsabilidad Limitada (EIRL) — Single-owner limited liability enterprise (Ley de la Empresa Individual de Responsabilidad Limitada (Decreto Ley 21621))
• Sociedad por Acciones Cerrada Simplificada (SACS) — Simplified closely held corporation incorporated fully online via SUNARP's SID platform, no notary required (Decreto Legislativo 1409 (SACS))
• Minimum share capital — No fixed legal minimum; capital must be adequate for the activity (often ~S/ 1,000 in practice) PEN ((approx — confirm) Practice figure, not a statutory minimum) (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887))
• Cash capital deposit rule — Cash contributions over S/ 10,000 require a bank deposit receipt PEN (Bancarization requirement (Ley 30730)) (Ley 30730 (bancarizacion de aportes))
• Step 1 — Name reservation — Reserve the company name at SUNARP (SUNARP - Registro de Personas Juridicas)
• Step 2 — Public deed — Draft the bylaws (minuta) and elevate to a public deed before a notary (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887))
• Step 3 — SUNARP registration — Register the company in SUNARP's Register of Legal Entities (about 7–10 business days) (SUNARP - Registro de Personas Juridicas)
• Step 4 — SUNAT RUC registration — Obtain the RUC tax identification number from SUNAT and elect the tax regime (SUNAT - Registro Unico de Contribuyentes (RUC))
• Core annual compliance — Annual income tax return, monthly IGV and PLAME filings, electronic accounting books, annual shareholder meeting and ultimate beneficial owner reporting (Ley General de Sociedades (Ley 26887) and SUNAT obligations)
• Ultimate beneficial owner (UBO) declaration — Companies must file a beneficial-ownership affidavit with SUNAT (Decreto Legislativo 1372 (beneficiario final))