Reviewed by the editorial team of Symbol Consulting DMCC
Decree No. 206/026, signed on 31 August 2026 and published on 8 September, does not waive the domestic minimum tax for free zone companies: it requires every entity with Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax allocated in Uruguay to meet the formal obligations and to pay it, and it reserves for holders of a tax stability clause a compensation that is claimed through an administrative file.
The Uruguayan domestic minimum tax and the foreign global minimum tax are not the same tax
The Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (Impuesto Mínimo Complementario Doméstico) is a Uruguayan tax under Title 21 of the 2023 Consolidated Text, collected by the Dirección General Impositiva when a multinational group’s effective tax rate in Uruguay falls below 15 %. The global minimum tax is a different one: the tax that another jurisdiction of the group, usually the parent’s, levies on those same low-taxed Uruguayan profits.
On 29 September 2025 Montevideo Portal ran the headline «Government will exempt free zone companies that do not pay global minimum tax» and wrote that the Minister of Economy and Finance, Gabriel Oddone, «announced this Monday a change in the Budget Law regarding the application of the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax, also called “global minimum tax”».
In 2026, Prensa Mercosur ran the headline «The global minimum tax puts Uruguay’s investment attraction model to the test» on 12 July and wrote: «Since 1 January the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax (IMCD) has been in force».
Reading the decree with that vocabulary would be a category error: literal e) of its article 2 asks for identification of the entities not located in Uruguay «that are subject to the Global Minimum Tax or to any other type of foreign tax». The protection of the free zone is measured in the distance between the two taxes.
What Decree 206/026 changes compared with Decree 325/025
Decree 206/026 replaces a waiver with payment plus compensation. Decree No. 325/025 of 29 December 2025 provided that entities with a stability clause «shall be waived from payment»; article 1 of the new decree orders all constituent entities above the tax threshold to meet the formal obligations and to pay it.
| Element | Decree 325/025 (repealed) | Decree 206/026 |
|---|---|---|
| General rule | Total or partial waiver of payment | Payment by all entities with tax allocated |
| Who may apply | Entity covered by the clause | Covered entity, if the clause obliges the State to compensate the tax increase |
| Amount | Part not creditable abroad, or difference with the foreign tax | Tax paid minus the reduction in foreign taxes |
Who is covered: free zones, forests and earlier agreements
Decree 206/026 recognises three stability clauses in its article 5: articles 19, 20 and 25 of Free Zones Law No. 15.921, for users whose contracts were signed and authorised before the domestic minimum tax took effect; article 43 of Forestry Law No. 15.939, for forests planted before that date; and specific earlier agreements between the Government and a multinational group.
None operates outside the threshold: article 3 of Title 21 reaches groups with consolidated revenue of 750 million euros or more in at least two of the four preceding fiscal years. And a user that signed its contract after the tax took effect pays without compensation.
How much is compensated: the Uruguayan tax minus what the foreign tax stops collecting
The compensation under article 4 of Decree 206/026 equals the difference between the Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax paid in Uruguay and the reduction in foreign taxes that this payment produces. If the parent’s jurisdiction applies the global minimum tax and credits everything paid in Uruguay, the reduction equals the payment and the compensation is zero.
If no jurisdiction of the group levies a tax against which the Uruguayan one is credited, the reduction is nil and the compensation covers everything paid: this is the case of the parent’s jurisdiction that «is not covered by the global tax», in the minister’s words, and the only case with no net burden.
A third case sits in the law: article 74 of Title 21 obliges the Executive Branch to «exempt or exclude» groups whose ultimate parent is located in a jurisdiction exempted or excluded from the income inclusion rule and the undertaxed profits rule. The DGI regulations page lists no rule applying that paragraph.
The file before the Dirección General Impositiva and when it works
The file under article 2 of Decree 206/026 must contain, at least, the signed petition, the group chart according to its tax return, the Country-by-Country Report, the entities with a clause and the foreign entities subject to the global minimum tax, the clause invoked, the tax determined, the amount claimed and the waiver of tax secrecy towards the Inclusive Framework.
The amount claimed always requires certification by an internationally recognised audit firm, legalised and apostilled; the forestry clause adds the approved Forestry Plan.
Under article 6, the compensation is applied to the payment only if the DGI communicates its decision before the obligation falls due; otherwise the refund under article 3 remains. The DGI announced on 15 September 2026 that the form and conditions of the file «will be communicated shortly».
Note on sources
The official sources agree with one another. Two adviser pages describe instead the repealed regime: the Andersen Uruguay page, undated, which as at 7 October 2026 still states that entities with a clause «will be waived from payment of the tax, partially or totally», and the Ecovis Uruguay note of 19 January 2026, which predates the decree in force.
As at 7 October 2026 the DGI regulations and communications on the tax do not list the payment due date, which article 71 of Title 21 does not set, or the form of the file, announced «shortly».
Five dates of the regime: from the 2025 waiver to the 2028 tax return
Five dates order the regime for a holder of a tax stability clause: on 29 December 2025, Decree 325/025, with the waiver; on 1 January 2026, the entry into force of Law No. 20.446; on 31 August 2026, Decree 206/026, which repeals 325/025; and on 31 March or 30 June 2028, the tax return for the first fiscal year.
The first three come from the decrees and from article 3 of the Law. The last two, 15 months after the close on 31 December 2026 under article 71 of Title 21, or 18 if the DGI extends the deadline, are a calculation by Symbol Consulting.
Calculation by Symbol Consulting, not a figure from the rule: for a group whose fiscal year matches the calendar year, 2026 is taken as the first year because the law applies from 1 January 2026 (article 3), although article 665 incorporates Title 21 from promulgation, on 16 December 2025; with a different first fiscal year, the deadlines change.
Fuentes
The rules are cited from IMPO as at 7 October 2026: Decrees No. 206/026 and No. 325/025, Title 21 of the 2023 Consolidated Text and articles 3, 665 and 666 of Law No. 20.446. From the Dirección General Impositiva come the news item of 15 September and its regulations page. Montevideo Portal and Prensa Mercosur only show the name in circulation; Andersen Uruguay and Ecovis Uruguay describe the repealed waiver.
This material was reviewed by the editorial team of Symbol Consulting DMCC, an advisory firm that provides company setup and licensing, tax and regulatory compliance, and market entry consulting across multiple countries.
General analysis of rules in force. It does not constitute legal, tax, immigration or financial advice.
