Uruguay extends tourism VAT relief to April 2027

Signed on 1 October, the decree extends article 1 of Decree No. 318/021 under the authority conferred by Law No. 17.934. The previous extension expired on 30 September 2026. DGI’s current guidance identifies the continued regime as applying from 1 October 2026; the measure prolongs the existing benefit rather than introducing a new category of relief.^{[1][2][3][4][6]}

Qualifying transactions

Covered supplies include restaurant and similar catering services, catering and other services for parties and events, vehicle hire without a driver, and intermediary services for tourist property rentals. Hotel food services can qualify when separate from accommodation. For property intermediaries, the reduction applies to the commission rather than the underlying rent.^[4][5][6]

The benefit is available to resident and non-resident final consumers paying with qualifying credit cards, debit cards or electronic-money instruments held by an individual. A partly electronic payment receives proportionate relief. The reduction is nine percentage points of VAT, not a nine per cent discount on the entire bill; a separate 7.38% gross-price discount applies to qualifying minimum-VAT establishments.^[3][5][6]

Merchant credit and documentation

Under the general VAT regime, the service provider invoices and accounts for VAT at the normal rate, then claims a credit corresponding to the reduction once the payment administrator communicates it. The consumer receives the benefit through the payment settlement. Eligible supplies must have separate final-consumption receipts; mixing them with ordinary supplies in one receipt prevents the benefit.^[4][5][6]

For MNE hospitality and vehicle-hire groups, the extension supports continued transaction-level relief through April 2027. Tax teams should retain the existing receipt separation and reconcile payment administrator statements to VAT credits. The final-consumption documentation cannot be used by purchasers to calculate DGI-administered taxes, so this consumer regime should not be treated as ordinary business input-VAT recovery.^[4][5][6]