If you moved from Lima to Miami, Madrid or Barcelona a decade ago and now want to sell the apartment you left behind in San Isidro or Miraflores, here is the rule that catches most Peruvians abroad off guard: your buyer must withhold 5% of the gross sale price and remit it to SUNAT before you see the rest of the money. The same logic applies if you are the buyer, sitting in Lima, closing on a property whose owner has lived in Coral Gables for the past eight years. This is the non-resident seller withholding Peru property regime, Peru’s version of the FIRPTA logic that US buyers know well, and getting it wrong can freeze your title at SUNARP for months.
What the 5% non-resident withholding actually is
Peru’s Income Tax Law (article 54, paragraph b, of the TUO de la Ley del Impuesto a la Renta, in line with article 76 and the regulations under Supreme Decree 122-94-EF) treats the sale of Peruvian real estate by a non-resident as Peruvian-source income. Rather than wait for someone overseas to file a return, the law makes the resident buyer the withholding agent. The buyer subtracts 5% of the gross price at closing and pays it directly to SUNAT under tax code 3062.
If you have closed real estate in the United States, you already know the basic shape of this through FIRPTA: the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act forces buyers to withhold 15% of the gross price (10% on residential properties between US$300,000 and US$1,000,000, zero below US$300,000 under certain conditions) when the seller is a foreign person. Peru’s version is structurally similar but flatter: 5% across the board on the gross price, no thresholds, no carve-outs based on the buyer’s intent to live there.
The difference matters in two places. First, FIRPTA withholding is computed on the gross amount realized but the seller’s actual US tax is on net gain, with refunds available through Form 1040-NR. Peru works the same way only if you proactively file for cost recovery before the sale. Otherwise the 5% on the gross price becomes the final tax bill. Second, FIRPTA’s reduced rates assume the buyer plans to occupy. Peru’s 5% is uniform — the buyer’s plans are irrelevant.
When SUNAT considers a Peruvian non-resident
The threshold is mechanical. Article 7 of the Income Tax Law states that an individual loses Peruvian tax residency when they have been outside the country for more than 183 calendar days within any 12-month period and have acquired residence or permanent stay in another country. Crucially, the change of status does not happen the day you leave: it takes effect on January 1 of the year following the year in which both conditions are met.
So a Peruvian who moved to Miami in March 2023 and stayed continuously only became a non-resident for SUNAT purposes on January 1, 2025. Until that date SUNAT taxed her worldwide income as if she still lived in Surco. From that date on, only her Peruvian-source income is taxable in Peru, and the sale of the apartment she left behind falls squarely in that category.
For the buyer, this means the operative question is not “where does the seller live now” but “in what fiscal year did she lose Peruvian tax residency.” A Peruvian who moved to Madrid eleven months ago is still domiciled this year and the 5% withholding does not apply — she would pay the standard 5% on the actual gain through the regular procedure for resident sellers. The fastest way to clarify this is to ask the seller for a fiscal residency certificate from her current country and a copy of her passport with immigration stamps.
This is also where having a Lima notary used to international transactions pays off. Notaries in San Isidro and Miraflores who routinely handle expatriate sellers know to flag this question early; less specialized notaries may simply record the deed and leave the tax exposure on the buyer’s lap.
How it works in a real transaction
Take a concrete case. Sofia sold her apartment in La Aurora, Miraflores in March 2026 for US$ 720,000 (roughly S/ 2.71M at the SBS reference rate of S/ 3.76 per dollar). She moved to Boston in 2021 and has been a non-resident for SUNAT since fiscal year 2023. The buyer is Diego, a Lima executive paying with partial financing from BBVA. On the gross US$ 720,000, Diego must withhold 5% — US$ 36,000 (about S/ 135,360) — before transferring the balance to Sofia.
The withholding is not paid the day of the closing. The deadline follows SUNAT’s monthly calendar, based on the last digit of the buyer’s RUC (the Peruvian taxpayer ID), in the month following the payment to the seller. If Diego signed the deed on March 15, his deadline falls in April on the date SUNAT publishes for his digit. Late filing triggers a fine plus daily interest, and if the buyer skipped the withholding entirely he becomes jointly liable for the full tax with the seller.
The most confused operational detail is the form itself. For non-resident withholdings the buyer files PDT 617 — Otras Retenciones, not Form 1665 (which is reserved for second-category income from resident sellers). The cash payment uses tax code 3062 (Retenciones a No Domiciliados — Renta) through the Sistema Pago Fácil with Boleta de Pago — Formulario 1662, or directly from the SUNAT portal with bank account debit. If a notary or accountant tells you to use 1665, ask them to verify on orientacion.sunat.gob.pe before filing.
Once the withholding is paid, SUNAT issues an electronic certificate that does three things: it documents the payment for the seller, it supports the SUNARP registration of the deed, and it allows the non-resident seller to later request a refund if she can prove a higher cost basis or invoke a tax treaty. Peru currently has tax treaties (CDIs) in force with Brazil, Chile, Canada, Korea, Mexico, Portugal and Switzerland, among others, and some of them affect the rate.
Risks for the buyer who skips the withholding
The most expensive mistake is assuming this is the seller’s problem. Peruvian law makes the buyer jointly liable, which means SUNAT can collect the entire unpaid tax from you even after the seller has cashed out and left the country. Add the fine for failing to withhold (at least 50% of the unpaid tax), daily interest from the deadline, and a separate penalty for late filing, and a US$ 36,000 omission can balloon to a US$ 60,000 contingency in under two years.
The second risk is registration. To inscribe the transfer at SUNARP, the notary must insert the SUNAT withholding certificate into the public deed. Without that record, the registrar can flag the title and the property ends up in a registry no-man’s land: you paid, the seller cashed out, but the property still legally belongs to the seller. Clearing it requires going back to SUNAT first, securing the certificate, and only then returning to the registry.
If you bought with mortgage financing the third front opens. The bank likely already disbursed to the seller and you signed as the borrower. A SUNARP observation delays the registration of the first-rank mortgage and may trigger contractual cure clauses with short deadlines. Buyers in this situation often end up negotiating with the lender while paying monthly installments on a property whose title remains incomplete.
Three practices protect the buyer. Contractually, write an explicit 5% withholding clause into the minuta, specifying the amount, tax code and form, with the seller’s express authorization to deduct it from the price. Operationally, release the seller’s funds only after the withholding has been paid and the certificate is in hand. Documentarily, get a copy of the seller’s passport with immigration stamps and, ideally, a fiscal residency certificate from her current country.
Cost recovery and tax treaties: how the seller can pay less
The 5% on gross price is rough on a seller whose actual gain is small. If Sofia bought in 2018 for US$ 650,000 and sells in 2026 for US$ 720,000, her real gain is US$ 70,000 — not US$ 720,000. Without intervention, the 5% on gross still bites US$ 36,000, more than half of the economic gain.
The fix is to file, before the sale, a request for a “certificado de recuperación del capital invertido” (cost recovery certificate). The procedure is in article 57 of the Income Tax Regulations and requires the original purchase deed, prior public records, the autoavalúo (municipal valuation) and any improvements documentation. SUNAT issues a certificate fixing the deductible cost basis, and the 5% withholding then applies only to the difference between sale price and certified cost. Skip this step before closing and the seller loses the benefit by default — the only remaining option is a refund claim, which is slow and uncertain.
The other lever is the tax treaty. If the seller is a resident of a country with a CDI in force with Peru, the applicable rate may be lower. To activate it, the seller must produce a fiscal residency certificate from her tax authority, officially translated and in some cases apostilled. Without that certificate the buyer withholds the default 5%.
For high-ticket transactions, both sides should engage tax counsel three months before signing. Penthouse.pe has previously covered the broader playbook for buying remotely from abroad, the essentials of the Peruvian sale contract, the SUNARP verification process, the Alcabala tax on high-value properties, the San Isidro price-per-sqm reference and the Miraflores 2026 sqm data. This article closes the specific tax angle that most cross-border buyers discover too late.
Frequently asked questions
Closing thought
Buying a Lima apartment from a Peruvian who lives abroad — or selling yours from Miami, Madrid or Buenos Aires — is not a normal real estate transaction with one extra paperwork step. It is a transaction with a mandatory withholding agent, a specific tax code and a legal exposure that stays with the resident buyer even if the seller disappears. The non-resident seller withholding Peru property regime is the kind of rule almost nobody explains until after closing, when SUNAT starts asking. If you suspect your counterparty migrated years ago, pause the signing, request immigration documentation and bring a Peruvian tax advisor into the conversation before you sit down at the notary’s desk.
This content is informational and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Every case must be reviewed by a licensed Peruvian attorney or accountant. Peruvian regulations may have changed since publication; always verify the latest version with SUNAT, SUNARP or the relevant official source. Rates and procedures referenced as of May 2026 according to SUNAT Orientación and the Income Tax Law — Chapter XI.
Closing on a Lima property where the seller (or you) lives abroad and need clarity on the withholding before signing? Write to hola@penthouse.pe and we will help you map the operation.
