You bought a duplex in Miraflores in January 2018 for US$ 280,000 and you’re closing it in May 2026 for US$ 620,000. The reflex move: subtract 340,000, multiply by 5 percent, send SUNAT US$ 17,000. The real number is materially lower, because the taxable base is not the gross spread but the net gain after applying the monthly Monetary Correction Index (ICM) published by Peru’s Ministry of Finance. Get this step wrong and you either overpay or, worse, underdeclare and inherit penalty interest two years later. Here is how second-category income tax actually works on a premium property sale in Lima in 2026.

Table of contents

• What second-category income is and why property sales fall under it
• The formula: capital gain times 5 percent
• Computable cost and the Monetary Correction Index (ICM)
• Worked example: 2018 purchase, 2026 sale
• The casa-habitacion exemption
• How to file and pay (Form 1665)
• Inherited property: what changes
• Quick facts
• FAQ

What second-category income is and why property sales fall under it

Article 24 of Peru’s Income Tax Law (TUO LIR), enacted by Supreme Decree 179-2004-EF, lists second-category income: interest, royalties, dividends and capital gains from real estate sales that don’t qualify as a primary residence (casa-habitacion). If you sell an apartment, a house or a plot in Lima and don’t fit the exemption, the gain is taxed as second-category income, separate from salary or rental income.

Second-category income carries a flat, schedular 5 percent rate. It is not added to wages or other earnings. You don’t report it on the annual return SUNAT opens each March; you file and pay monthly, within the calendar of monthly tax obligations for the period in which you collected the proceeds. The legal anchor is article 84-A of the TUO LIR and SUNAT’s Guidance 3059.

Two technicalities premium sellers often miss. First, the rule applies only to property acquired on or after January 1, 2004. If your father bought the apartment in 1998 and passed it to you last year by inheritance, the computable cost follows different mechanics, covered below. Second, the 5 percent rate holds as long as the sale is not deemed habitual. SUNAT treats sales as habitual starting with the third disposition in the same fiscal year; from there on the income is taxed as third-category at 29.5 percent, with full bookkeeping obligations. Selling once every five or seven years is irrelevant. Flipping three Barranco units in twelve months changes the regime entirely.

The formula: capital gain times 5 percent, and what counts as gain

The basic equation fits in one line: (Sale price minus Updated computable cost) x 5% = Tax. The trick lives in each of those three terms. The sale price is not always the figure on the deed. If you sell in dollars, you must convert to soles at the SBS buy rate at close of the payment date, not the signing date. In May 2026 the rate has moved between S/ 3.43 and S/ 3.49 per dollar according to BCRP daily reports, so a one-day shift can swing the taxable base by thousands of soles.

The computable cost is the acquisition price (what you paid plus alcabala transfer tax, notary fees, SUNARP registration costs and ITF where applicable), or construction cost if you built on your own land. Permanent improvements documented with proper invoices add to the base. Cosmetic refits don’t: SUNAT requires the upgrade to be permanent and supported by valid receipts. That excludes the US$ 30,000 Italian kitchen installed without a formal invoice, a recurring oversight in penthouse-grade properties.

Once you fix the acquisition cost, you multiply it by the Monetary Correction Index for the month and year of purchase. That gives you the updated computable cost. The difference against the sale price is the gain, and 5 percent applies to that gain. Cumulative Peruvian inflation between 2018 and 2026 runs near 35 percent per INEI data, so ignoring the ICM can inflate your taxable base by roughly a third. A small detail with serious money attached.

Computable cost and the ICM: how SUNAT updates it via MEF

The Monetary Correction Index keeps the tax from punishing nominal gains driven purely by inflation. The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) publishes a monthly table of coefficients that you apply to the acquisition cost based on the month and year of purchase. The 2026 indices were set by Vice-Ministerial Resolution 005-2026-EF/15.01, gazetted in El Peruano on March 6, 2026 and effective from March 7. The table refreshes monthly at mef.gob.pe/es/indices-de-correccion-monetaria.

The mechanics are direct. If you bought in March 2010 and you’re selling in May 2026, you look up in the May 2026 table the coefficient for March 2010, multiply by your historical acquisition cost in soles, and you have today’s updated computable cost. The adjustment applies only to individuals, undivided estates and marital partnerships that elect to be taxed as such; companies use different accounting rules (IFRS and inflation-adjusted historical cost). This last distinction confuses clients with family holdings.

Three technical details that prevent expensive mistakes. One: if you bought in dollars, convert to soles at the SBS sell rate of the acquisition date first, then apply the ICM. Two: if you paid in installments over several months, strictly the ICM should pro-rate each disbursement by its payment month; in practice many notaries use the SUNARP registration date as the single reference, which is reasonable when payments cluster but not when they stretch over a year. Three: capital improvements update with the ICM of the month they were made, not the month of original purchase.

Worked example: bought January 2018, sold May 2026

Back to the Miraflores duplex from the lead. Purchase: January 2018, US$ 280,000. Sale: May 2026, US$ 620,000. To avoid inventing coefficients, the figures below are referential and your accountant must verify them against the MEF table effective the month you collect payment.

• SBS sell rate at January 15, 2018: S/ 3.232 per US$ 1 (historical reference)
• Acquisition cost in soles: 280,000 x 3.232 = S/ 904,960
• 2018 alcabala on taxable base (price minus 10 UIT exempt): roughly S/ 25,000
• Historical computable cost: S/ 929,960
• ICM January 2018 / May 2026: [TO VERIFY: ICM Jan-2018 per MEF table May 2026]
• SBS buy rate at close (May 2026 reference): S/ 3.46 per US$ 1
• Sale value in soles: 620,000 x 3.46 = S/ 2,145,200

If the ICM coefficient came out at, hypothetically, 1.32 (illustrative), the updated computable cost would be 929,960 x 1.32 = S/ 1,227,547. Gain: 2,145,200 minus 1,227,547 = S/ 917,653. Tax: 917,653 x 5% = S/ 45,882. At the day’s exchange rate that lands near US$ 13,260, not the US$ 17,000 the naive subtract-and-multiply produces. The gap covers a fair amount of accountant and tax-attorney fees.

Two caveats before closing the example. The number above assumes you’re not claiming the casa-habitacion exemption; if the property was your sole primary residence for more than two years, the tax is zero. Second: if you finance part of the sale over 12 months (not unusual in premium deals), you declare and pay as you collect each installment; SUNAT treats each receipt as an independent taxable event.

The casa-habitacion exemption: what the regulation requires

Article 1-A of the Income Tax Law’s Regulation, amended by Supreme Decree 313-2009-EF, defines casa-habitacion as a property the seller has owned for at least two years and which is not used exclusively for commerce, industry, office, warehouse, parking or similar purposes. If your sale qualifies, the gain is not taxable income and you owe no 5 percent. The doctrine: rotating one’s primary residence shouldn’t be taxed.

Three substantive requirements. One: two continuous years of ownership from SUNARP registration to the sale deed; one day short and you don’t qualify. Two: it must be your sole residence at the time of sale, or if you own several qualifying properties, only the last one disposed of counts as casa-habitacion; SUNAT cross-checks against SUNARP. Three: no exclusive commercial use; occasional rental or a home office does not disqualify, but a unit rented full-time on Airbnb for two years does.

Operating procedure: you file with the notary, before signing the public deed, a Communication of not being obligated to make the definitive second-category income tax payment, declaring under oath that the property is your casa-habitacion. The notary archives the document and lifts the deed without retention. If SUNAT later determines the property didn’t qualify (a second qualifying property was registered, or two-year ownership fell short), the debt re-activates with interest plus a false-statement penalty. Worth reviewing this point with an accountant before signing. More detail at personas.sunat.gob.pe/vendo-mi-casa.

How to file and pay: Virtual Form 1665, code 3021

Filing is fully online. You sign in to SUNAT Online Operations with your SOL credentials, open My Declarations and Payments, and select Virtual Form 1665 – Second-Category Income. The system asks for the period (the month you received payment), operation type (real estate disposition), sale value, updated computable cost and gain. It computes 5 percent and produces the amount due under tax code 3021 – Second-Category Income, own account, real estate disposition.

Deadline: by the month following receipt of payment, within the monthly schedule SUNAT publishes each year by last RUC digit. For May 2026, due dates fall between June 15 and June 23 depending on digit. Payment options: bank account debit, credit or debit card, NPS (SUNAT payment number) via online banking, or authorized agent banks. Most premium operations use direct debit for instant proof of payment.

Three errors we see monthly in client files. One: filing for the month the deed was signed instead of the month payment was received. If you signed in April but were paid May 5, you file in May. Two: forgetting the ITF (financial transactions tax) that hits the bank wire if you don’t use a cashier’s check or exempt instrument; the ITF doesn’t enter the income tax base, but it adds to total transaction cost. Three: confusing tax code 3021 with 3022 (second-category for interest, dividends and others). Paying under the wrong code triggers a redirection process that can take weeks. Form details at SUNAT’s Guidance 6679.

Inherited property: what changes

Here the rules shift, and many heirs overpay because they don’t realize it. When you sell a property received by inheritance, advance of legitime or donation, you don’t have a purchase invoice of your own. Article 21.1 of the TUO LIR offers two paths depending on when the deceased acquired the property.

If the deceased acquired the property before January 1, 2004, the computable cost is the municipal autoavaluo of the year of acquisition by the deceased, adjusted by ICM up to the inheritance date and again to the sale date. This figure tends to run low, so the taxable base runs high. If the deceased acquired after that date, the computable cost is the deceased’s actual purchase price, ICM-adjusted. SUNAT accepts the original public deed as evidence of that cost when preserved.

One additional twist: if the inheritance was registered through notarial intestate or testamentary succession, the heir’s acquisition date for tax purposes is the date of death of the deceased, not the heir’s registration date. This matters for the casa-habitacion two-year clock: if you live in the inherited unit for two years after the deceased’s death, you qualify. SUNAT’s FAQ section publishes various rulings on this. For high-value properties with old titles, a written tax opinion before listing is worth its fee; the tax authority is unforgiving on properties above US$ 500,000.

Quick facts

• Rate: 5 percent on the capital gain, not on the sale price
• Filing deadline: month after payment receipt, per SUNAT monthly schedule
• Form: Virtual 1665, tax code 3021
• Casa-habitacion exemption: minimum 2 years of ownership, sole residence, no commercial use
• Reference 2026 UIT (used in alcabala and other calcs): S/ 5,500
• 2026 ICM in force since March 7 per RVM 005-2026-EF/15.01
• Habituality: third disposal within the same year triggers third-category at 29.5 percent

Bottom line

Five percent reads modest until you realize it’s applied to a gain you compute, not one SUNAT computes for you. The gap between doing it right and doing it sloppy on a US$ 600,000 deal runs five to fifteen thousand dollars in over-payment, or a contingency that returns with interest two years later. The framework is reasonably clear across the TUO LIR, the regulation, the monthly MEF indices and SUNAT guidance. Complexity sits at the edges: old inheritances, installment sales, undocumented improvements. That’s where a licensed Peruvian accountant earns the fee. At Penthouse.pe we run that technical read on every premium operation before signing.

Financial notice. Rates, prices and figures referenced correspond to May 2026 and are subject to change. Penthouse.pe is neither a financial advisor nor a bank; before making investment decisions, consult your trusted advisor and the financial institution, which must be regulated by Peru’s SBS.

Legal and tax notice. 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.

Selling a premium property in Lima? At Penthouse.pe we coordinate the full operation: valuation, international marketing, tax review with a licensed accountant and notarial closing. Reach out and we review your case this week.

Related: alcabala, SUNARP search, purchase agreement, ITF, notary selection, Miraflores penthouses 2026. Sources: SUNAT 3059, MEF ICM, Gestion.