Uruguay raises real estate tax holiday threshold to $2 million

Uruguay's impatriate tax regime now demands UI 12,500,000 in real estate to unlock the 11-year foreign-income holiday, a threshold that lands near $2 million at current indexed unit values.

The new price of a tax holiday

Law 20.446, enacted Dec. 16, 2025, rewrote the impatriate rules for anyone who becomes a Uruguayan tax resident from Jan. 1, 2026. Decree 43/026, published in March, confirmed the same start date.

Qualifying newcomers can elect to pay IRNR on foreign capital income for the year of residency plus the next 10 tax years, sidestepping the standard 12% IRPF on foreign investment income and capital gains. The price of entry now runs through one of three routes:

• Real estate: investment above UI 12,500,000, roughly $2 million at current values.
• Productive funds: annual contributions of at least UI 625,000, near $100,000, into approved research, innovation or productive-project vehicles.
• Physical presence: no investment required if the applicant qualifies as resident under the 183-day test each fiscal year.

What it costs a nomad in practice

The fund route is the one figure worth staring at. Committing UI 625,000 a year means locking up roughly $100,000 annually in approved vehicles for as long as the holder wants the shield on foreign income. Over the full 11-year window, that's more than $1 million tied to the regime, though the capital stays invested rather than spent.

The presence-only route stays the cleanest path for remote workers who genuinely relocate. All days in the country count except transit and absences longer than 30 calendar days aren't treated as sporadic unless the traveler produces a tax residency certificate from another jurisdiction's competent authority. Frequent travelers who fail that test get pulled into full Uruguayan taxation on worldwide capital income at 12%.

Digital nomads staying under 183 days without economic ties are outside the target zone entirely. Anyone crossing the threshold or shifting a principal nucleus of activities to Montevideo, falls under the same rules as any other new resident. The mechanics of qualifying investments were left to regulation and the CRS reporting changes in Decree 43/026 kick in Dec. 31, 2027 for accounts held from Jan. 1, 2026.

Full context on residency, banking and cost of living sits in the Uruguay guide.