Peru’s Dual Tax Stack: How the 1% ISC on Stakes and 12% IJD on GGR Combine to Reshape Operator Economics

Peru’s licensed online gambling market operates under two distinct taxes administered by SUNAT that run simultaneously and draw from different bases. The Impuesto a los Juegos a Distancia y Apuestas Deportivas a Distancia (IJD) taxes net monthly income at 12% and has been in effect since 1 April 2024 under Ley N° 31557. The Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo (ISC) taxes each individual bet at 1% of stake and reached its full operative rate on 1 July 2025 following the enactment of Decreto Legislativo N° 1644 on 13 September 2024 and its implementing regulation, Decreto Supremo N° 254-2024-EF. These are not alternative taxes or credits against each other. They apply concurrently, with different bases, different taxpayers (in the non-domiciled operator structure), and different collection mechanisms. Finance teams that model Peru on the 12% GGR headline alone are carrying a material understatement of their Peruvian tax liability.

The IJD: Structure and Calculation

The IJD was created by Ley N° 31557 of 13 August 2022, modified by Ley N° 31806 of 28 June 2023, and entered into force on 1 April 2024. Its implementing regulation is Decreto Supremo N° 253-2024-EF. SUNAT administers the tax and publishes official guidance for both domiciled and non-domiciled operators on its Emprender portal.

The taxable base is the ingreso neto mensual (net monthly income) less a 2% maintenance allowance for platform costs. Net monthly income is defined as gross monthly income (all stakes received plus other amounts paid by players) minus total prizes and refunds paid out in the same month. Under Article 41 of Ley N° 31557, if prizes and refunds in a given month exceed gross income for that month, the negative balance carries forward and is deducted against gross income of future months until fully absorbed. The 12% rate then applies to net monthly income reduced by 2%, meaning the effective IJD taxable base is 98% of net monthly income. This 2% deduction is fixed by statute and is not subject to further reduction by actual operating costs.

“La base imponible del impuesto está constituida por el ingreso neto mensual menos los gastos de mantenimiento de la plataforma tecnológica de los juegos a distancia, o de apuestas deportivas a distancia. Los gastos de mantenimiento señalados en el punto anterior son equivalentes al 2% del ingreso neto mensual.”, Ley N° 31557, Article 41 (as per SUNAT Orientación guidance)

The IJD is calculated independently per technological platform. An operator with separate authorisations for online casino (juegos a distancia) and sports betting (apuestas deportivas a distancia) calculates the tax on each platform separately. Domestic operators (Peruvian legal entities and branches of foreign entities) must file monthly declarations and pay within the deadlines set in SUNAT’s monthly compliance calendar. Non-domiciled operators may declare and pay in Peruvian soles or in US dollars, with currency elections governed by the relevant currency-election provision of DS 253-2024-EF, locking in the chosen currency for the full calendar year.

The ISC: What It Taxes and Why It Is Structurally Different

The ISC is not a variation on the IJD. It is a consumption tax drawn from the existing framework of the Ley del IGV e Impuesto Selectivo al Consumo (Texto Único Ordenado approved by Decreto Supremo N° 055-99-EF), extended to online gambling by Decreto Legislativo N° 1644 published in the Diario Oficial El Peruano on 13 September 2024. The rate of 1% applies under the sistema al valor (ad valorem system) with a statutory band of 0.3% to 50%, meaning the government can adjust the rate by decree within that band without returning to congress.

The taxable event is each individual bet, at the moment the stake is applied. Under Decreto Supremo N° 254-2024-EF, Article 6, this is defined as the moment the money or bonus credit is debited from the player’s gaming account. The base is the face value of the bet: cash wagered plus any bonificación valorizada en dinero (money-valued bonus credit) that the player applies to the wager. Purely promotional items delivered in kind that cannot themselves be wagered are excluded, but wagerable bonus credit is fully within scope.

The ISC applies to all three categories of authorised operators under Ley N° 31557: Peruvian legal entities, branches of foreign legal entities, and foreign legal entities holding a MINCETUR authorisation. The difference lies in who bears the legal incidence of the tax.

Who Pays the ISC: Domestic Operators vs. Non-Domiciled Operators

For Peruvian entities and branches of foreign entities (i.e., domestically constituted operators), the licence holder is the direct taxpayer. They calculate and remit the ISC monthly to SUNAT, in the same manner as other ISC-liable businesses.

For foreign legal entities operating under a MINCETUR authorisation without a domestic entity structure, the legal taxpayer under Decreto Legislativo N° 1644 is the player. The foreign operator acts as agente de percepción: it withholds 1% from each bet at the moment of wagering and remits the collected amount to SUNAT. This is a structural distinction with significant compliance implications. The foreign operator is not paying a tax on its own revenue in this model, it is collecting a tax on player activity and remitting it. The obligation to collect and remit is absolute: failure to collect does not extinguish the tax liability.

Non-domiciled operators acting as perception agents must register with SUNAT via the Registro Único de Contribuyentes (RUC), with the inscription procedure for non-domiciled perception agents established by Resolución de Superintendencia N° 000267-2024/SUNAT. They are not required to maintain Peruvian accounting books or issue comprobantes de pago (payment receipts), but they must grant SUNAT access to servers and databases linked to gambling operations under DS 254-2024-EF, Article 6. That access must remain active throughout the statute of limitations period for the tax.

What Does the ISC Base Include? The Bonus Question

Wagerable Bonus Credits Are Taxable Stakes

Under DS 254-2024-EF, Article 7, bonus credits that a player receives into their gaming account and that are eligible to be applied to a bet are classified as bonificaciones valorizadas en dinero and count as part of the bet for ISC purposes. The precise moment of ISC incidence is when the bonus credit is debited from the gaming account to fund a specific wager. Promotional items that are delivered to players but cannot themselves be wagered, such as physical merchandise or free spins that generate cash prizes but are not themselves a monetary stake, are excluded.

The practical implication for operators with aggressive welcome-bonus programmes is significant. A welcome bonus of S/ 200 fully applied to a slot session generates S/ 2 in ISC on that session alone, in addition to the IJD on net revenue. Operators who modelled bonus cost purely as a marketing expense without accounting for the ISC on bonus-funded wagering must recalibrate their acquisition cost calculations. Under the modifications introduced by DL 1644, non-domiciled operators are also subject to restrictions on how welcome bonuses are structured and must comply with Ley N° 31557 bonus treatment rules. Operators should obtain guidance from qualified Peruvian tax counsel on the specific application of those restrictions, given the ongoing development of implementing guidance in this area.

How the ISC and IJD Interact: Effective Rate Modelling by Vertical

Why the Hold Rate Is the Critical Variable

The ISC and IJD draw from entirely different bases, so the combined effective tax rate as a percentage of GGR is not a fixed number. It varies inversely with the operator’s hold rate. The IJD is always approximately 11.76% of GGR (12% × 98%). The ISC, calculated as 1% of gross stakes, translates to a GGR equivalent that depends on how much of each bet the operator retains.

A straightforward formula: if the hold rate is H (expressed as a decimal), then for every 1 unit of GGR, total stakes placed equal 1/H. The ISC on those stakes is 0.01 × (1/H). As a fraction of GGR, the ISC burden equals 1/H × 1%. The combined effective rate on GGR is therefore approximately 11.76% + (1% / H).

Vertical / Scenario	Typical Hold Rate	IJD on GGR (approx.)	ISC as % of GGR (approx.)	Combined Effective Rate on GGR
Sports betting (competitive book)	5%	11.76%	20.00%	~31.76%
Sports betting (mid-margin book)	8%	11.76%	12.50%	~24.26%
Online casino slots (RTP 95%)	5%	11.76%	20.00%	~31.76%
Online casino slots (RTP 92%)	8%	11.76%	12.50%	~24.26%
Live casino / table games	2.5%	11.76%	40.00%	~51.76%

These figures are illustrative modelling based on the statutory rates confirmed in Ley N° 31557 and DL 1644. Actual results depend on the operator’s product mix, bonus volumes, and the proportion of activity that falls within the ISC taxable perimeter. Operators should have their Peruvian tax counsel construct a full monthly projection using actual bet volumes and hold data. The figures nonetheless demonstrate that sports-betting operations running a competitive 5% hold face a structurally heavier ISC burden as a proportion of revenue than a casino vertical operating at a wider margin.

A 5% hold rate sports-betting book in Peru faces an ISC burden worth roughly 20% of its GGR before the IJD is even applied, producing a combined effective rate approaching 32% of GGR against the 12% headline that was Peru’s original selling point.

Why a 1% Stake Tax Is Not Equivalent to a 1% GGR Tax

Is the ISC just a small add-on to the IJD?

No. At competitive sportsbook margins, the ISC generates more tax than the IJD. The confusion arises because 1% sounds small in relation to 12%. The IJD base is GGR, which is a fraction of turnover. The ISC base is turnover in its entirety. For a book with a 5% hold, every 100 units of stakes yields 5 units of GGR and 1 unit of ISC. The IJD on that GGR is 0.59 units (12% × 98% × 5). The ISC of 1 unit exceeds the IJD of 0.59 units by nearly 70%. The Peruvian government structured a consumption tax that, at thin sportsbook margins, functions as the dominant levy, not a minor secondary charge.

According to iGaming Business, reporting updated in December 2024, Gonzalo Perez, CEO of leading Peruvian operator Apuesta Total, described the 1% ISC as “crazy” given its disproportionate effect at sportsbook margins, noting it could effectively double the overall tax cost for operators like his. He also flagged that the system change required to calculate and deduct 1% per bet would necessitate re-certification of the gaming platform by a MINCETUR-approved laboratory, a process he estimated at eight to twelve months.

Geolocation and Tax Residency: Who Is a Peruvian Player?

The ISC applies only to bets placed by players with habitual residence in Peru. Decreto Legislativo N° 1644 and its analysis in CMS Grau’s legal bulletin establish four alternative indicators that trigger the presumption of Peruvian residency for ISC purposes. Any one of them is sufficient.

The IP address or other geolocation of the device used to place the bet corresponds to Peru. The SIM card country code of the mobile device used corresponds to Peru. The credit card, debit card, electronic money instrument, digital wallet, or other payment product used to fund the gaming account is issued by a Peruvian financial institution. The domicile the player registers on the platform is located in Peru.

Operators must assess how these indicators intersect with their existing KYC and AML onboarding flows. A player using a Peruvian bank card but with a foreign IP address satisfies the third indicator alone. The interaction with broader AML obligations under Resolución SBS N° 03622-2025 (Peru’s PLAFT AML framework, effective 15 October 2025) is relevant: KYC data collected for AML purposes will simultaneously inform ISC residency determinations, making a clean player data architecture important for both compliance streams.

Revenue Distribution and the Policy Logic

Unlike the IJD, which flows entirely to the general treasury for SUNAT distribution, ISC revenues from online gambling are earmarked. Under DS 254-2024-EF, the ISC proceeds are distributed among the Ministerio de Salud, MINCETUR, and the Instituto Peruano del Deporte. This earmarking reflects the government’s framing of the ISC as a public-health and sport-development levy rather than a purely fiscal measure, echoing the consumption-tax logic applied to tobacco and alcohol under the same IGV/ISC statute. It is also a structural signal that the government regards the 0.3% to 50% rate band as a long-term policy tool: future adjustments via decreto supremo remain available without congressional action.

Administrative Obligations: Filing, Currency, and Server Access

The IJD and ISC share the same SUNAT administration but have distinct procedural flows. Both are declared and paid monthly. Operators who declare in US dollars for the ISC must make that election in their first filing of each calendar year and maintain it through December of that year, as currency elections cannot be changed mid-year. The exchange rate applied to convert wagers in currencies other than the declared payment currency is determined under the reglamento provisions of DS 254-2024-EF, Article 8.

SUNAT’s data access rights extend to both taxes. Under DS 253-2024-EF and DS 254-2024-EF, operators must provide SUNAT with credentials to access servers and databases associated with their gambling operations, either directly or through their technology service providers. These access rights must remain active throughout the applicable statute of limitations. For compliance teams managing cloud-hosted platforms with third-party providers, ensuring contractual passthrough of the SUNAT access obligation is a practical necessity.

Non-domiciled operators benefit from a procedural exemption: they are not required to maintain Peruvian accounting books, carry other SUNAT-mandated registros, or issue comprobantes de pago for bet transactions. The RUC registration obligation remains in full, as does the obligation to grant server access.

Operational Planning: What the Tax Stack Means for Market Entry and Pricing

At its most direct level, the ISC requires a system-level change to every licensed platform. Each bet must generate a separate tax calculation, and the calculation must use the exact moment of account debit as the tax point. Operators running platforms certified by MINCETUR-approved laboratories before the ISC was enacted must recertify once the calculation has been integrated into the platform software. The recertification timeline of 8 to 12 months cited by industry participants is consistent with the laboratory certification cycle under MINCETUR’s technical standards framework.

For market entrants planning their Peru entry post-July 2025, the ISC must be built into platform architecture before launch rather than retrofitted. Operators whose platforms were certified prior to the ISC’s full implementation should already be in or near the recertification cycle. Operating with an uncertified platform risks non-compliance with MINCETUR’s technical standards and creates structural ISC collection failures, since a platform that cannot calculate the per-bet tax cannot fulfil the perception agent obligation.

On product strategy, the ISC creates a structural disincentive for thin-margin products. Live dealer blackjack and baccarat, which operate on house edges below 2%, carry ISC burdens exceeding 50% of GGR at those margins. Operators who cross-sell from high-hold slots to live table games in Peru must model the table-games ISC cost explicitly. Bonus-heavy acquisition models are similarly affected: every free-bet or welcome-bonus credit that is wagered generates ISC at the point of use, making acquisition cost calculations that ignore ISC materially incomplete.

Peru’s broader tax comparison with its LATAM peers reinforces the point. Brazil’s federal online gambling framework under Lei 14.790/2023 applies a 12% GGR tax without a parallel turnover levy. Colombia’s Coljuegos concession model under Ley 643/2001 levies a 15% derechos de explotación on GGR plus a 1% administrative fee, both applied to revenue rather than to turnover. Peru is the only one of the three major regulated LATAM markets to apply a statutory levy at the level of individual stakes, making it structurally the most complex to model for thin-margin sports-betting operations. Operators with multi-jurisdiction LATAM portfolios covering Brazil’s federal licensing and tax framework alongside Peru need separate margin-impact models for each jurisdiction rather than a consolidated LATAM P&L projection.

Operators considering the Peru market, or those already licensed who have not yet recalibrated pricing and bonus structures for the full-rate ISC environment, should commission a formal tax impact assessment with Peruvian tax counsel. The statutory framework is settled, but the interaction between the ISC perception-agent obligation, AML/KYC data flows, and platform certification requirements creates a compliance intersection that requires coordinated legal, technical, and financial review. Compliance officers should monitor for any decreto supremo adjustments to the ISC rate within the 0.3% to 50% statutory band, which can be issued without prior legislative process. For guidance on SUNAT’s current administrative positions, visit SUNAT’s official website or contact the RUC registration team at inscripcionruc_nd@sunat.gob.pe.

Key Resources

Ley N° 31557, Ley que regula la explotación de los juegos a distancia y apuestas deportivas a distancia (13 August 2022, as modified by Ley N° 31806). Primary statutory basis for the IJD and the licensing regime. Available via busquedas.elperuano.pe.

Decreto Legislativo N° 1644, ISC extension to online gambling, published in the Diario Oficial El Peruano on 13 September 2024. Establishes the 1% ISC rate, the 0.3% to 50% band, the perception-agent structure for non-domiciled operators, and the welcome-bonus treatment modifications. Available via busquedas.elperuano.pe.

Decreto Supremo N° 253-2024-EF, Reglamento for the IJD. Sets out base calculation mechanics, carry-forward rules for negative monthly balances, currency election procedures, server access obligations, and revenue distribution rules for the IJD. Published in El Peruano December 2024.

Decreto Supremo N° 254-2024-EF, Reglamento for the ISC. Defines the tax point, the bonus credit inclusion rule, exchange rate treatment, refund procedures, and the Sujetos Facilitadores de Pago backstop mechanism. Published in El Peruano December 2024.

SUNAT Orientación, ISC a juegos a distancia y apuestas deportivas a distancia, SUNAT’s administrative guidance on ISC RUC registration, collection mechanics, and filing procedures for non-domiciled operators. Available at sunat.gob.pe. For RUC registration queries, SUNAT directs non-domiciled operators to inscripcionruc_nd@sunat.gob.pe.

Resolución de Superintendencia N° 000267-2024/SUNAT, Establishes the RUC inscription procedure for non-domiciled entities acting as ISC perception agents. Available via SUNAT’s regulatory portal.