Companies that do not advertise their RUC will be fined S/1,545

At the end of December it was already taken for granted that it was not mandatory for businesses to advertise the RUC, since the Congress of the Republic approved in plenary an autograph to repeal the measure. However, This year it has been observed by the Executive Branchin such a way that the National Superintendence of Customs and Tax Administration (Sunat) has the power to sanction those who fail to comply with the provision.

The fine amounts to up to 30% of the UIT, that is, S/1,545. The amount varies depending on the regime that corresponds to the taxpayer.

End of the white march

In February 2022, Legislative Decree 1524 was published, which modified the single taxpayer registry law, so that companies and influencers place the RUC number and company name in their advertising, including digital advertising. The objective of the measure is to improve the identification of those whose situation or activity should be subject to the control of Sunat.

Its application caused various doubts among users and experts, which is why Sunat began a white march from July 1 to December 31, a period in which it did not apply fines to those who did not comply.

From the Legislature, Adriana Tudela (Avanza País) promoted a bill to repeal it, since it affected the freedom of business, she maintained. The initiative was approved in the Plenary.

Executive proposes adjustment

On January 11, the Executive sent its observation of the measure to Congress and pointed out that the requirement to advertise the RUC number implicitly entails requiring registration in the RUC for those who, should be registered, do not comply with doing so. .

In addition, the single taxpayer registration law had to be updated because now users conduct business through digital platforms and mostly what is advertised is the cell phone number, which is not a sufficient identifier for the Sunat.

They add that, regarding the violation of business freedom that Tudela refers to, there is no support for said statement. On the contrary, if the RUC is not made public, that may mean that the company is informal, which constitutes unfair competition, since other companies in the sector do comply with their obligations.

In this way, the document proposes a new wording of the autograph, specifying that the consignment must be in “any visible place on digital platforms.”

In this regard, Giorgio Balza, main associate of Cuatrecasas, warns that the clarification that the RUC that must be placed is that of the “advertised subject” has been omitted, which would raise doubts about which RUC influencers should place in their publications. “The question remains on the table again as to whether you do the advertising: whose RUC do you put in? Yours or the brand’s? So, there comes back a flaw in the norm,” he explained.

The document is already in the Economy Commission for your evaluation. In March, when parliamentary work resumes, this working group will be able to insist on its proposal or make modifications.

Where is the RUC and company name placed?

If we use Instagram as a reference, Sunat specified to La República that the RUC and the company name must appear in each publication that is made visible to users.

That is, it can go in the copy (text) or in the photo (or video), since some platforms do not allow certain data to be placed due to privacy policies. In that sense, users would not have to worry if the policies of these companies change, because they will have two options to comply with the standard.

In the opinion of Cuatrecasas’ lawyer, in the scenario that the measure is repealed in March, Sunat will “probably” choose not to sanction the taxpayers who were not complying with it during these three months.