If you searched for "per diems with expense accounting" ("viáticos con rendición de cuentas") in Uruguay, the first thing you saw was almost certainly the per diem regulations of a government agency: 72-hour deadlines, caps of 20% without a receipt, numbered forms. Those are rules, but ones an agency adopted for its own civil servants. This guide covers the other situation: your private company pays for an employee's trip and has to decide what to withhold and what paperwork to keep.
The underlying rule fits in one sentence: if the allowance is subject to expense accounting it isn't taxed, and if it isn't, 50% counts inside the country and 25% abroad. It hides three things: that it isn't one rule but two, in different regulations with the same numbers; that for IRPF there is a prior filter called the overnight stay (pernocte); and that "valid expense accounting" is not defined in any tax rule for the private sector.
The percentages come from two different regulations. For the BPS special social security contributions (CESS), Article 157 of Law No. 16,713 taxes per diems "on what is actually received" at "50% […] on allowances intended for use inside the country and 25% […] on allowances intended for use outside the country." Article 10 of Decree No. 113/996 repeats that text.
For IRPF, item 48 (numeral 48) of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 says the same: "Per diems with expense accounting shall not constitute taxable income," and without accounting, computable income "shall be 50%" inside the country "and 25%" abroad. Paragraph 2 of Article 157 exempts sums "subject to expense accounting and bookkeeping entry or [when] their compensatory nature is reliably and unequivocally proven." Watch the "or": the second route isn't automatic.
Treatment of the allowance with and without expense accounting, under both regimes
| Status of the allowance | IRPF (DGI) | Contribution base (BPS) | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| With expense accounting and bookkeeping entry | Not taxable income | Compensatory per diem | Res. 662/007 item 48; Law 16,713 art. 157 |
| Without accounting, used in the country | Computable income: 50% | Contribution base: 50% | Res. 662/007 item 48; Law 16,713 art. 157 |
| Without accounting, used abroad | Computable income: 25% | Contribution base: 25% | Res. 662/007 item 48; Law 16,713 art. 157 |
| No overnight stay | Not a per diem: taxed even if accounted for | Art. 157 doesn't mention the overnight stay | Res. 662/007 items 48 to 52; DGI Ruling 4,777 |
| Accounted for below the amount advanced | The excess is taxed | Covers what was accounted for and booked | Res. 662/007 item 52; MEF Instructions 3/07 |
Before asking whether there was expense accounting, you have to ask something else. Item 48 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 defines per diems as sums granted to the employee "for travel, meal and lodging expenses […] away from their usual place of residence," and requires "that the allowance include the overnight stay, unless it is provided free of charge."
The consequence is counterintuitive: no overnight stay means no per diem, and without a per diem expense accounting stops helping. The DGI settled it in Tax Ruling No. 4,777, on meals during same-day trips: "such allowances shall be taxed regardless of whether there is expense accounting."
That both regimes use 50% and 25% is no coincidence: it is a written cross-reference. Article 53 of Decree No. 148/007, as worded by Article 16 of Decree No. 493/011, provides that per diems from dependent employment "shall be valued by the criteria set for social security purposes by Law No. 16,713 […] and by Regulatory Decree No. 113/996." IRPF values the per diem by the BPS yardstick.
How each regime names the untaxed allowance, and what condition it sets
| Criterion | IRPF (DGI) | BPS (CESS) | Labor (MTSS) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rule | Res. 662/007 item 48; Dec. 148/007 art. 53 | Law 16,713 art. 157; Dec. 113/996 art. 10 | MTSS frequently asked questions |
| Defines "per diem" | Yes, expressly | No: uses the term and sets its treatment | Defines the per diem of a salary nature |
| Requires an overnight stay | Yes, unless provided free of charge | The text doesn't mention it | Not applicable |
| Untaxed allowance | "Per diems with expense accounting" | "Compensatory per diems" | Per diem with no salary nature |
| Condition | That there is expense accounting | Accounting and bookkeeping entry, or proof of compensatory nature | That the worker has to account for it |
| If not met | 50% country / 25% abroad | 50% country / 25% abroad | Counts as salary for the year-end bonus (aguinaldo), paid leave and vacation pay |
Here is the gap: there is no legal definition of "valid expense accounting" for the private sector. On the BPS side the standard is textual and twofold —"subject to expense accounting and bookkeeping entry," Article 157 of Law No. 16,713—, that is, receipts plus an accounting record. On the IRPF side there isn't even that: item 48 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 uses the term and doesn't define it.
Elements of expense accounting at a private Uruguayan company, and where each requirement comes from
| Element | What it requires | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic tax receipt | e-Factura with the company's RUT between taxpayers; the e-Ticket documents sales to the final consumer | Dec. 36/012 art. 5 |
| Bookkeeping entry | The expense recorded in the books, not just the paper in a folder | Law 16,713 art. 157; Dec. 113/996 art. 10 |
| Link to the assigned task | An expense "unequivocally associated with performing the duties assigned by the employer" | Res. 662/007 item 49 (b) |
| Overnight stay, if treated as a per diem | That the allowance includes it, unless provided free of charge | Res. 662/007 item 48 |
| Mileage in a personal or company vehicle | Reimbursement "based on the application of technically acceptable coefficients," for kilometers and wear | Res. 662/007 item 48 |
| Deadline and form | Defined by the company's internal policy | No tax rule for the private sector |
The most common case isn't the allowance accounted for in full, nor the one not accounted for at all: it's the one accounted for below the amount advanced. Item 52 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007, dealing with housing benefits, states it in one sentence: "When accounts are rendered for an amount lower than the allowance provided, the excess shall be taxed at its actual amount."
Instructions No. 3/07 (Instructivo) of the Ministry of Economy and Finance spell it out: "the amount of the per diem not accounted for and not returned is considered covered income and shall be valued at 50% of the allowance not accounted for" inside the country "and at 25% of the amount not accounted for when used abroad." Read it backwards and you have the practical way out: what is returned isn't taxed.
1. Accounted for. Receipts for the full amount, linked to the task and with an accounting entry. Neither taxable income nor contribution base. 2. Returned. The employee pays back the balance they didn't spend, and that balance stops being their income. 3. Neither. The balance was left without a receipt and without being returned: 50% or 25%, depending on where it was used.
Everything this guide states about Uruguayan rules was taken from the official text: laws, decrees, resolutions and tax rulings on IMPO; the BPS position in its Contribution Base Manual, December 2024 edition; the public-sector instructions published by the MEF; and the labor definition in the MTSS frequently asked questions. Every URL was verified on September 14, 2026.
The framing is deliberate: search results are dominated by government agencies' per diem regulations, which are rules only for their own civil servants. They aren't cited here, because doing so would suggest that their deadlines and caps are general law for a private company.
Where the evidence fell short, the guide says so instead of filling the gap: there is no legal deadline for expense accounting and no regulatory list of documentation for the private sector, so none is proposed. The comparison between the three regimes was built by placing the texts side by side, and that reading is ours.
With expense accounting they aren't taxed: item 48 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 says they "shall not constitute taxable income," and Article 157 of Law No. 16,713 exempts them from the contribution base when there is accounting and a bookkeeping entry. Without accounting, both regimes count 50% of the allowance used inside the country and 25% of the allowance used abroad.
It decides everything else. Item 48 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 requires the allowance to include the overnight stay to be a per diem, unless it is provided free of charge. No overnight stay, no per diem: DGI Ruling No. 4,777 confirms that the allowance is taxed "regardless of whether there is expense accounting," and the case falls under items 49, 51 or 52.
No. No DGI or BPS rule sets a deadline, a form or a tolerated percentage without receipt for the private sector. The 5 and 10 business days in Article 11 of Decree No. 67/999, the 72 hours and the 20% cap that circulate come from regulations issued for government employees. Your internal policy sets the deadline.
If the company is a taxpayer, the e-Factura with its RUT: Article 5 of Decree No. 36/012 reserves the e-Factura for transactions between taxpayers and the e-Ticket for the final consumer. According to the DGI, since 1/1/2025 all VAT taxpayers, including those under minimum VAT (IVA mínimo), are electronic issuers, with specific exceptions.
It depends on whether they return it. Item 52 of DGI Resolution No. 662/007 —which regulates housing benefits— says that "when accounts are rendered for an amount lower than the allowance provided, the excess shall be taxed at its actual amount." MEF Instructions No. 3/07, written for the public sector, state the same principle: what is neither accounted for nor returned is valued at 50% or 25%.
The company. Article 62 of Decree No. 148/007 designates as substitute taxpayers "employers of active members of the Social Security Bank." DGI Ruling No. 4,777 applies it to a specific case and concludes that the requesting party "must make the corresponding IRPF withholding."
Written from the official text of IMPO, the DGI, the BPS, the MEF and the MTSS, with every URL verified on September 14, 2026. Where there is no rule —the private-sector expense accounting deadline— the guide says so instead of proposing one.
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