How do I suspend or close my RUC in Peru if I stop working as a freelancer?

Three procedures people mix up

When someone stops working as a freelancer (trabajador independiente), three different things tend to get confused:

The RUC is SUNAT’s taxpayer number; fourth-category income is what self-employed people earn and bill with recibos por honorarios. If you got your RUC to issue those receipts, registration is covered in how to get a RUC and a Clave SOL. This page covers what comes after.

This is not tax advice. We summarize what the RUC regulation and SUNAT’s official pages say.

Temporary suspension: when you stop for a while

SUNAT’s page on gob.pe describes it as the step for reporting that you will temporarily stop economic activities or purchases, and gives as examples a trip abroad for work or study, or working only some months of the year. It is online, free and approved automatically. You only need your RUC, user and Clave SOL.

What the RUC regulation (Resolución de Superintendencia 210-2004/SUNAT) sets:

• Deadline to report it: five business days from the suspension (article 24, literal j).
• Maximum length: twelve consecutive calendar months from the start of the suspension (article 26).
• How often: up to twice in the same year, if you restarted activities within that year (article 26).
• Restart: you report it no later than the day you start working again (article 24, last paragraph).
• If twelve months pass without a restart notice: SUNAT may deregister your RUC on its own, if it presumes you no longer have activities that generate tax obligations. You can also request the baja yourself (article 26).

On the form you must give the details of the last receipt you issued or the last one you received for a purchase.

The official pages we reviewed do not say which monthly filings continue while the RUC is suspended. Confirm with SUNAT before you stop filing.

Deregistration: when you close for good

Article 27 of the regulation requires you to request the baja when there is «cierre o cese definitivo» (closure or permanent cessation), among other cases. For an individual requesting the baja for cessation, approval is automatic. The same article sets no number of days for requesting it.

Before you request it, SUNAT’s page requires three things:

1. Cancel the series assigned to your RUC.
2. Cancel the payment receipts (comprobantes de pago) and other documents you did not use.
3. Cancel your authorization to print receipts, if you had one.

Then you choose «Baja de Inscripción» on Form 3128, with the date you stopped, and check that your RUC record says «Baja definitiva».

Debts do not disappear. Article 27 says the baja does not release you from tax obligations you generated and that SUNAT can still demand them.

If you start working again later, the RUC can be reactivated (article 10 of the regulation). The number stays the same.

If the holder has died, the gob.pe page has a separate option, «Dar de baja al RUC por fallecimiento».

When SUNAT closes it on its own

SUNAT can deregister your RUC without a request in two cases its page mentions: when it sees you record no activities that generate tax obligations, or when twelve months have passed since a temporary suspension without a restart notice. The page says SUNAT will let you know by email or by phone.

Suspending fourth-category withholding (Form 1609)

This does not suspend the RUC. It stops the company that pays you from withholding income tax from your recibos por honorarios. According to SUNAT’s guidance page, that withholding is 8% on receipts above S/ 1,500.00 (page updated 2 January 2026).

Who can request it in 2026. Resolución de Superintendencia 000390-2025/SUNAT sets the amounts in soles, not in UIT:

The Form 1609 page (updated 7 January 2026) asks you to project that your income for the year will not exceed the annual cap. Among its requirements it asks for your fourth- and fifth-category income, or its projection, if you have them. SUNAT’s guidance page explains that fourth category is independent work and fifth category is employment.

When. You can file it at any time of year. It is valid from the day after it is generated until 31 December of that year. You request it again the following year.

How. Online, with your Clave SOL. The review is automatic. You must show the certificate to whoever pays you.

If it is rejected. The in-person route exists only if the system rejected your request (for example, because SUNAT did not count income or returns you did file) or if SUNAT Operaciones en Línea is down. In the first case you can file again within 30 calendar days of the rejection. An in-person certificate is valid until the last day of the month after next, and then you must complete the request online.

If you go over the cap during the year, withholding or advance payments (pagos a cuenta) must restart.

If you should never have had a RUC

If you were asked to get a RUC to bill a single company, with fixed hours and a boss, the problem is not your RUC. Read disguised employment in Peru before you close it.