What happens if a company doesn't pay a Sunat fine?

A different mechanism from Indecopi’s and Sunafil’s

The end result looks similar — seizures with no judge involved — but Sunat doesn’t use Law No. 26979. Its coercive-collection procedure lives in the Tax Code (Book III, Title II), with its own articles, deadlines and auction rules. If you’ve already read the equivalent pages for Indecopi or Sunafil, don’t assume the figures carry over — here are Sunat’s own.

When the debt becomes collectible

A Payment Order or a Fine Resolution becomes collectible through coercive collection once it wasn’t challenged in time, or once a filed challenge (reclamación or apelación) was already resolved against the taxpayer. A challenge filed within the deadline suspends collectibility; one filed late only suspends it if it comes with a bank guarantee (Article 115, item b).

The 7 business days that run from the notice

Once the coercive-collection order is notified, seven (7) business days start running to pay the exact amount it states (Article 117). If the order omits details like the taxpayer’s name, the payment order number, or the debt amount, that omission voids collection of that specific order — not the whole procedure.

What the officer can seize

Article 118 gives the officer four forms of precautionary measure:

• Account freeze (retención) — over funds, securities and credits that third parties (like banks) hold on the debtor’s behalf.
• Registry lien (inscripción) — liens recorded in the public registry against real estate or vehicles.
• Intervention (intervención) — in the business’s collections, records, or administration.
• Deposit (depósito) — of movable assets, with or without physical removal, for eventual auction.

The debt grows: interest, costs and expenses

Moratory interest (TIM) runs from the day after the debt’s original due date — not from when coercive collection is notified. Per Sunat’s own published table, the current TIM in national currency is 0.9% monthly (0.03% daily) since January 1, 2024, set by Law No. 31962. On top of that, the procedure’s costs and expenses, which Sunat settles against an approved fee schedule, also become part of the collectible debt (Articles 33 and 115).

The auction doesn’t start at full value

If the seizure reaches the auction stage, an appraiser values the asset first. The first auction starts at two-thirds of the appraised value (Article 121) — not the full value. If nobody bids, a second auction cuts that base by another 15%, and a third round follows different rules depending on the type of asset. Whatever is left over after the auction is returned to the debtor. Movable assets nobody collects within 30 business days after the auction or after the measure is lifted are considered abandoned (Article 121-A).

Before it gets there: the installment plan

Specialist sources report that Sunat lets a company split its tax debt into up to 72 monthly installments under Article 36 of the Tax Code, with a reported interest rate of 80% of the TIM and a minimum installment of 5% of the UIT, requiring a guarantee (a bank guarantee or otherwise) only once the debt exceeds a UIT threshold. We could not read the official resolution that sets these figures — treat them as a reference point and confirm them directly through Sunat’s own process before planning your payments.

Challenging it doesn’t stop collection by itself

The Tax Code only lets you substitute an already-placed precautionary measure if you offer a guarantee Sunat itself considers sufficient, or unencumbered assets (Article 119, item a). In other words: filing an appeal or a lawsuit isn’t enough by itself to lift a seizure already in place — you also have to offer a guarantee Sunat accepts as sufficient.