Paraguay considers 5% VAT on tirzepatide amid surge in weight-loss demand

Paraguay is considering imposing a reduced 5% value-added tax on tirzepatide, a medicine exempt from tax because it is used to treat diabetes but now in heavy demand for weight loss.

Óscar Orué, head of the National Directorate of Tax Revenues, said the government was examining a minimum rate for products that currently carry a full exemption. “We were studying it, taking into account the great impact of tirzepatide sales. We are looking at having at least a reduced 5% VAT,” he said.

Orué said the medicine’s growing use for aesthetic purposes had made it necessary to reconsider its fiscal status. He estimated that a future tax could raise between $20 million and nearly $30 million, but stressed that the law would first need to change.

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We were studying it, taking into account the great impact of tirzepatide sales. We are looking at having at least a reduced 5% VAT.

The official also pointed to substantial trading activity in Ciudad del Este, Alto Paraná and northern Paraguay, alongside strong interest from the Brazilian market. The smuggling of tirzepatide from Paraguay into Brazil across the Friendship Bridge continues, the report said.

Orué said the DNIT’s current strategy focused not on broadly raising taxes, but on reviewing and reducing existing exemptions. “If we are going to touch something, we have to touch everything. Let us include tobacco and alcoholic beverages. The current analysis concerns existing exemptions, not raising taxes,” he told radio station 1080 AM.

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If we are going to touch something, we have to touch everything. Let us include tobacco and alcoholic beverages. The current analysis concerns existing exemptions, not raising taxes.