PERU imposed a bank transactions tax on March 1.

The rate is 0.1%, but will drop to 0.08% in 2005 and 0.06% in 2006 and then disappear after 2006. The tax applies to most transactions run through the Peruvian banking system, including making deposits or withdrawals from bank accounts, borrowing money, cashing checks and using credit cards.

Peru also changed its laws for carrying forward net operating losses. The new rules apply to losses starting in 2004. A  company has a choice of using the loss to shelter income in each of the next four years until it is fully used. Alternatively, it can use the loss against only half its income in each full year but without any limit on how long the loss can be carried  forward. A company has the same options for losses in 2003 that it has not already started writing off.