Tax incentives: free zone versus ZDEEP

Both regimes offer a 100% income tax (ISR) exemption for 10 years: in a free zone (Decree 65-89 as amended by 6-2021) it applies to industrial and service users from the Ministry of the Economy's (MINECO) certification resolution (verified against CP Audit); in a ZDEEP (Decree 22-73 as amended) Prensa Libre reports the same 10-year exemption on corporate income tax (article of 3 May 2022). A free zone exempts import taxes and customs duties on machinery, equipment, raw materials and inputs brought into the zone, and VAT (IVA) on operations inside it; a ZDEEP grants a 100% exemption from import VAT and duties, plus exemption from stamp taxes. Oversight in a free zone rests with the tax authority (SAT) and MINECO; in a ZDEEP with ZOLIC and SAT, because the zone operates as an Auxiliary of the Public Customs Function. The dossier offers no criterion for choosing between regimes beyond this comparison.

The research is written in English; quoted figures, source names and the titles of legal instruments stay in the language their source published them in.