Panamá Emprende and the Aviso de Operación, Explained in English

The aviso de operación —literally, the «operating notice»— is obtained through Panamá Emprende, the Ministry of Commerce and Industries’ system that automates notifying the state that a commercial or industrial activity has started. It’s the only system authorized to issue it, and it works in Spanish, so the terms below are worth knowing before you log in.

This isn’t legal or tax advice. It’s what anyone can read in the official sources, put in order so you know what to prepare. If your case involves partners, a large capital or a regulated activity, that’s for your lawyer or accountant. And this guide doesn’t cover immigration or work-permit questions for foreigners: those depend on your residency status and are a question for a Panamanian lawyer before anything else.

Before you log in, have this ready

• Your cédula (the national ID card) if you register as a natural person, or the company’s details and its RUC (the taxpayer number) if it’s a legal person.
• The economic activity, which the system classifies using the CIIU —the Spanish acronym for the international ISIC classification. It’s worth looking at the list first: picking the wrong category is what later complicates an inspection or a municipal procedure.
• The commercial address, exact.
• The declared capital, because the annual tax is calculated from it.

The deadline that catches everyone

You can start the registration and continue later, but you have a maximum of five days to complete it. After that the registration is cancelled and you start again. It’s the detail that most often forces people to repeat the process, and it isn’t visible while you’re filling in the form.

Activities that don’t start here

There’s a list of regulated activities that need prior requirements —authorizations or inspections from other entities— before the aviso is worth anything: public lodging, sale of alcoholic beverages, transport, financial entities, pharmacies, health centers, weapons sales and postal services, among others.

If your business is in that group, the order is reversed: first the permits from the regulating entity, then the aviso.

The two costs, separately

1. The issuance fee, paid once, which differs depending on whether you’re a natural or a legal person.
2. The annual aviso de operación tax, calculated as a percentage of the company’s capital, with a yearly floor and ceiling.

The current figures are published in the fees section of the system itself. If someone quotes you a number from memory, check it there: it’s one of the things that gets updated, and one of the most misreported.

Four mistakes that make you repeat the procedure

1. Choosing the wrong activity. The CIIU code you pick decides whether your activity is regulated and what you’ll be asked for later. Changing it afterwards is another procedure.
2. An address that doesn’t match. The commercial address has to match what the municipal permits and the premises’ zoning say. If it doesn’t, the problem shows up at the inspection, not in the system.
3. Declaring a random capital. The annual tax comes from it: an inflated number is paid every year.
4. Leaving it half-done. The five days run regardless, and the registration cancels itself.

What comes next, once you have it

The aviso is the permission to operate, not a source of customers. What usually comes next, in this order, is what makes the business exist for people looking for it:

1. Electronic invoicing, where you’ll be asked for this aviso’s number and date. → where to start
2. Your Google profile, free, which is the first thing people see when they search for your business or your trade. → how to set it up
3. A website of your own, once you’re clear on what you sell and to whom. → what it costs

Opening the business and being found are two different jobs. This procedure solves the first one; the second doesn’t solve itself.

Official sources

• Panamá Emprende — the system where it’s done.
• Legal basis — Law 5 of January 11, 2007, amended by Law 2 of February 5, 2013, and Executive Decree 26 of July 12, 2007.
• Panamá Digital — the procedure’s official page, with the activities that require prior permits.