How to Pay in Uruguay

No Uruguay-specific payment app is worth installing for an ordinary short visit.

Mercado Pago's current personal-account flow asks for a Uruguayan identity card, and Prex's own help requires a current identity document and uses the Uruguayan card network. These are resident-oriented financial products, not tourist wallets. Pay larger businesses with a physical Visa or Mastercard and carry a sensible reserve of Uruguayan pesos for small vendors, tips, buses and outages. Bring two cards on different networks and keep them separately.

Use a bank-affiliated cash machine in a controlled location, cover the PIN and review the disclosed fee and limit before continuing. If an ATM or terminal offers to convert the charge into your home currency, decline that conversion and choose Uruguayan pesos so your own network handles the exchange. Uruguay's tax treatment needs precise wording. The special full VAT reduction for nonresident restaurant, catering and car-rental payments ran from November 15, 2025 through April 30, 2026 and has ended.

A separate current regime covers residents and nonresidents who pay qualifying services electronically: it reduces VAT by 9 percentage points through September 30, 2026 and by 5 points from October 1, 2026. The benefit is applied through the payment administrator, so inspect the receipt and card statement and do not assume every purchase qualifies. Hotel accommodation is invoiced at zero VAT year-round for nonresidents who prove that status with foreign identification. Tax Free shopping has separate participating-store and departure-validation rules.