SOFIA — Peru's SUNAT AI virtual assistant for tax and customs services

SUNAT (Peru's National Customs and Tax Administration) launched SOFIA (Servicio de Orientación e Información Facilitadora Automatizada) in June 2018, making it one of the first AI-powered virtual assistants deployed by a Latin American tax authority at national scale.

During its initial pilot phase (February–April 2018), SOFIA processed more than 1,400 queries per day and resolved approximately 80% of citizen questions without human escalation. Topics covered include: RUC registration, SOL password management, income tax procedures, VAT obligations, customs import documentation, and coercive debt collection. The assistant operates 24/7 via the SUNAT official website on desktop and mobile.

By July 2022 — four years after launch — SOFIA had accumulated 424,000 completed conversations, with SUNAT projecting over 640,000 interactions for the full calendar year 2022. The system has remained operational continuously since 2018, with a dedicated official page maintained on sunat.gob.pe.

No independent randomised evaluation has been published; effectiveness and volume figures derive from SUNAT's own reporting. The system does not publicly document its decision logic or error-handling procedures, representing a transparency gap. Nonetheless, six-plus years of continuous operation provides stronger evidence of institutional sustainability than most comparable government chatbot pilots in the region.

Read the full analysis: https://www.sunat.gob.pe/institucional/contactenos/virtual_asistente_Sofia.html