Libro II. Impuesto específico a la primera matrícula de vehículos automotores terrestres

A Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Motor Vehicles that are nationalized, assembled or produced in the national territory is established.

First registration is understood as the first registration in the Fiscal Register of Vehicles, of land motor vehicles, with the characteristics of the vehicle and the data of the owner thereof.

For purposes of this tax, those of the model of the current year and of the year following the current year are understood as new land motor vehicles; and, those of models prior to the current year are understood as used land motor vehicles.

The model year of land motor vehicles shall be determined through verification of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN for its acronym in English), which must physically appear on the vehicles entering the national territory, and in the import documents.

The tax arises upon the first registration in the Fiscal Vehicle Register of nationalized land motor vehicles assembled or produced in Guatemala.

The importation and registration in the Fiscal Vehicle Register of nationalized land motor vehicles is prohibited as follows:

a.Unconstitutional.

b.Unconstitutional;

c.Land motor vehicles imported collided, crashed or with damage preventing their circulation, from the seventh model year preceding the current year; and, in no case for vehicles that have been declared as irreconstructible (unrebuildable) in the country from which they are exported, the importer being required to present the certificate of title of the vehicle, in which such fact must be stated.

For land motor vehicles used for cargo transport, buses and minibuses, and vehicles for the use of the Voluntary and Municipal Fire Departments, there is no prohibition on their registration in the Fiscal Vehicle Register.

The passive subject of this tax is any natural or legal person, entity or patrimony that requests the registration, in its name, of a land motor vehicle before the Fiscal Register of Vehicles.

The obligations of the taxpayer are:

1.To pay the Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Motor Vehicles by the means made available by the Tax Administration.

2.To supply and document the data and characteristics of the land motor vehicle for which its registration in the Fiscal Register of Vehicles is requested.

3.To carry out its registration before the Fiscal Register of Vehicles within the legal time limit, in its capacity as owner.

The following entities and organizations are exempt from the obligation to pay the Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Motor Vehicles, but not from the obligation of registration in the Fiscal Register of Vehicles:

1.The State and its decentralized and autonomous entities.

2.The Guatemalan Institute of Social Security.

3.The University of San Carlos of Guatemala and the other universities.

4.Diplomatic Missions and their foreign officials.

5.Consular Missions and their foreign officials.

6.Volunteer and Municipal Firefighter Corps.

7.Cooperation and assistance projects and programs provided by other States, International Organizations that have entered into agreements or contracts with entities of the Government of the Republic, which by specific legal provision have been granted total exemption from payment of taxes, as well as the officials and experts of such programs and projects who are not residents in the country.

To benefit from the exemption, the vehicle must be owned by the entity or by the official benefiting from the exemption, which shall be proven by documentary evidence.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shall inform the Fiscal Register of Vehicles when, for any reason, the termination of duties of the officials of Diplomatic, Consular Missions or International Organizations occurs, or the sale of vehicles owned by such entities or their officials occurs. Such notice must be given to the Fiscal Register of Vehicles within the time limit of five (5) days immediately following the date on which such events occur for control purposes.

The tax base of the Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Motor Vehicles, for used land motor vehicles, is the value stated in the original invoice, issued by the seller of the vehicle abroad, provided that it complies with the requirements legally established in the country of its issuance and that the authenticity of said invoice can be verified by the Tax Administration, in addition to presenting the title of ownership of the vehicle issued by the competent authority of the country from which it is exported and documenting payment of the invoiced value, through the means made available by the banking system, both domestic and international.

In the event of non-compliance with what is required in the preceding paragraph, the tax base of the tax shall be the value of the vehicle appearing in the table of taxable values which the Superintendency of Tax Administration must prepare annually, which must be approved by the Board of Directors of such Superintendency and published in the official gazette and on the website of the Tax Administration, in the month of November of each year.

For new land vehicles, assembled or manufactured abroad, the tax base is the import value defined as the addition of insurance and freight to the value of the vehicle, as reported by the manufacturers or importers.

In the case of new land motor vehicles, assembled or manufactured in Guatemala, the tax base is the value of the vehicle stated in the invoice issued by the assembler or the manufacturer.

The model year of land motor vehicles shall be determined through verification of the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN for its acronym in English), which must physically appear on the vehicles entering the national territory and coincide exactly with the import documents.

The tax rates applicable to the tax base established in the preceding article are as follows:

Type Description Tax Rate

1.Touring vehicles and other vehicles or automobiles designed principally for the transport of persons with a capacity of up to five persons including the driver, with or without four-wheel drive, for sports competitions, motor tricycles (trikes) and quadricycles (quads): 20%

2.Hearses: 20%

3.Vehicles with a transport capacity of six to nine persons, including the driver, even with four-wheel drive, three or four side doors, flat floor, and tailgate or rear doors: 15%

4.Motor vehicles for the transport of ten or more persons, including the driver: 5%

5.Vehicles with four-wheel drive and built-in two-range transfer case: 15%

6.Ambulances and fire trucks: 5%

7.Special vehicles for the transport of persons on golf courses and the like: 20%

8.Motor dumpers designed to be used off the road network: 5%

9.Tractors, including road tractors (truck tractors): 5%

10.Vehicles, motor vehicles for the transport of goods with a maximum load less than or equal to two point five (2.5) tons: 5%

11.Motor vehicles for the transport of goods with a maximum load greater than two point five (2.5) tons: 5%

12.Tank vehicles, refrigerated vehicles, and garbage collectors: 10%

13.Motor vehicles for special uses, except those designed principally for the transport of persons or goods (for example: repair vehicles (mechanical assistance), crane trucks, concrete-mixer trucks, sweeper vehicles, spreader vehicles, workshop vehicles, radiological vehicles): 20%

*14. Hybrid, electric, hydrogen vehicles, electric motorcycles and electric transport systems for the transport of persons, goods, refrigerated vehicles, tank vehicles, garbage collectors or special uses: 5%.

15.Motorcycles (including mopeds, motorized bicycles) and velocipedes equipped with reciprocating piston (piston) engines of any cylinder capacity: 10%

*The first word "Tractors", contained in numeral 9, is provisionally suspended, by means of File Number 3810-2012 on 16-10-2012.

The Tax Administration shall determine the Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Motor Vehicles, by multiplying the tax base by the tax rate corresponding to the type of vehicle concerned.

In the case of vehicles manufactured or assembled in the country, the taxpayer shall submit to the Fiscal Register of Vehicles the certification of manufacture or assembly and the invoice for the purchase of the vehicle.

After paying the Value Added Tax on importation at the customs office of entry and completing the process of nationalization of the vehicle, the taxpayer shall submit the documentation required for the registration of the vehicle before the Fiscal Register of Vehicles within the following three (3) days.

The Tax Administration shall verify the authenticity of the documents submitted by the taxpayer, within a maximum time limit of ten (10) days, and shall determine the tax payable and shall notify the taxpayer thereof, who shall pay it through the means that the Tax Administration makes available to him within a maximum time limit of ten (10) days.

Once payment of the tax has been made in accordance with the determination of the Tax Administration, it shall register it and deliver to the taxpayer the vehicle identification distinctive marks.

When a natural person or legal person, diplomatic or consular mission, international organization and their officials, or any public dependency or entity, alienates by any title a vehicle that has been registered with exemption from taxes, it shall request authorization of the alienation from the Tax Administration, which shall issue the respective decision.

Once the alienation is authorized, the acquirer shall pay the Value Added Tax and the Specific Tax on the First Registration of Land Vehicles, using as the tax base the value of the vehicle as listed in the table of taxable values that the Superintendency of Tax Administration must prepare annually.

Taxpayers who do not make payment of the tax established in this book shall incur the violation of omission of payment of taxes and shall be sanctioned with a fine as established in the Tax Code, in addition to payment of the respective interest.

If the taxpayer pays the tax outside the time limit established in this book, before being detected by the Tax Administration, the sanction for late payment indicated in the Tax Code shall be applicable to him.

Violations of the formal duties established in this book shall be sanctioned in accordance with the Tax Code.