Título III. De la administracion del impuesto

The Directorate shall maintain a register of taxpayers based on the Tax Identification Number (NIT), for purposes of control and auditing of this tax. The regulation shall establish the procedures and characteristics thereof.

The Mercantile Register shall provide to the Directorate, within the first ten (10) working days of each month, a roster of the individual and corporate merchants registered in the previous calendar month.

The General Directorate of Customs shall keep a computerized register, based on the NIT, of all imports that are carried out. Upon request of the Directorate, the former shall provide it with the information that the latter requests in this regard.

Taxpayers subject to the tax under this Law are obligated to issue, with legible and permanent characters or by electronic means, for delivery to the acquirer and, in turn, it is the obligation of the acquirer to demand and collect, the following documents:

a)Invoices, for sales, exchanges, leases, withdrawals, destruction, loss, or any event involving missing inventory when it constitutes a taxable event for this tax, and for services rendered by the subject taxpayers, including with respect to exempt transactions or transactions with exempt persons. In the latter case, it must be indicated on the invoice that the sale or provision of service is exempt and the corresponding legal basis.

b)Small Taxpayer Invoices, in the case of taxpayers affiliated with the Small Taxpayer Regime established in this Law.

c)Debit notes, for price increases or surcharges on transactions already invoiced.

d)Credit notes, for returns, cancellations or discounts on transactions already invoiced.

e)Other documents which, in specific cases and with due justification, the Tax Administration authorizes to facilitate timely compliance by taxpayers with their tax obligations.

The Tax Administration is empowered to authorize, at the request of the taxpayer, the use of invoices issued on tapes, by cash-register machines, electronically or by other means, provided that the nature of the activities carried out fully justifies it. The regulation shall develop the requirements and conditions.

For the case of individual or legal persons that the Tax Administration qualifies to use the Electronic Invoice Regime (FEL), whether by volume of invoices issued, level of invoiced gross income, economic linkage, registration in special regimes or other criterion defined by the Tax Administration, their authorization as users of the electronic invoice regime shall be on its own initiative, and the taxpayer shall be notified of such obligation, for the taxpayer to make use of the services authorized and enabled by the Superintendency of Tax Administration.

Taxpayers registered in the Electronic Invoice Regime shall use an electronic system for the register of operations and supporting documentation for all operations in the taxpayer's ordinary course of business. In this system there shall be included, as applicable: 1. Inventory book; 2. Book of first entry or journal; 3. Ledger or centralizing book; 4. Financial Statements books; 5. Purchase and sales books and other auxiliary books determined by specific laws. For such purpose, the Tax Administration shall make available to taxpayers all corresponding electronic tools to comply with the provisions of this article.

The decision issued by the Administration shall take effect three months after its notification. The Tax Administration shall develop and make available to taxpayers, by such means as it deems necessary, the regulation governing incorporation, requirements and conditions for operating under this regime.

The specifications and characteristics of the mandatory documents referred to in the preceding article shall be established in the regulation of this law. Such documents must be previously authorized by the Directorate, which shall keep a computerized register and control thereof.

The Tax Administration may authorize the use of machines and cash registers for the issuance of invoices in mechanized or computerized form, as established by the Regulation.

In invoices, debit notes, credit notes and special invoices, the tax must always be included in the price, except in cases of objective exemptions from the sale of goods and the provision of services for which, by provision of the law, the Value Added Tax must not be charged.

In the cases of purchase and acquisition of locally produced inputs referred to in Decree Number 29-89 of the Congress of the Republic, the invoice must be issued indicating that it is a sale not subject to the Value Added Tax.

In the sale of movable property, invoices, debit notes and credit notes shall be issued and provided to the acquirer or buyer at the time of actual delivery of the property. In the case of the provision of services, they shall be issued at the same time the remuneration is received.

Taxpayers, to document their sales transactions or provision of services, must obtain prior authorization from the Tax Administration for the use of invoices, debit notes and credit notes, as applicable. With regard to invoices issued on tape, in mechanized or computerized form, they must conform to what is prescribed in Article 31 of this law.

Regardless of the obligations established by the Commercial Code as to commercial accounting, taxpayers shall keep and maintain up to date a book of purchases and services received and another of sales and services rendered. The regulations shall indicate the form and conditions to be met by such books, which may be kept manually or by computerized means.

It is understood, for purposes of auditing the tax, that the purchase and sales records are up to date if the declared transactions have been recorded therein within the two months following that to which the filed return corresponds.

* First paragraph corrected by numeral 13 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

* Second paragraph corrected by numeral 14 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

Taxpayers subject to the tax under this law who have the obligation to keep accounting in accordance with the Commercial Code shall open and maintain special accounts to record the taxes charged on the sales they make and services they provide, which shall be their tax debits, and those borne in the invoices received from their suppliers and service providers, which shall constitute their tax credits.

Importers shall, in addition, open and maintain special accounts in their accounting to record the taxes paid on their imports.

The books required in Article 37 must be kept at the tax domicile of the taxpayer or at the office of the taxpayer's accountant duly registered with the Directorate. Taxpayers may consolidate their daily sales, recording in this book the total value thereof and indicating the first number and the last of the corresponding invoices.

*Paragraph corrected by numeral 15 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

*Paragraph corrected by numeral 16 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

Taxpayers shall file, within the calendar month following that of the expiry of each tax period, a return of the total amount of the transactions carried out in the preceding calendar month, including those exempt from the tax, and shall record therein in the same form the other data as indicated in the regulations, using the forms to be provided by the Directorate at the cost of their printing. Together with the filing of the return, payment of the resulting tax shall be made.

Taxpayers reporting taxable and exempt sales transactions lower than purchases of property and acquisitions of services, during three consecutive tax periods, shall attach to the return a documented justification of the reasons why they are purchasing more than they are selling.

* The heading corrected by item 17 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

The declaration and payment of the tax, when applicable, shall be made at the Directorate or at the institutions authorized by it, in cash or by check of the taxpayer drawn to the order of the Directorate.

The declaration, when no tax is payable, may be sent to the latter by certified mail.

* First paragraph corrected by item 18 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

If due to any circumstance declaration forms are unavailable at any given time, this shall not exempt obligated persons from declaring and timely paying the tax under this law.

In such circumstance, the taxpayer may make his declaration on plain paper or a photocopy of the respective forms, and comply with all the requirements established by this law.

The obligation to file the return subsists even when the taxpayer does not carry out taxable transactions in one or more tax periods, unless the taxpayer has communicated in writing to the Directorate the suspension or termination of activities.

The communication of suspension or termination of activities shall have no validity until the taxpayer submits the stock of unused documents, so that the Directorate may proceed to their annulment.

The taxpayer that has more than one commercial establishment shall declare and pay the tax corresponding to the transactions carried out in all of them jointly in a single form. In it it shall consolidate all information relating to the total of its fiscal debits and credits and of the other data required of it in the corresponding form.

Individual or legal persons whose amount of sale of property or provision of services does not exceed one hundred fifty thousand quetzales (Q.150,000.00) in a calendar year may request their registration in the Small Taxpayer Regime.

* The first paragraph corrected by numeral 19 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

The taxpayer registered under the General Regime, whose income does not exceed the sum of one hundred fifty thousand quetzales (Q.150,000.00) during a calendar year, may request his registration under the Small Taxpayer Regime. The Tax Administration shall register him, giving him notice of his new obligations by the means it deems appropriate and of the monthly period as from which he begins under this regime.

* The third line corrected by numeral 20 of Errata of June 23, 1992.

The rate applicable in the Small Taxpayer Regime shall be five percent (5%) on the total gross income from sales or provision of services obtained by the Taxpayer registered in this regime, in each calendar month.

Individual or legal persons, entities or estates, that are withholding agents for the Value Added Tax and those that keep complete accounting and whom the Tax Administration designates, shall act as withholding agents for the Value Added Tax for small taxpayers, when they credit to an account or in any manner place income at the disposal of taxpayers qualified in this Regime. The withholding shall have the character of definitive payment of the tax, and shall be calculated by applying to the total income stated in the small taxpayer invoice the rate established in the preceding article, and the respective withholding certificate must be delivered. The amount withheld must be remitted to the Tax Administration by means of a sworn return within the time limit of fifteen days of the month immediately following the month in which the payment or credit was made.

If the withholding referred to in the preceding paragraph is not made, the taxpayer registered in the Small Taxpayer Regime must pay the tax within the calendar month following the expiry of each monthly period, through a simplified sworn return, by the means and forms provided by the Tax Administration. Said return must be filed by him regardless of whether or not he carries out taxable activities or whether all of the tax has been withheld from him at source during the corresponding period.

The taxpayer registered in the Small Taxpayer Regime, for tax purposes, must only keep the book of purchases and sales authorized by the Tax Administration, in which it must record its sales and services rendered, which it may consolidate daily in a single line and which it may keep in physical or electronic form.

They are required to always issue small taxpayer invoices in all their sales or provision of services exceeding fifty quetzales (Q.50.00); when dealing with sales or provision of services of less than fifty quetzales (Q.50.00), it may consolidate the amount thereof in a single invoice, which it must issue at the end of the day, retaining the original and copy in its possession.

In the acquisition of goods and services, they are required to demand the corresponding invoices, which they must retain for the time limit of the limitation period. In the event that they do not demand or retain such invoices, they shall be penalized in accordance with the Tax Code, Decree Number 6-91 of the Congress of the Republic.

The value supported by the small taxpayer invoice does not generate a right to a fiscal credit for offset or refund for the purchaser of the goods or for the acquirer of the services, such value constituting cost for purposes of the Income Tax. The characteristics of such invoices shall be developed in the Regulations of this Law.

Taxpayers registered under this regime are relieved from payment and filing of the annual, quarterly or monthly Income Tax return or of any other tax creditable thereto.

* The third paragraph corrected by numeral 21 of the Corrigendum of June 23, 1992.

The taxpayer may remain in this regime provided that its income does not exceed the sum of one hundred fifty thousand quetzales (Q.150,000.00) during the preceding calendar year; upon exceeding said sum it shall request its registration in the General Regime, otherwise the Tax Administration may register it on its own initiative in the Normal or General Regime, giving it notice of the new obligations by the means it deems appropriate and of the monthly period as of which it begins in the new Normal or General Regime.

The Normal or General Regime of the Value Added Tax shall be understood as the monthly regime in which the taxpayer determines its tax obligation and pays the tax, taking into account the difference between the total debits and the total fiscal credits generated in each tax period.

* The first paragraph as corrected by numeral 22 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

When a taxpayer acquires goods or services from individuals who, due to the nature of their activities or any other circumstance, do not issue or do not deliver to him the corresponding invoices, he shall issue a special invoice on behalf of the seller or service provider, and shall withhold the respective tax from him.

Special invoices may not be issued between taxpayers of the tax, nor in transactions of a habitual nature carried out between individuals. Excepted from this prohibition are cases in which the issuer of the special invoice states therein that the seller or service provider refused to issue the corresponding invoice to him.

The taxpayer is obligated to report in his monthly return all special invoices he has issued in the period being declared. For such purpose, he shall state: The number of invoices issued, the total amount of sales and the total tax withheld.

Taxpayers who are exporters of agricultural and livestock, artisanal and recycled products, who are registered as such by the Tax Administration, in accordance with the provisions of Decree Number 20-2006 of the Congress of the Republic, must issue a special invoice for all purchases they make of such products, both from individuals or legal entities, except when such purchases are made from producers authorized and registered before the Tax Administration as suppliers of the referred products to exporters, who must issue the corresponding invoice. In this case, the Tax Administration must authorize special invoices which shall be issued by the taxpayer solely by electronic means.

Producers, to be authorized and registered for the first time, must submit an application by means of a form provided by the Tax Administration which shall have the character of a sworn statement.

To register as authorized producers, they must attach the following documents:

a.Documentation evidencing ownership, use, usufruct, lease, possession rights or other real right over the real property and the area where the export product is cultivated or where livestock is raised. This requirement does not apply to artisans and producers of recycled products.

b.Detail of the estimated quantity of annual production, considering the land area, type of product and other factors affecting the quantity of product or livestock to be produced; which must be expressed in the same unit of measure in which it invoices its production.

Once the foregoing requirements have been met, the Tax Administration shall proceed to issue the decision authorizing the registration. If the SAT determines inconsistencies in the information contained in the application, it shall notify the producer of the hearing for the time limit of five (05) days to respond and submit exculpatory evidence; once the hearing time limit has expired and what was indicated by the Administration has not been remedied, the application shall be denied. In the event that the Tax Administration determines that the producer, whether in his application or in his actions as an authorized producer, recorded false data or data contrary to those contained in the sworn statement, it shall file the complaint before the competent authority and shall proceed unilaterally to deny the authorization.

Exporters who purchase from an authorized producer, in order not to issue a special invoice, must require from him a copy of the authorization decision of the Tax Administration upon initiating the commercial relationship, which they must keep among the accounting documents.

Taxpayers authorized and registered by the Tax Administration as exporters of agricultural and livestock, artisanal or recycled products, shall not remit the Value Added Tax withheld in the special invoices. They shall record the withheld tax at the same time as a debit and a tax credit, for purposes of accounting records and filing of the monthly electronic return; to such return they must attach as an annex the detail of the special invoices issued during the tax period. Consequently, such taxpayers may in no case request a refund of tax credit for the issuance of special invoices.

When the exporter purchases agricultural and livestock, artisanal or recycled products intended for export through intermediaries, the exporter must issue a special invoice to the intermediary, withholding the corresponding Value Added Tax and Income Tax.

Intermediaries of agricultural and livestock, artisanal or recycled products intended for export, at the time of making purchases from intermediaries, whether individuals or legal entities, from producers neither authorized nor registered before the Tax Administration as suppliers of the referred products, shall not issue the special invoice referred to in Article 52 of this Law and, in its place, must issue credit notes duly authorized by the Tax Administration, which may not exceed the amount sold to the exporter.

The special invoices referred to in the preceding article shall be authorized by the Directorate. The regulation shall establish their characteristics and content.

Payment of the withheld tax. The tax withheld in special invoices shall always be paid in cash, and shall be remitted to the Directorate, in the banks of the system or in the institutions authorized for such purpose, within the calendar month following each taxable period, using payment form DRI- 1, to which shall be attached a detail of the special invoices issued in the immediately preceding month. Such detail shall contain: The consecutive number of the invoice, the full name of the seller, his tax identification number (NIT) or his cédula de vecindad number, the total amount of the sale and the tax withheld.

Taxpayers registered in the special regime for refund of the tax credit to exporters established in Article 25 of this law shall not remit the tax withheld in special invoices. They shall record the withheld tax as debit and tax credit, for purposes of accounting records and filing of the monthly return. To such return they shall attach the detail of the special invoices issued during the taxable period, in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Consequently, such exporters may in no case request a refund of tax credit for the issuance of special invoices.

* The first paragraph corrected by item 23 of the Errata of June 23, 1992.

Individual persons who carry out production and marketing activities in the agricultural and livestock sector and whose annual sales amount for their products does not exceed three million quetzales (Q.3,000,000.00) within the fiscal year computed from January one (01) to December thirty-one (31), may request their registration in the Special Regime for Agricultural Taxpayer and shall pay monthly a tax rate of five percent (5%) on gross sales for breeders of bovine, equine, porcine and caprine livestock. For buyers, sellers and fatteners it is five percent (5%) on profits. Any provision of agricultural and livestock services, or services of any other nature, is excluded from this regime.

Taxpayers registered in this regime are relieved from payment and filing of the annual, quarterly or monthly Income Tax return or of any other creditable tax.

The individual or legal persons, entities or patrimonies, that are withholding agents, those who keep complete accounting and those who are designated by the Superintendency of Tax Administration, shall act as withholding agents when they pay, credit to account or in any way place income at the disposal of the taxpayers qualified in this regime.

The withholding has the character of definitive payment of the tax, and is calculated by applying to the total income stated in the agricultural taxpayer invoice the rate established in Article 54 “A”, delivering the respective withholding certificate.

The amount withheld shall be remitted to the Tax Administration by means of a sworn return within the time limit of ten (10) days of the month immediately following that in which the payment or credit is made.

When the individual or legal persons, entities or patrimonies, qualified as withholding agents, do not carry out the withholding, the taxpayer registered in the Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime shall pay the tax, within the calendar month following the expiry of each monthly period, through the means that the Tax Administration makes available to them.

The taxpayer registered in this Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime, for tax purposes, shall keep the purchases and sales book authorized by the Tax Administration, in which its purchases and sales shall be recorded. Additionally, it shall authorize a bank book and an inventory book with the requirements determined by the regulation of the law. These books may be kept electronically.

The taxpayer under this simplified regime is obligated to always issue agricultural taxpayer invoices in all its sales.

In the acquisition of goods and services, they are obligated to demand the corresponding invoices, which they must retain for the limitation period. In the event that they do not demand or retain these invoices, they shall be sanctioned in accordance with the Tax Code, Decree Number 6-91 of the Congress of the Republic.

The value supported by the agricultural taxpayer invoice does not generate a right to a fiscal credit for offset or refund for the buyer of the goods, said value constituting cost for purposes of the Income Tax (ISR). The characteristics of these invoices are developed in the regulation of the law.

When the agricultural taxpayer exceeds the amount established in Article 54 “A”, the Tax Administration shall register the taxpayer on its own initiative under the Normal or General Value Added Tax Regime, as well as for Income Tax under any of the regimes established for income from lucrative activities, notifying the taxpayer of the new obligations by the means established in the Tax Code and the settlement period for the taxes to which it becomes subject. The registration shall be carried out within a time limit not exceeding three (3) months from the notification.

The Normal or General Value Added Tax (VAT) Regime is the monthly regime in which the taxpayer determines its tax obligation and pays the tax, taking into account the difference between total debits and total fiscal credits generated in each tax period.

In the case of Income Tax, the taxpayer may choose between the Regime on Profits from Lucrative Activities in which they shall determine their taxable income by deducting from their gross income the exempt income and the deductible costs and expenses, and the costs and expenses for the generation of exempt income shall be added, or the Simplified Optional Regime on Income from Lucrative Activities in which they shall determine their taxable income by deducting from their gross income the exempt income, in both cases in accordance with the provisions of Decree Number 10-2012 of the Congress of the Republic.

As of March 1, 2020, the Tax Administration shall make available to taxpayers under the Small Taxpayer Regime and Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime described in Articles 45 and 54 “A”, the electronic platform for the management, collection and control of the tax payable by such taxpayers.

Taxpayers requesting their incorporation into this regime, in all their sales are required to issue a small taxpayer electronic invoice or agricultural taxpayer electronic invoice, as applicable, and shall be subject to a reduced tax rate of four percent (4%) in substitution of the five percent (5%) established in Articles 47 and 54 “A”.

The taxpayer shall register a bank account with the Tax Administration and authorize it to automatically debit from said account on the tenth business day of each calendar month the amount equivalent to applying the tax rate of four percent (4%) to the total income reported in the immediately preceding month, in accordance with the electronic invoices issued for such purpose. The decision of incorporation into this regime shall be stated in the electronic invoices. In this case, natural or legal persons, entities or patrimonies that are withholding agents, those that keep complete accounting and those designated by the Superintendency of Tax Administration, when they pay, credit to an account or in any way make income available to taxpayers qualified under this regime, shall not make the withholding referred to in Articles 48 and 54 “B”.

A taxpayer who does not have sufficient funds to cover the tax under this regime on the established date shall file the return within the days remaining to complete the calendar month, paying a tax rate of five percent (5%) on the value of the income reported in the immediately preceding month, in accordance with the electronic invoices issued for such purpose, without this implying his exclusion from the Electronic Small Taxpayer Regime and Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime.

Banking and other measures for taxpayers under the Electronic Small Taxpayer Regime and Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime.

The Tax Administration shall promote the banking of taxpayers registered in the Electronic Small Taxpayer Regime and Special Agricultural Taxpayer Regime, as a condition to remain in the regime.

Likewise, the tax domicile declared at the time of exercising the option to register under the regime may be verified by the Tax Administration.