Regulatory updates - Guatemala

The Guatemalan tax authority, SAT, has released the following documents:

• Delivery Note – Sp.: Nota de Envío: supports the transfer of goods from one place to another. The issuance of this type of document does not replace the obligation of issuing the Electronic Tax Document;
• Advance Receipt – Sp.: Recibo de Anticipos: supports advanced payments in business operations. This type of document does not replace the obligation of issuing the electronic tax document.

Furthermore, the Advance Receipt can be used in operations related to “Events”, where advance payments are a common practice. SAT released a document called “Institutional Tax Criterion 1-2023: Payments received for services to be provided in the future and the issuance of the corresponding invoice”, which further explains how to use the Advance Receipt.

It is not mandatory to use both new documents, but it might become mandatory in the future if SAT estimates as necessary. Stay tuned with Pagero to know the latest developments regarding e-invoicing in Guatemala.

According to SAT-DSI-400-2023, the deadline to adopt FEL (Factura Electronica en Linea) regime has been extended to three additional months from the original deadline (31 March 2023), meaning that small businesses will need to comply with it no later than 1 July 2023.

As of 1 July 2023, small businesses will be obliged to issue tax documents through the FEL regime. Note that tax documents missing the Tax Identification Number (NIT) and the recipient's name will no longer be valid.

These taxpayers shall implement and start sending electronic tax documents (DTE) according to the FEL regime by 31 March 2023, as per Resolution SAT-DSI-1350-2022.

Therefore, as of 1 April 2023, SAT expects taxpayers from the Small Taxpayer Regime to be issuing and receiving only electronic documents.

The scope of the regime is regulated by three resolutions. We break them down below.

Resolutions for taxpayer categories in scope

Resolution SAT-DSI-1074-2021 requires self-employed and legal entities that provide goods or services to the healthcare sector to start issuing electronic invoices by 19 January 2022.

Furthermore, Resolution SAT-DSI-1218-2021 calls out accountants, public accountants, auditors, and audit and accounting firms to adhere to the FEL regime before 1 March 2022.

In addition, Resolution SAT-DSI-1240-2021 obliges more taxpayers to join the e-invoicing regime and start issuing electronic invoices. Individuals and all legal entities under the general VAT regime law must join the FEL regime by the latest 1 July 2022.

All resolutions mentioned are available in Spanish and can be found on SAT web portal.

General VAT regime and the transition to FEL

Under the general VAT regime, entities have to keep track and record all the VAT generated and paid out of business transactions. For this purpose, it is necessary to keep the books that are required by VAT legislation, such as:

• Book of issued invoices
• Book of received invoices
• Book of investment property

Therefore, any company in Guatemala that keeps records of these three books under the general VAT regime law will have to join the FEL regime and start issuing e-invoices by 1 July 2022.

The e-invoicing model is delegated pre-clearance similar to the one in Mexico.

Who is in scope?

Only companies that previously were under the FACE regime and others notified by SAT (tax administration) are obliged to issue e-documents. It is voluntary for the rest of the taxpayers to join the FEL regime and become issuers and recipients of electronic invoices.

How are e-documents validated?

Under the new FEL regime, taxpayers have two different options to validate electronic tax documents DTE (Span.: Documento tributario electrónico):

• Through PAC - the service providers certified by SAT. PAC verifies the structure of the e-document and applies a UUID (universally Unique Identifier) as well as the e-signature. Once this invoice enrichment has been completed, PAC will send the cleared invoice to the buyer and the SAT at the same time;
• Through Agencia Virtual - a web portal provided by SAT, aimed at small taxpayers who do not issue many invoices.

After PAC or Agencia Virtual clears an invoice, the supplier will be ready to exchange it with the buyer. The invoice can be in the original XML format or a human-readable copy with a QR code if the buyer cannot process a structured invoice.

Finally, buyers will be able to validate the invoice from the SAT platform before completing the payment transaction.

More information about the FEL regime is available in Spanish here.