The network covers Guatemala within the Central America and the Caribbean region. Payslips there are drawn up in GTQ, and dealings with a local firm are conducted in Spanish.
The business centres where the network is looking for a correspondent as a priority are Guatemala, Mixco, Villa Nueva, Quetzaltenango.
The country lies outside the European Union and outside the European Economic Area: the A1 certificate has no standing there. Whether the employee remains in the scheme of origin then depends on the bilateral social security agreement, if any, concluded with the sending country; where no such agreement exists, dual affiliation must be expected and budgeted into the assignment.
The answer to this question changes everything: it determines to whom you may entrust your payslips locally, and what you must ask for before signing. It has been verified country by country with the local authorities.
In Guatemala, running payroll on behalf of third parties is reserved by law to no registered profession: any company may take it on. The absence of a legal barrier shifts the checking onto you, and that is why the network itself verifies the registration, the tax and social security standing and the insurance cover of every firm before listing it.
La paie en tant que telle n'est pas une activité réservée. En revanche, signer des états financiers et agir devant la SAT suppose d'être Contador Público y Auditor colegiado activo, ou au minimum Perito Contador enregistré à la SAT. Un candidat qui gère de la paie sans professionnel colegiado dans son équipe est en situation fragile.
Guatemala combines a written, protective labour code with an economy in which informal work remains widespread, which makes proper formalisation of employment all the more important for a foreign company. Mandatory social cover is provided by the Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social (IGSS), with which the employer registers as a patrono, and which covers national and foreign employees alike once they are lawfully employed and immigration formalities are in order.
Salaries are paid in quetzales. Employment contracts are drawn up in Spanish, the only official language and the only one accepted by the Ministerio de Trabajo y Previsión Social; a written copy must be given to the employee and filed with the labour authorities.
Payroll is not a reserved activity. The reference professional title, Contador Público y Auditor, is awarded and supervised by the Colegio de Contadores Públicos y Auditores de Guatemala, and it governs the signing of financial statements and representation before the tax authority rather than the production of payslips.
Registration as a patrono with the IGSS and the NIT issued by the Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria govern everything that follows. Both must be complete before the first employee's start date, since retroactive affiliation brings adjustments with it and those adjustments fall on the employer.
Upstream of that, a foreign company intending to employ on a lasting basis registers with the Registro Mercantil and obtains a patente. Two separate documents go under that name: the patente de sociedad, evidencing the legal entity, and the patente de empresa, covering the operating establishment. Both are required.
Writing is the rule for the employment contract, and filing it with the labour authorities forms part of the employer's obligations. Job classification, working time, the probationary period and termination arrangements are all governed by mandatory rules and deserve to be reviewed one by one.
The work permit issued by the labour ministry and the employee's immigration status are handled together where a foreign national is concerned: one does not stand in for the other, and the employer must be able to evidence both on inspection.
What then remains is to map the reporting calendar. It combines wage tax withheld and remitted to the SAT, monthly IGSS returns and payments, and the two statutory annual bonuses, the aguinaldo and the bono catorce, which fall due at different points in the year and should be budgeted separately.
The network asks 7 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Guatemala. The table gives, for each of them, the exact wording in use locally, the body that issues it and the period during which it remains admissible. These are the terms to use in an application to the local administration.
Of these 7 documents, 6 are required of every applicant and 5 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Patente de Comercio de Sociedad (y Patente de Comercio de Empresa) — Certificación de inscripciónCompany trade patent and commercial register certificate Deux patentes coexistent : celle de la société (personne morale) et celle de l'entreprise (l'établissement d'exploitation) ; demander les deux. Y joindre une certification d'inscription récente, la patente elle-même n'ayant pas de date d'expiration. | Registro Mercantil General de la República — Ministerio de Economía | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Constancia de Inscripción y Actualización al Registro Tributario Unificado (RTU) — NITUnified Tax Registry (RTU) registration certificate — NIT S'imprime gratuitement depuis l'Agencia Virtual de la SAT ; vérifier que les activités économiques déclarées couvrent bien les services comptables et administratifs. | Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (SAT) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Solvencia Fiscal (formulario SAT-8421)Tax clearance certificate Se demande en ligne via l'Agencia Virtual après paiement ; la SAT ne la délivre que si toutes les déclarations sont déposées et les dettes soldées. Vérifier la date d'émission imprimée. | Superintendencia de Administración Tributaria (SAT) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Constancia de Solvencia Patronal del IGSSSocial security (IGSS) employer clearance certificate N'existe que si le cabinet est immatriculé comme patrono (au moins 3 salariés). | Instituto Guatemalteco de Seguridad Social (IGSS) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Póliza de seguro de responsabilidad civil profesionalProfessional liability insurance policy Aucune obligation légale au Guatemala pour les cabinets comptables ou les prestataires de paie : c'est une pièce d'usage, à exiger contractuellement par le réseau. | Assureur agréé, sous supervision de la Superintendencia de Bancos | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| Constancia de Colegiado Activo — Contador Público y Auditor (CPA) ; le cas échéant Perito Contador registrado ante la SATActive membership certificate of the Public Accountants and Auditors Association La colegiación est obligatoire pour exercer une profession universitaire au Guatemala. Pour la tenue de comptabilité et le dépôt fiscal, le professionnel signataire doit en outre être enregistré auprès de la SAT (contador registrado). | Colegio de Contadores Públicos y Auditores de Guatemala (CCPAG) | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Documento Personal de Identificación (DPI) o pasaporte, y Acta notarial de nombramiento de Representante Legal inscritaID document of the legal representative and registered notarial appointment deed Au Guatemala, la preuve du pouvoir passe par l'acta de nombramiento inscrite au Registro Mercantil : c'est elle, plus que la pièce d'identité, qui fait foi de la capacité à signer. | RENAP (identité) et Registro Mercantil (nomination) | No expiry Required | Official website |
Two distinct statutory annual bonuses, the aguinaldo and the bono catorce, are payable at different times in the calendar year. A company that budgets a monthly salary multiplied by twelve will mechanically understate its employment cost, and that is the first correction to make to figures prepared from abroad.
No general personal data protection statute exists to date, and no supervisory authority either. There is accordingly no registration to ask for on that front, so confidentiality of payroll data has to be organised through the service agreement itself, with precise commitments on hosting, access rights and the return of files at the end of the engagement.
Local administrative vocabulary revolves around one word, solvencia. The Constancia de Solvencia Patronal issued by the IGSS evidences that an employer is current with its social obligations, and it is requested in most procedures.
Le trio de base au Guatemala se lit toujours Patente + RTU/NIT + Solvencia. Piège fréquent : confondre la patente de sociedad (existence de la personne morale) et la patente de empresa (l'établissement) — un cabinet en règle possède les deux. Deuxième piège : le Guatemala n'a pas de loi générale de protection des données personnelles à ce jour, il n'existe donc aucun enregistrement à demander de ce côté ; le secret professionnel doit être garanti par contrat.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Guatemala, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Guatemala has asked to appear in the public directory. The contact details of a firm are passed on to the client only when an assignment is awarded.
Filing an application does not amount to admission: every request is reviewed one by one. There is no minimum turnover requirement, and the partner selected invoices its fees directly.
Submit an application: we review your file, we check the documents required on the ground and we give you an answer, whether it is positive or not.
We expect a Guatemalan firm to include among its partners or senior staff a Contador Público y Auditor colegiado activo, whose constancia from the CCPAG can be verified, or at the very least a Perito Contador registered with the SAT. The file comprises both patentes, sociedad and empresa, the RTU and NIT, tax solvencia and the IGSS Constancia de Solvencia Patronal. Given the absence of a data protection framework, we pay close attention to the confidentiality undertakings offered in the contract itself.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Guatemala yet: we review the request, then entrust it to a local firm that the network identifies and vets, or to the partner of a neighbouring country covering this territory. Your contact details are passed on to the selected firm alone.
Request a provider in GuatemalaMobility is rarely arranged one country at a time. The neighbouring profiles follow the same outline.
These countries account for most of the requests received: each one has, in addition to its profile, six pages devoted to a single aspect of local payroll.
The information gathered on this page comes from the registers, administrations and bodies listed below, consulted when the reference base was compiled. It is given for guidance and does not replace the advice of a professional established in Guatemala.