The network covers Honduras within the Central America and the Caribbean region. Payslips there are drawn up in HNL, 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 Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, La Ceiba, Choloma.
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 Honduras, 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.
L'établissement de la paie n'est pas en soi une activité réservée, mais la tenue de comptabilité et la signature d'états financiers pour le compte de tiers exigent la colegiación ; en pratique les cabinets de paie honduriens emploient des contadores colegiados.
Honduras is a civil law country whose administrative arrangements often surprise newcomers. The commercial register is not run by a central authority but delegated to departmental chambers of commerce, so the body issuing a company's documents differs depending on whether it is established in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula or La Ceiba. The trader's licence is renewed annually.
On payroll, the employer falls under the Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS, the Honduran social security institute) and also contributes to the Régimen de Aportaciones Privadas (RAP), a compulsory employee savings scheme separate from social security. The Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR) administers taxation.
Wages are paid in lempiras; the country belongs to no monetary union, although it takes part in Central American economic integration. Spanish is the language of contracts and of every document filed. Finally, practising accountancy requires membership of a professional college, colegiación being compulsory for individuals.
Employee enrolment must cover two schemes, social security and the private contributions scheme. Confusing the two is common, including among local providers, even though their bases and ceilings do not coincide and neither enrolment stands in for the other.
The choice of seat is no more neutral. Registration formalities depend on the chamber of commerce of the department where the business is established, and that determines your counterpart, the timescales and sometimes the cost of incorporation.
An up-to-date Registro Tributario Nacional with the SAR is indispensable, since no certificate is issued without one; employer registration with the IHSS and with the RAP follows, as two separate steps rather than one.
Written in Spanish, the contract calls for a check on the type of engagement, on the probationary period and, for foreign staff, on the ratios between national and foreign labour that the Labour Code prescribes.
Income tax withheld by the employer, IHSS contributions and the RAP payment all three appear on the payslip.
Two statutory year-end payments finally represent a substantial cost, to be anticipated alongside the termination regime: notice, seniority compensation and accrued leave follow distinct rules, and a poorly documented dismissal is readily argued against the employer whatever the underlying reason for it.
The network asks 9 documents of any firm wishing to represent it in Honduras. 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 9 documents, 7 are required of every applicant and 6 have a limited period of validity, the shortest being 3 months. 1 of these documents exist only in Honduras and have no equivalent in the common core of the network.
| Local wording | Issuing body | Validity | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matrícula de Comerciante / Constancia de inscripción en el Registro MercantilMerchant registration certificate / Commercial Register entry Au Honduras le registre du commerce est délégué aux chambres de commerce départementales ; la matrícula se renouvelle chaque année, joindre aussi l'escritura de constitución notariée. | Registro Mercantil administré par la Cámara de Comercio e Industrias compétente (ex. CCIT pour Francisco Morazán, CCIC pour Cortés), sous tutelle de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Económico | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Registro Tributario Nacional (RTN) — Constancia de inscripciónNational Tax Registry number (RTN) certificate Le RTN de personne morale (14 chiffres) est l'identifiant unique ; il doit être à jour (Actualización RTN) pour que les constances soient délivrées. | Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR) | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Constancia de Solvencia Fiscal (Solvencia del SAR)Tax clearance certificate Délivrée en ligne via le portail du SAR ; sa durée légale de validité est courte (souvent limitée à l'exercice en cours), exiger un document de moins de trois mois. | Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Constancia de Solvencia Patronal del IHSSSocial security employer clearance certificate Demandée par écrit auprès de la sous-direction financière de l'IHSS ; elle atteste que le patron est à jour de ses cotisations pour tous ses salariés déclarés. | Instituto Hondureño de Seguridad Social (IHSS) | 3 months Required | Official website |
| Póliza / Constancia de seguro de responsabilidad civil profesionalProfessional indemnity insurance certificate Aucune obligation légale d'assurance RC professionnelle pour les cabinets comptables honduriens ; pièce d'usage, à exiger contractuellement par le réseau. | Compagnie d'assurance agréée par la Comisión Nacional de Bancos y Seguros (CNBS) | 12 months Where applicable | Official website |
| Carné de colegiación — Colegio de Peritos Mercantiles y Contadores Públicos de Honduras (CPMCPH) ou Colegio Hondureño de Profesionales Universitarios en Contaduría Pública (COHPUCP)Membership card of the professional accountants' association La colegiación est obligatoire pour exercer la comptabilité au Honduras (loi organique du collège) ; vérifier que la cotisation annuelle est à jour. | CPMCPH / COHPUCP | 12 months Required | Official website |
| Tarjeta de Identidad (nationaux) ou passeport, plus el Poder / nombramiento del Representante LegalID document and legal representative's power of attorney L'usage hondurien est de fournir la copie de la tarjeta de identidad du representante legal accompagnée de l'escritura de poder inscrite au registre. | Registro Nacional de las Personas (RNP) — acte notarié pour le pouvoir | No expiry Required | Official website |
| Data protection registration Non trouvé : le Honduras n'a pas de loi générale de protection des données personnelles ni d'autorité de contrôle avec registre — aucune pièce à exiger à ce titre. | No expiry Where applicable | No online service | |
| Registro APNFD ante la URMOPRELAFTDNFBP registration with the AML/CFT supervisory unit Les peritos mercantiles et contadores públicos sont des APNFD : ils doivent être enregistrés auprès de l'URMOPRELAFT au titre de la lutte anti-blanchiment. | Unidad de Registro y Seguimiento de Actividades y Profesiones No Financieras Designadas (URMOPRELAFT), CNBS | 12 months Required | Official website |
The decentralised commercial register is the first thing to absorb. A certificate issued by one department's chamber of commerce proves nothing about an establishment elsewhere. The word solvencia, moreover, covers tax, social and municipal standing alike in Honduras: always ask which solvencia is meant before accepting one in a file.
Two provident deductions coexist on pay, social security proper and the private contributions scheme, which funds an individual account in the employee's name. A wage budget built on the social security contribution alone will be understated, and the gap widens with every salary review.
Colegiación, finally, conditions practice for individuals, and the country has several professional colleges of accountants. Firms are additionally subject to registration under anti-money-laundering rules, which is a separate check from membership itself and produces a separate document.
Particularité majeure : le registre du commerce est tenu par les chambres de commerce départementales et non par une administration centrale, donc l'organisme émetteur varie selon la ville du cabinet. La matrícula de comerciante se renouvelle annuellement — un extrait ancien ne prouve rien. Attention aux appellations concurrentes : « solvencia » désigne au Honduras aussi bien la régularité fiscale (SAR) que sociale (IHSS) ou municipale (permiso de operación / solvencia municipal), qu'il est utile de demander en complément.
The network opens 3 partner slots in Honduras, not one more. No firm is listed there yet: all 3 slots therefore remain open to applications.
No listed partner in Honduras 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.
The local title in Honduras is Perito Mercantil y Contador Público or Contador Público, obtained through colegiación with one of the recognised professional colleges. We ask for the membership card with subscriptions paid up, the current year's trader's licence issued by the competent chamber of commerce, the Registro Tributario Nacional certificate, the SAR tax standing certificate and the IHSS employer standing certificate. Registration of the firm with the unit responsible for designated non-financial professions is also reviewed.
Describe your requirement. No firm is listed in Honduras 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 HondurasMobility 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 Honduras.