Countries › Guatemala › Guide › 1. Start here › Start here: the legal gateways every foreign investor crosses in Guatemala

Start here: the legal gateways every foreign investor crosses in Guatemala

Argentina. For full detail on Argentina, go to The Argentine Thread.

Last verified: 2026-10-28 · Status: Changing

Guatemala gives foreign investors the same treatment as nationals, lets them take any share of a local company in any lawful activity unless a special law says otherwise, and guarantees by law the free remittance abroad of capital, profits, dividends, interest and royalties within a fully free foreign exchange market. Most investors form a sociedad anónima, which needs only Q200 of initial paid capital, or register a branch of the foreign company at the Registro Mercantil; since September 2026 a new anti money laundering law requires every share company to report its shareholders to the registry and sets a 15 percent beneficial owner threshold. Profits bear 25 percent income tax under the general regime, dividends 5 percent, and sales 12 percent VAT.

USD figures use Q7.64427 per US dollar, the Banco de Guatemala reference rate for 28 October 2026, retrieved from the Banguat exchange rate web service on the verification date. Amounts the law sets in quetzales are quoted as written; conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Free remittance abroad of capital, profits and dividends by foreign investors	Guaranteed by law Decreto Nº 9-98 art. 8, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Foreign exchange holding, transfer and trading	Free Decreto Nº 94-2000 art. 1, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Banco de Guatemala reference rate	7.64427 GTQ per USDDecreto Nº 94-2000 art. 4, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Income tax rate, general regime on profits	25 %Decreto Nº 10-2012 art. 36, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Optional simplified regime on gross income, monthly income up to Q30,000 (7 percent on the excess)	5 %Decreto Nº 10-2012 art. 44, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Tax on dividend distributions (also 5 percent on branch profit remittances)	5 %Decreto Nº 10-2012 art. 93 and art. 104, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Withholding on interest paid to nonresidents	10 %Decreto Nº 10-2012 art. 104, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Withholding on royalties, fees and technical advice paid to nonresidents	15 %Decreto Nº 10-2012 art. 104, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
VAT (IVA) single rate	12 %Decreto Nº 27-92 art. 10, as worded by Decreto Nº 32-2001 art. 1, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Sociedad anónima: minimum initial paid capital	200 GTQCódigo de Comercio art. 90, as worded by Decreto Nº 18-2017 art. 6, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Sociedad anónima: minimum payment on each share subscribed	25 %Código de Comercio art. 89, as worded by Decreto Nº 18-2017 art. 5, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Sociedad anónima: cash contributions above which a bank deposit is mandatory	2000 GTQCódigo de Comercio art. 92, as worded by Decreto Nº 18-2017 art. 7, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Registro Mercantil variable fee on authorized capital of Q500,000 or more (capped at Q40,000)	0.85 %Registro Mercantil fee code 7, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Registro Mercantil base fee to register a foreign company branch (plus 8.5 per thousand of assigned capital)	1500 GTQRegistro Mercantil fee code 6, as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Beneficial owner ownership or participation threshold	15 %Decreto Nº 15-2026 art. 2 literal b), as of 2026-10-28 · in force
Deadline to notify the Registro Mercantil of a share register entry or transfer	10 business daysCódigo de Comercio art. 125, as worded by Decreto Nº 15-2026 art. 113, as of 2026-10-28 · in force

The rule

1. Foreign investors receive the same treatment as national investors and enjoy equal conditions; any discriminatory act against a foreign investor or its investment is prohibited, and the law applies equally to foreign investment from any country. The only exceptions are limits in the Constitution, in laws regulating specific economic activities, and treatment derived from customs union, common market or free trade treaties. A foreign investor may take part in any lawful economic activity and hold any proportion of the capital of a Guatemalan company, save for local capital requirements set by a special law for a given activity; no official may demand any requirement not expressly ordered by law.
Cost to do it: The law sets no admission filing or fee for a foreign investment: Q0 (US$0).Decreto Nº 9-98 del Congreso, Ley de Inversión Extranjera, Art. 2, art. 3 and art. 4, 1998-02-04 official text · verified 2026-10-28

2. The foreign investor has free access to buy and sell available foreign currency and to free convertibility, on equal terms with national investors, and may freely transfer abroad its invested capital or the proceeds of dissolution, liquidation or sale; remit any profit generated in Guatemala; pay and remit dividends, foreign debt and its interest, royalties, rents and technical assistance; and remit expropriation compensation. Performance requirements such as forced technology transfer or job quotas are prohibited as a condition to invest, except labor law rules on hiring Guatemalan employees outside senior management.
Example: A dividend of Q544,654 net of tax can be converted and wired to the foreign parent with no exchange authorization. / Q544,654 is about US$71,250 at Q7.64427.Decreto Nº 9-98 del Congreso, Ley de Inversión Extranjera, Art. 7 and art. 8, 1998-02-04 official text · verified 2026-10-28

3. Holding, contracting, remitting, transferring, buying, selling, collecting and paying in and with foreign currency is free, at each person's own profit and risk, as are deposits and accounts in foreign currency in local or foreign banks. Purchases and sales of foreign currency are exempt from VAT and stamp tax. For tax obligations, payments to or from the State and administrative or court disputes, the reference rate of the quetzal to the US dollar calculated and published daily by the Banco de Guatemala applies.
Cost to do it: No foreign exchange registration or fee is required by the law; bank charges apply.
Example: Taxes due on a US$100,000 transaction dated 28 October 2026 are computed on Q764,427. / Banguat reference rate Q7.64427 per US$1.Decreto Nº 94-2000 del Congreso, Ley de Libre Negociación de Divisas, Art. 1 and art. 4, 2000-12-19 official text · verified 2026-10-28

4. A sociedad anónima must have initial paid capital of at least Q200. Each shareholder must pay at least 25 percent of the nominal value of every share subscribed. Cash contributions may be handed to one or more administrators or deposited in a bank in the company's name, and the bank deposit is mandatory when total cash contributions exceed Q2,000. Capital may be stated in a foreign currency, in which case shares and subscribed and paid capital are issued in that currency, and foreign companies may be founding shareholders through a representative whose mandate is registered in the Registro de Poderes.
Cost to do it: Registro Mercantil fees for registering a company with authorized capital of Q500,000 or more: 8.5 per thousand of authorized capital (capped at Q40,000), plus Q150 for the first administrator, Q100 for the first enterprise, Q30 for the notice and Q200 for its publication; below Q500,000 the sheet lists Q30 plus Q200, and Q0.20 per page of each authorized book in both cases. Fiscal stamps of Q200 on the company's commercial patent, Q50 on the enterprise patent and Q0.50 on each of two registration notes are added. Notary fees are not set by these rules.
Example: Authorized capital of Q500,000: Q4,250 variable fee plus Q480 of fixed fees, Q4,730, plus Q251 of stamps, Q4,981 in total before notary fees; initial paid capital can be as low as Q200. / Authorized capital of about US$65,408: registry fees and stamps of about US$652; the Q200 minimum paid capital is about US$26.Código de Comercio (Decreto Nº 2-70) art. 89, 90 and 92 as worded by Decreto Nº 18-2017 del Congreso art. 5, 6 and 7; Registro Mercantil, Guía de calificación registral de sociedades nuevas, Código de Comercio art. 89, art. 90 and art. 92, 2017-10-31 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Decreto Nº 18-2017, issued 3 October 2017 and published in the Diario de Centro América on 31 October 2017 with effect 90 days later, cut the minimum initial paid capital of a sociedad anónima to Q200, set the Q2,000 bank deposit threshold, moved company publications to the Registro Mercantil electronic medium and ended provisional registration.

5. A foreign company that wants to operate permanently in Guatemala registers a branch at the Registro Mercantil by filing protocolized proof of its existence, its articles, the board decision to open a branch and assign capital to it, a general mandate to its local representative registered in the Registro de Poderes, proof that the assigned capital was deposited in a Guatemalan bank, its submission to Guatemalan courts and law with a waiver of any foreign status, an undertaking to answer with its assets in and outside Guatemala, and its latest financial statements. Once the file is complete, the registrar fixes a surety bond in favor of third parties under Código de Comercio art. 215 numeral 5, and the branch, the mandate and the notice are registered after the bond is filed.
Cost to do it: Registro Mercantil fees: Q1,500 base plus 8.5 per thousand or fraction of the capital assigned to the branch, Q30 for the notice, Q200 for its publication and Q150 for the mandate; the surety bond premium, notary and legalization costs are extra and not set by the registry.
Example: Assigned capital of Q764,427: Q1,500 plus about Q6,498 variable fee plus Q380 of fixed fees, about Q8,378 before the bond and professional fees. / Assigned capital of US$100,000: about US$1,096 of registry fees.Código de Comercio (Decreto Nº 2-70) art. 215 and art. 351; Registro Mercantil, requirement sheet for registering a foreign company for an indefinite term, Código de Comercio art. 215 and art. 351, 2024-01-12 official text · verified 2026-10-28

6. Every share company must keep a share register in a book authorized by the Registro Mercantil, physical or electronic, recording each shareholder's full name or corporate name, nationality or jurisdiction, identification, physical address and email, shares held through trusts or other legal structures and their trustees, transfers and liens. The company must notify the Registro Mercantil of the first entry and every transfer of shares within 10 business days; the registry keeps the data in a confidential database available only to the Superintendencia de Bancos and the Ministerio Público. Breaches carry a fine equal to 5 to 50 minimum wages for non agricultural activities of economic circumscription one, imposed by the registrar. Companies existing when the law took effect have one year to comply and send the registry a certification of their shareholders, and six months to register all members of their board, after which the registry blocks any other filing until they do. The same law defines the beneficial owner as the individual who ultimately benefits from or controls a legal person or structure, by ownership or participation of 15 percent or more or by any other direct or indirect means.Decreto Nº 15-2026 del Congreso, Ley Integral para la Prevención y Represión del Lavado de Dinero u Otros Activos y del Financiamiento del Terrorismo; Código de Comercio art. 125 as worded by its art. 113, Decreto 15-2026 art. 2 literal b), art. 113, art. 120, art. 121 and art. 128, 2026-06-17 official text · verified 2026-10-28 · changed: Decreto Nº 15-2026, issued 2 June 2026 and published in the Diario Oficial on 17 June 2026, entered into force three months after publication. It repealed the 2001 anti money laundering law (Decreto 67-2001) and the 2005 terrorist financing law (Decreto 58-2005), rewrote Código de Comercio art. 45, 125 and 134, and created the shareholder reporting duty to the Registro Mercantil with one year and six month transition windows for existing companies.

7. Business income is taxed under one of two regimes. Under the general regime on profits (Régimen Sobre las Utilidades de Actividades Lucrativas) the rate is 25 percent of taxable profit, with an annual period from 1 January to 31 December and quarterly payments. Under the optional simplified regime on gross income, monthly taxable income up to Q30,000 bears 5 percent, and the excess over Q30,000 bears Q1,500 plus 7 percent, collected mainly through withholding by payers.
Example: Taxable profit of Q764,427 bears Q191,106.75 under the general regime. Under the simplified regime, monthly taxable income of Q100,000 bears Q1,500 plus 7 percent of Q70,000, Q6,400. / About US$100,000 of profit bears about US$25,000; about US$13,082 of monthly income in the simplified regime bears about US$837.Decreto Nº 10-2012 del Congreso, Ley de Actualización Tributaria, Libro I (Impuesto Sobre la Renta), Art. 14, art. 36, art. 37, art. 38 and art. 44, 2012-02-16 official text · verified 2026-10-28

8. Distributions of dividends, profits and gains, however named or booked, are taxed at 5 percent, withheld by the payer and paid to SAT within the first 10 days of the following month. Payments to nonresidents without a permanent establishment are taxed by final withholding at 5 percent on remittances of profits by branches to their head office, 10 percent on interest (loans from regulated foreign banks and multilateral institutions are excepted), 15 percent on royalties, fees and scientific, economic, technical or financial advice, and 25 percent on other income not specified.
Example: A dividend of Q573,320.25 bears Q28,666.01 of tax, leaving Q544,654.24. A royalty of Q76,442.70 paid abroad bears Q11,466.40 of withholding. / US$100 of dividend leaves US$95; a US$10,000 royalty leaves US$8,500 after the 15 percent withholding.Decreto Nº 10-2012 del Congreso, Ley de Actualización Tributaria, Libro I, Art. 93, art. 94, art. 104 and art. 105, 2012-02-16 official text · verified 2026-10-28

9. VAT (IVA) is charged at a single rate of 12 percent on the taxable base, and the tax must be included in the sale price of goods or the value of services.
Example: A taxable sale with a base of Q76,442.70 carries Q9,173.12 of IVA, a total price of Q85,615.82. / About US$10,000 plus about US$1,200 of IVA.Decreto Nº 27-92 del Congreso, Ley del Impuesto al Valor Agregado, art. 10 as worded by Decreto Nº 32-2001 del Congreso art. 1, Art. 10, 2001-08-01 official text · verified 2026-10-28

Step	Rate	GTQ	Approx. USD
Pre tax profit		764,427.00	100,000
Income tax, general regime (Decreto 10-2012 art. 36)	25%	191,106.75	25,000
Dividend distributed		573,320.25	75,000
Tax on dividend (Decreto 10-2012 art. 93)	5%	28,666.01	3,750
Net to parent		544,654.24	71,250
Combined burden	28.75%	219,772.76	28,750

US$100,000 of pre tax profit taken out as a dividend to a foreign parent under the general regime (no treaty relief; Q7.64427 per US dollar, Banguat reference rate of 28 October 2026)

Item	Rate	Norm
Income tax, general regime on profits	25%	Decreto 10-2012 art. 36
Income tax, optional simplified regime	5% up to Q30,000 a month; Q1,500 plus 7% on the excess	Decreto 10-2012 art. 44
Dividends and branch profit remittances	5%	Decreto 10-2012 art. 93 and art. 104
Interest paid to nonresidents	10%	Decreto 10-2012 art. 104
Royalties, fees and technical advice paid to nonresidents	15%	Decreto 10-2012 art. 104
Other nonresident income not specified	25%	Decreto 10-2012 art. 104
VAT (IVA)	12%	Decreto 27-92 art. 10

Headline rates for a foreign investor (Decreto 10-2012 and Decreto 27-92)

Worked example

A foreign parent forms a Guatemalan sociedad anónima with Q500,000 of authorized capital, subscribes shares, pays at least 25 percent of each share and at least Q200 overall, and deposits the cash in a bank because it exceeds Q2,000 (Código de Comercio art. 89, 90 and 92). Registry fees and stamps come to about Q4,981 (about US$652) before notary fees. The company earns Q764,427 (US$100,000) of taxable profit, pays Q191,106.75 of income tax at 25 percent, and distributes Q573,320.25; Q28,666.01 of dividend tax at 5 percent is withheld and paid to SAT within the first 10 days of the next month, and Q544,654.24 (about US$71,250) is converted and wired abroad freely under Decreto 9-98 art. 8 and Decreto 94-2000 art. 1. Before that, the company has reported its shareholders to the Registro Mercantil within 10 business days of entering them in its share register (Código de Comercio art. 125).

Step by step

1. Check whether a special law for your sector sets local capital requirements or other limits; outside those, foreign ownership can be 100 percent (Decreto 9-98 art. 3, art. 4 and art. 21).
2. Choose the vehicle: a sociedad anónima under the Código de Comercio (Q200 minimum paid capital, 25 percent paid on each share) or a branch of the foreign company registered under Código de Comercio art. 215.
3. For a sociedad anónima, sign the deed of incorporation before a Guatemalan notary, appoint the administrator, pay the registry fees at Banrural and file the joint SAT and Registro Mercantil form SATRM-02 with the deed, the appointment, identification and a recent utility bill; the legal representative and accountant need a SAT virtual agency with registered biometrics. Registration can also be done online through the Registro Mercantil e-portal.
4. For a branch, protocolize the foreign documents, register the representative's mandate in the Registro de Poderes, deposit the assigned capital in a Guatemalan bank, file with the Registro Mercantil, then file the surety bond the registrar sets before the branch is registered and its patent issued.
5. Print the registration notes and commercial patents, affix the fiscal stamps (Q200 company patent, Q50 enterprise patent) and have the corporate books authorized.
6. Open the share register in a book authorized by the Registro Mercantil and notify the registry of the first entry and every transfer within 10 business days (Código de Comercio art. 125 as worded by Decreto 15-2026).
7. Choose the income tax regime (general 25 percent on profits or optional simplified 5 and 7 percent on income) and register for VAT at 12 percent; calendar quarterly income tax payments and the 10 day deadline to pay withholdings.
8. Before paying any dividend, interest, royalty or service fee abroad, withhold the 5, 10, 15 or 25 percent tax under Decreto 10-2012 art. 93 or art. 104 and convert at market or bank rates; taxes are computed with the Banguat reference rate.

Common traps

Companies that existed before Decreto 15-2026 took effect have six months to register every board member at the Registro Mercantil; once that window closes, the registry will not process any other filing for a company that has not applied (Decreto 15-2026 art. 121).
The one year window for existing share companies to bring their share register into line and send the registry a certification of their shareholders runs from the law's entry into force three months after its 17 June 2026 publication; breaches of the share register rules are fined at 5 to 50 non agricultural minimum wages (Decreto 15-2026 art. 120 and Código de Comercio art. 125).
Bearer shares are not available: the share register must identify every holder, including shares held through trusts or other structures and their trustees (Código de Comercio art. 125 as worded by Decreto 15-2026).
Q200 is only the minimum paid capital; registry fees run on authorized capital at 8.5 per thousand from Q500,000, so a high authorized capital raises entry cost up to the Q40,000 cap.
If registrable assets are contributed in kind, proof of transfer must reach the Registro Mercantil within 3 months (extendable by 3), or the registrar cancels the company's registration (Código de Comercio art. 341, per the Registro Mercantil requirement sheet).
All documents from abroad must be protocolized by a Guatemalan notary before filing, and the branch route also requires a surety bond fixed by the registrar, which adds time after the file is complete (Código de Comercio art. 215 and art. 351).
Dividend tax is 5 percent whether paid to residents or nonresidents, but other payments abroad are not: interest 10 percent, royalties, fees and technical services 15 percent and unspecified income 25 percent, withheld as a final tax (Decreto 10-2012 art. 104 and art. 105).
Decreto 13-2026, published 15 May 2026, changes only employee income tax deductions (in force 1 January 2027 apart from a 2026 transitional deduction); it does not change the 25 percent corporate rate or the withholding rates on this page.

Sources

Guatemala macro at a glance: the rules behind the quetzal, inflation, the policy rate and the budget →

Get rule changes weekly

Free. One email a week from The LatAm Thread.

One more step after you press the button: we take you to Substack, where your email is already filled in. Confirm there to start. No spam, unsubscribe anytime, we never share your address. By subscribing you agree to the privacy policy.