Regional trade facilitation
 
The Ministry of Economy[1] of Guatemala announced that at the beginning of April of 2023, a new measure for intra-regional trade will be implemented. The charge for the transmission of the Single Central American Declaration (DUCA)[2] (DUCA), specifically the DUCA-F,[3]will now be . US$ 3.00.  
 
The entity in charge of collecting these taxes is the Central American Economic Integration System (SIECA), which will invest the collected money in technological infrastructure and support services, given that the volume of operations through the computer systems that support trade has increased.
 
Even if there is no change in the procedures to generate the transmission of the DUCA-F, the USD$3.00 ayment must be made directly to SIECA. This amount does not include the retransmission or transmission operations of the DUCA-D[4] or DUCA-T[5].
 
The payment will be made via an electronic token, which has to be acquired beforehand and can be bought by exporters and public customs assistants at the customs website[6] using a credit or debit card (Visa or Mastercard).
 
The purpose of this change is to expedite trade within Central America, which will improve with the new computer systems.
 
VAT discussion tables
 
On March 29, 2023, the Guatemalan Superintendence of Tax Administration (SAT), announced that in the next few days, they will be holding round tables to verify if it is necessary to modify Governmental Agreement 12-2023, which limited the amount that was needed to issue invoices under the name of Consumidor Final (Final Consumer).
 
The prohibition to issue invoices in the name of Consumidor Final for amounts that exceed Q2,500 (USD$ 321.00) is still in force; the Tax Identification Number (NIT) or Personal Identification Document (DPI) number must be included for the transaction to go through.

For further information, please contact:

• María De Lourdes Villanueva maria.villanueva@carrillolaw.com
• Gabriel Cabrera gabriel.cabrera@carrillolaw.com

[1] https://dca.gob.gt/noticias-guatemala-diario-centro-america/cobro-de-la-duca-f-inicia-el-1-de-abril/

[2] Is a document that unites the three main customs declarations that cover the trade of goods in Central America.

[3]  Shall be used for trade in goods originating in the Central American region.

[4] Must be used for the import or export of goods with third countries outside the Central American region.

[5] Must be used for the movement of goods under the international land transit regime.

[6] https://www.aduanasca.sieca.int/Sitio/Generico/frmLogin.aspx