Guatemala: local rules

Guatemala's transfer pricing rules are in Book I (income tax) of the Ley de Actualización Tributaria, Decreto 10-2012, Title II, Chapter VI, articles 54 to 67. They are detailed in the Reglamento, Acuerdo Gubernativo 213-2013, articles 37 to 66. Related parties must price their dealings at arm's length (art. 54). Two persons are related when one is resident in Guatemala and the other abroad and one directs or controls the other, or owns at least 25% of its capital or votes, or a group of five or fewer persons does so for both, or they are in the same business group, or one is an exclusive distributor or agent of the other, or a permanent establishment and its head office (art. 56). The rules cover only dealings between a Guatemalan resident and a related party abroad (art. 57). Dealings between two Guatemalan companies are outside this chapter. The SAT can check the pricing and adjust it when it led to less tax in Guatemala or to deferred tax (art. 55). It can also recharacterise a transaction if its economic reality differs from its legal form (art. 61). The chapter was in force in 2013, was suspended for 2014 by Decreto 19-2013 (art. 27), and has applied again since 1 January 2015.

There are two layers and no group-level filing. First, a taxpayer that says in its annual income tax return that it has dealings with related parties abroad must attach an annex with the information the SAT sets (Reglamento art. 64). In practice the annex is completed in the SAT Agencia Virtual with the return, which is due by 31 March. There is no revenue threshold in the law or the Reglamento. Second, the taxpayer must hold, when it files the return, enough information and analysis to show that its prices are arm's length (art. 65(1)). The Reglamento says this must be one report called the Estudio de precios de transferencia (art. 65). The study is not filed. It is handed over when the SAT asks, within 20 days of receiving the request (art. 65(2)). Counted under Código Tributario art. 8, the days are working days, and SAT requests state 20 working days. The study covers the taxpayer (identification of the related parties, a detailed description of the dealings and the method used, the comparability analysis and the reasons for the method, art. 67) and the business group (structure, dealings, functions and risks, intangibles, policy, service contracts, advance pricing agreements and the group annual report, art. 66). Group information is required whenever the related parties carry out economic activity with each other. There is no master file, local file or country-by-country report as separate filings.

Art. 59 lists the methods. First group: comparable uncontrolled price, cost plus and resale price. Second group: profit split and the transactional net margin method. The second group may be used only when the complexity of the dealings or a lack of information means no method in the first group can be applied properly, and Reglamento art. 50 says this order must always be followed. The method that best fits the case and respects the arm's length principle is used (art. 59(2)(b), Reglamento art. 48, which says the SAT checks the choice). Comparability is judged on the goods or services, functions, assets and risks, contract terms, market conditions and business strategies (art. 58). Reasonable adjustments are allowed to remove differences (art. 58(2), Reglamento art. 40). If there are several comparables the arm's length range is the interquartile range, the 25th to the 75th percentile. A result outside the range is normally adjusted to the median (Reglamento art. 47). Art. 60 adds special rules for goods. An import price may not exceed the international benchmark price at the purchase date at the place of origin. An export price follows international price research at the last day of shipment, or at the contract date only if the contract was reported to the SAT within three days of signing. Services from related parties are priced at arm's length, and the deduction depends on meeting the book's requirements (art. 62). Advance pricing agreements are available (art. 63 and Reglamento arts. 57 to 63) and can last up to four periods after approval and also cover the current period.

The Reglamento says breaches of the information and documentation duties are penalised under the Código Tributario (art. 66). The SAT copy of the Código Tributario shows these amounts. A late return costs Q50 a day, up to Q1,000 (art. 94 no. 9). Not filing the reports that tax laws require costs Q5,000 the first time, Q10,000 the second time, and Q10,000 plus 1% of the last month's gross income after that (art. 94 no. 13). Not sending information through a mandatory electronic form costs Q1,000 (art. 94 no. 16). No official source says which of these numerals applies to a late or missing transfer pricing annex. Not delivering documents after a request can be treated as resistance to audit, which costs 1% of gross income of the last declared period, double if immediate (art. 93). A transfer pricing adjustment that leaves tax unpaid brings a fine of 100% of the omitted tax plus interest (art. 89). A taxpayer that owns up to a formal breach before being asked gets an 85% cut if it pays at once (art. 94 A). There is no separate transfer pricing penalty regime.

Guatemala has not enacted Pillar Two as far as could be confirmed on 27 October 2026. No income inclusion rule, undertaxed profits rule, qualified domestic minimum top-up tax or GloBE information return was found in the law, so there is no Pillar Two filing deadline for Guatemala. Guatemala joined the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS on 12 January 2026 as its 148th member, as reported by EY and Deloitte (the OECD page could not be opened). Joining commits it to the four BEPS minimum standards (actions 5, 6, 13 and 14) but sets no date for any law. Pillar Two is not one of the minimum standards.

Country-by-country reporting: none. Guatemala has no CbC notification or report in force. Joining the Inclusive Framework commits it to action 13, but no law or SAT rule was found, and no deadline can be given. The tax year of the profits regime runs from 1 January to 31 December and must match the accounting year (art. 37). The SAT can authorise special periods when an activity starts or stops. The annual sworn return is due in the first three months of the calendar year (art. 39), so by 31 March. The profits regime tax rate is 25% (art. 36). Under the Código Tributario, periods counted in days use working days (art. 8 no. 4), and a period that ends on a non-working day moves to the next working day (art. 8 no. 5). That is why rollWeekends is true. Decreto 13-2026, published on 15 May 2026, amends Decreto 10-2012 arts. 72 and 76 and adds art. 72 Bis, all on employment income (personal deductions and withholding). According to EY and García Bodán it does not touch the transfer pricing articles (54 to 67) or the return date (art. 39).