When starting your company in Guatemala you have two options: (1) Sole trader or (2) Corporation. For import and export processes, from experience it is suggested that you incorporate a Corporation, due to the issue of civil liability of each partner.
Regardless of your case, below you will find the necessary information for each type of company.
1.Sole trader or Corporation
As of 2021, you only need to contribute a capital of Q 200.00 before the Mercantile Registry of Guatemala to create a corporation.
This will provide you with a Patente de Comercio, which serves as a permit before the government to operate and, in this way, sell services or products. You can resort to the investments made by the company bid invest to do this.
2-Authorization of the capital
If the authorized capital of the company to be registered is less than Q 499,999.99, no fee is paid for: registration of the company, registration of the first company of the company and registration of the first legal representative. If the authorized capital is Q 500,000.00 or more, a fee of 8.50 per thousand, not to exceed Q 40,000.00, must be paid at the Banrural window of the Commercial Registry, any of its agencies or online. In addition, you must pay the following:
3.How to spend the capital
.If the capital of the corporation is Q 500,000.00 or more, it will also pay Q 150.00 for the registration of the appointment of the legal representative of the corporation and Q 100.00 for the registration of the mercantile company of the corporation.
4.Legal documents
To present in the window of New Companies of the Mercantile Registry an office size folder with tab, with the following:
The file is qualified by the Legal Department. If everything is correct and in accordance with the law, it is sent to the delegate of the Superintendence of Tax Administration SAT in the Mercantile Registry to assign NIT to the company.
If there are no grounds for suspension, the company is registered, the edict is issued and published once in the electronic section Edictos of the web page, the appointment of the legal representative is registered and the testimony of the deed is filed.
You may also be interested in: Types of Patrimonies in Guatemala
5.Legal representative
At the New Companies window, the interested party is given the appointment of the legal representative with the reason for registration:
If identifiable real estate or movable assets have been contributed (including mercantile companies), the documentation demonstrating the effective transfer of ownership of said assets must be submitted to the Mercantile Registry within a term of 3 months, which may be extended for 3 more months at the request of the interested party.
As shown , you can start your own businness and company in Guatemala. You just need to follow these steps so it becomes an easy task.
