Within the framework of the EUROsociAL II Programme, financed by the European Union, the Superintendency of Tax Administration of Guatemala (SAT) received expert advising on electronic invoicing between 15th and 17th July 2015 from the Tax Administration Service (SAT) of Mexico.

E-invoicing has been mandatory in Guatemala since 2013 for all individuals and legal persons classified as special taxpayers. With Directory Agreement 08-2011, the Superintendency of Tax Administration established a system for migration to the FACE invoicing scheme which was developed in various phases. Adaptation started in January 2012 with the incorporation of large companies and concluded in March 2013, when the smallest companies were added to the system. This made the country one of the first to implement e-invoicing, along with others like Mexico and Costa Rica.

Currently the country is about to release a new e-invoicing system (called Second Generation Electronic Invoice-FACE 2). In this context, the advisory mission was carried out by Mexico's SAT for the purpose of giving feedback to Guatemala's SAT on the experiences and best practices collected by Mexico's tax administration in the implementation of the Digital Tax Receipt (CFDI). Likewise, based on the achievements of the “FACE 2” implementation, the Mexican experts made specific recommendations on the different tax regimes in which it will be applied in the second stage, on the specific sectors affected, as well as regarding identification of the opportunity areas detected. With this new step towards technological modernisation, the SAT aims to reduce costs, provide procedures for compliance, and increase fiscal control over business operations in the country.

This activity is part of the Voluntary Compliance action of the Public Finance area of the EUROsociAL II Programme, which is financed by the European Union, and coordinated by the FIIAPP, in which Spain's State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT) and the Inter-American Centre for Tax Administrations (CIAT) are acting as operational partners.