Honduras Withholding Tax on Invoices: Rates, Rules, and Filing

Honduras has no double tax treaties in force with any foreign jurisdiction. Unlike most Latin American countries, which maintain at least a handful of bilateral agreements, Honduras offers no treaty-based reduced rates. The standard withholding tax rates — 10% on dividends and interest, 25% on royalties and technical or management service fees — apply to every cross-border payment, regardless of the payee's country of residence.

For AP departments handling invoices subject to Honduran withholding tax, this eliminates the treaty analysis step. On the domestic side, Honduras imposes a 12.5% retención en la fuente on professional fees, commissions, and technical services paid between resident parties. Every withholding agent must also issue a comprobante de retención — a CAI-authorized fiscal document regulated by the Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR) — at the point of payment.

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Nonresident Withholding Tax Rates by Payment Type

When your company pays a nonresident for Honduran-source income, the ISR (Impuesto Sobre la Renta) withholding rate depends on the income category. Because Honduras has no tax treaties in force, the Honduran withholding rates apply uniformly — the recipient's country of residence does not change the rate.

For common AP and vendor-payment categories, the Honduras nonresident withholding schedule is:

Payment Type	Withholding Rate
Dividends	10%
Interest	10%
Royalties	25%
Technical and management service fees	25%
Branch remittances	10%
Airlines, shipping, and telecommunications	10%
Insurance premiums	10%

Every rate listed above is final. There is no mechanism to request a reduced rate, file for treaty relief, or obtain a waiver based on bilateral agreements. This stands in sharp contrast to countries like Mexico's invoice withholding tax and retenciones system, where treaty networks create variable rates depending on the payee's jurisdiction. In Honduras, the calculation is straightforward: identify the payment category, apply the corresponding percentage.

The 25% rate on royalties and technical/management service fees deserves particular attention. If your organization pays a nonresident for royalties, technical assistance, or management services treated as Honduran-source income, 25% of the payment must be withheld and remitted to SAR (Servicio de Administracion de Rentas). For companies with significant consulting or IP licensing relationships, this rate materially affects the total cost of the engagement and should be factored into contract negotiations upfront.

The withholding obligation falls squarely on the payer. As the withholding agent, your AP team must deduct the correct amount before releasing payment and remit it to SAR within the prescribed deadlines. If your organization fails to withhold, the resulting tax liability belongs to you — not to the nonresident payee. This makes accurate payment classification critical. Mischaracterizing a technical service fee as a general service payment, or conflating a royalty with a standard vendor payment, can trigger underpayment penalties and interest on the difference.

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Resident Withholding for Honduran Vendors

When your company pays a Honduran resident vendor for professional fees, commissions, or technical services, you are legally required to withhold 12.5% of the gross payment amount as retencion en la fuente. This applies whether the payee is an individual or a legal entity. You deduct the 12.5% before remitting payment, then report and deposit the withheld amount to the SAR (Servicio de Administración de Rentas) on behalf of the vendor.

For dividends paid to Honduran residents, the withholding rate is 10%, deducted at the point of distribution.

A critical distinction for AP teams: the Honduras retencion en la fuente is not an additional tax borne by the vendor. It functions as a prepayment credit against the payee's annual ISR (Impuesto Sobre la Renta) liability. When the vendor files their yearly return, the amounts you withheld reduce their final tax bill on a lempira-for-lempira basis. If total withholdings exceed the vendor's ISR obligation, they can claim a refund or carry the credit forward.

Comprobante de Retencion: Documentation and CAI Authorization

Every withholding tax deduction in Honduras must be backed by a comprobante de retencion — the official fiscal certificate that documents the tax withheld from a payment. This document sits within Honduras's Regimen de Facturacion, the national invoicing and fiscal document framework administered by SAR. Like invoices, debit notes, and credit notes, the comprobante de retencion is a complementary fiscal document subject to strict authorization and content requirements. It serves as the formal proof that withholding tax was deducted and will be remitted to the tax authority.

Unlike jurisdictions that allow batch issuance at month-end, Honduras requires the comprobante de retencion to be issued at the moment of payment — not retroactively, not consolidated at period close. The retention certificate is an integral step in the payment execution workflow, not a reconciliation artifact. Any payment process that does not generate and deliver the comprobante de retencion simultaneously with disbursement has a compliance gap.

CAI Authorization

No comprobante de retencion is valid without a CAI (Constancia de Autorizacion de Impresion) number. The CAI system is Honduras's method of controlling fiscal document issuance. Before a withholding agent can issue retention certificates, they must obtain authorization from SAR, which assigns a unique CAI code to a specific batch of sequential document numbers. Each CAI carries a defined validity period — once that window expires, any unused document numbers in the batch become void.

This parallels how Honduras controls invoice numbering. The withholding agent must track CAI expiration dates and request new authorizations before the current batch runs out. Failure to carry a valid CAI renders the comprobante de retencion legally deficient, which can expose both the payer and payee to penalties during audit.

Required Content

A compliant comprobante de retencion must include the following elements:

• Withholding agent (payer) identification — legal name and RTN (tax ID)
• Payee identification — legal name and RTN or foreign tax identification
• Gross amount of the payment before withholding
• Withholding tax rate applied
• Amount withheld in lempiras
• Date of withholding — matching the actual payment date
• CAI authorization number and the document's sequential number within the authorized range

Dual Function of the Certificate

The comprobante de retencion protects both parties in the transaction. For the payee, it is the documentary basis for claiming a tax credit against their annual ISR (income tax) return — without it, the withheld amount cannot be credited and effectively becomes double taxation. For the payer, it is the primary evidence of compliance with withholding obligations and a required supporting document during SAR audits.

For the broader fiscal-document framework behind CAI numbering, see Honduras invoice requirements and CAI authorization.

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Filing Obligations and Deadlines Through SAR

Withholding agents in Honduras must file monthly withholding tax returns with the Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR). Large and medium taxpayers report all withholding taxes deducted during each period and remit the corresponding amounts within the prescribed deadline. The specific monthly due date varies by taxpayer classification — check SAR Oficina Virtual for the assigned filing calendar. Late penalties and interest accrue on unremitted amounts.

All monthly returns are submitted electronically through SAR Oficina Virtual, the agency's online filing platform. There is no paper-based alternative for withholding returns. Your tax team or local fiscal representative will need active credentials on the portal, and each return must reconcile the withholding taxes deducted against the comprobantes de retención issued during that period.

If withholding totals also feed the annual ISR return, reconcile monthly remittances before the April 30 filing deadline so the annual return agrees with the monthly withholding filings.

Maintain a monthly register of every comprobante de retención issued. Reconcile that register to the amounts remitted through SAR Oficina Virtual before each monthly filing, then recheck cumulative totals before the annual ISR return if withholding balances feed that filing.