Honduras

The Servicio de Administración de Rentas (SAR) is the tax authority in Honduras and is responsible for the administration of the tax system. Taxpayers may request approval from the SAR regarding direct or indirect taxes (e.g. accelerated depreciation methods on new assets acquired by corporations with monetary activities requiring constant technological update, higher installed production capacity and productive re-conversion processes in order to maintain and strengthen their competitive advantage).

Taxable period

The statutory tax year runs from 1 January through to 31 December. However, taxpayers may apply to use a special tax year by requesting an authorisation from the SAR.

Tax returns

Companies must file a CIT return on 30 April every year.

Payment of tax

Mandatory advance tax payments are payable each quarter, based on the income tax paid for the preceding tax year. Final tax is due with the CIT return on 30 April every year.

Tax audit process

The audit cycle can begin after (i) the date the tax return should have been filed or (ii) sometime after the taxpayer made a request before the tax authority (e.g. tax credit, loss carryforward).

Statute of limitations

The statute of limitation for legal actions is applicable for taxpayers, in order to challenge and request payment, and for the fiscal authority, to review, notify, and request payment. Such limitation is established according to the following terms:

• Four years for those conducting operations in the customs regime and five years for registered taxpayers.
• Seven years in other cases.

Limitation of actions and powers of the fiscal authority will be interrupted according to the following:

• Determination of the tax by the fiscal authority counted from the day following notification of resolution.
• Notification of the judicial action for collection, counted from the day following the notification.
• Notification of the resolution in which the fiscal authority confirms assessment, interests, penalties, or fines in liquid payable amounts, counted from the day following the resolution’s notification.
• Legal appeal filed by the taxpayer, counted from the day following the filing of the appeal.
• Express acknowledgement from the debtor, counted from the day following the acknowledgement.
• Payment plan agreement granted to taxpayers according to law, counted from the day following the formal agreement.
• Exercise of the appropriate legal actions, counted from the day following their initiation.

Relapse in the lack of complete or partial payment from the taxpayer, as established in the Tax Code, will be considered as criminal tax fraud.

Limitation of the taxpayer to request credit will be interrupted according to the following:

• Legal appeal filed by the taxpayer.
• The lawsuit presentation before the judicial authorities.

Topics of focus for tax authorities

A reclassification of taxpayers was enacted by the tax administration at the beginning of the fiscal year 2023 using the following criteria:

• Collection of internal taxes.
• Taxable gross income.
• Tax debit on sales tax.
• Import of goods.
• Total assets.
• Withholding agents.
• Strategic variables.

The tax administration provides a number ranking for each criteria, and the total ranking is what determines the classification of the taxpayer as ’major‘, ’medium‘, or ’small‘. This classification is subject to change, and currently the focus of the tax audits are the recently categorised taxpayers as ‘major’ or ‘medium’.