No Guatemalan law read for this page names Airbnb or short-term rentals, either to permit or to prohibit them: what exists is a registration duty for lodging businesses, a 10% lodging tax, SAT’s position that host income is taxable, and, in Antigua, heritage and municipal rules.

In short: INGUAT’s organic law (Decreto 1701) lists establecimientos de hospedaje as tourism businesses (Art. 28 c) and requires tourism businesses to register with INGUAT (Art. 29 b). It sets a 10% lodging tax that is not charged on monthly or 30-day stays (Art. 21 b). SAT recommended in April 2024 that hosts renting through Airbnb register for IVA and ISR and issue invoices (SAT’s recommendations, as listed by Deloitte), after identifying 7,242 properties used for occasional lodging in 2021-2022 (as reported by La Hora and Deloitte). In Antigua, Decreto 60-69 Art. 21 requires prior notice to the CNPAG of any change of use of a historic building, and the municipality created a Q20 per room per night fee in 2022 (press report; the municipality’s 2026 rate could not be confirmed, 9 November 2026). No instrument read says whether a private house rented by the night is an establecimiento de hospedaje, and INGUAT’s registration portal could not be read on 9 November 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

This page is about permission: what each Guatemalan instrument requires of someone renting a home to travellers. For what hosts charge and what a rental nets, see Airbnb ROI by region; for the taxes on a guest’s bill, see Guatemala hotel tax.

What each instrument says

InstrumentWho publishes itWhat it requiresWhat it does not say
Decreto 1701, Art. 28 c and Art. 29 bCongreso (INGUAT’s organic law; FAOLEX copy)Lodging establishments are tourism businesses; tourism businesses must register with INGUATDoes not define a lodging establishment; no mention of private houses, nightly rentals or platforms
Decreto 1701, Art. 21 bCongreso10% tax on lodging, charged to the guest; not charged on monthly or 30-day staysWhether a private home is a lodging centre
Acuerdo Gubernativo 1144-83 (lodging regulation)INGUAT names it on its legal-framework pageText not linked by INGUAT (checked 9 Nov 2026)Not available to read
SAT audit programme, April-May 2024SAT, as reported by La Hora, Emisoras Unidas and Deloitte (secondary)SAT’s recommendations: register for IVA/ISR, declare, invoiceSAT publishes no platform-specific rule in the sources read (9 Nov 2026)
Decreto 60-69, Art. 21 and Art. 23CNPAG (Antigua heritage law)Prior notice to the CNPAG of any change of use of a historic building; prior CNPAG licence for any new construction or alterationNo provision on lodging, tourist rentals or Airbnb
Municipal Acta 075-2022Municipalidad de Antigua Guatemala, as reported by Emisoras Unidas, 29 July 2022 (secondary)Q20 per occupied room per night, up to five nights, on all tourist lodging servicesWhether it applies to Airbnb hosts; whether it is in force in 2026

INGUAT: the registration duty and the 10% tax

Decreto 1701 is the organic law of the Instituto Guatemalteco de Turismo. Three provisions bear on a rental host.

Who counts as a tourism business. Article 28, as amended by Decreto 22-71, lists the businesses and activities the law treats as tourism businesses; item c) is “Los establecimientos de hospedaje”. Article 29 lists their obligations, starting with complying with the law and its regulations, and item b): “Inscribirse en los registros del INGUAT”. Among INGUAT’s own functions, Article 4 ñ is to “Inscribir, clasificar e inspeccionar el funcionamiento de las empresas” tourism businesses so that they can operate in the country.

The lodging tax. Article 21 b, as amended by Decreto 7-80, creates “Un impuesto del diez por ciento (10%) sobre hospedaje”, charged on the rate excluding food and other services, in hotels, motels, campsites, guesthouses and other lodging centres. The tax falls on the guest, must be made public, and is not charged on rooms or apartments rented “por períodos mensuales o de treinta días consecutivos”. It is collected under INGUAT’s rules.

What the law leaves open. Decreto 1701 does not define establecimiento de hospedaje and does not mention private houses, apartments rented by the night, vacation rentals or digital platforms; the word hospedaje appears only in Art. 21 b and Art. 28 c of the FAOLEX text (checked 9 November 2026). INGUAT’s legal-framework page lists Acuerdo Gubernativo 1144-83, its regulation for lodging establishments, and tells tourism service providers to consult the registration requirements, but gives no link to the regulation’s text. The page it links for those requirements, registro.inguat.gob.gt, returned HTTP 403 on 9 November 2026.

What registration involves for those who are registered. When INGUAT launched an online portal for registered lodging establishments in 2021, the state news agency AGN reported that each establishment confirms the tourism-entity number (NET) assigned when it registered, and that the platform asks for a patente de comercio, an up-to-date RTU tax registration certificate and the owner’s DPI (AGN, 1 July 2021, secondary). The steps for a business that does register are on our INGUAT tourism registration page.

SAT: rental income from Airbnb is taxable (2024)

SAT’s own April 2024 release is not quoted here; its position comes through the press and a tax firm, all secondary sources:

  • Deloitte Guatemala, Tax Alert, April 2024: in April SAT announced, at a press conference and on social media, audit actions against taxpayers renting through Airbnb. For 2021 and 2022 it identified 2,600 taxpayers who provided occasional lodging rentals in 7,242 properties, mainly in Guatemala, Sacatepéquez, Sololá, Escuintla and Santa Rosa, who were not registered for a tax, did not issue electronic invoices or did not pay correctly. SAT’s recommendations, as Deloitte lists them: “Afiliarse voluntariamente al régimen de IVA e ISR”, update the registration to match income, declare the taxes, issue invoices for the rentals, and answer the audit request. Otherwise, Deloitte reports, an audit would set the amount due plus fines and interest.
  • La Hora, 16 April 2024: SAT said US$109 million (Q866 million) in income from occasional rental of properties for holidays or lodging went unreported in 2021-2022, across more than 250,000 rentals of “arrendamiento ocasional para alojamiento u hospedaje” in 7,242 properties. SAT also referred to information requested from Ireland, where the company that runs Airbnb is located.
  • Emisoras Unidas, 22 May 2024: Superintendent Marco Livio Díaz said SAT expected to collect at least Q100 million from online lodging rentals, that payments had already been made, and that properties of those who did not pay would be seized (embargo).
  • DPL News, 27 December 2024 (summarising Prensa Libre): Airbnb billing in Guatemala in 2023 was Q372.6 million, about US$48.4 million, according to information held by SAT.

The tax rates and regimes (ISR on rental income, IVA, the small-taxpayer regime) are set out with their legal articles on our Airbnb ROI page. SAT does not publish, in anything read for this page, a guide specific to Airbnb or digital platforms, or a 2025-2026 measure on short-term rentals.

Antigua Guatemala: the CNPAG and the municipal fee

In Antigua, two further bodies have a say.

The heritage council. The Ley Protectora de la Ciudad de La Antigua Guatemala (Decreto 60-69), in the text the CNPAG publishes, says in Article 21 that for every cambio de destino (change of use) of a building of historic, artistic or archaeological value within the protected area or its zone of influence, “deberá darse aviso previo” (prior notice must be given) to the Consejo para la Protección de La Antigua Guatemala, so that the council can decide. Article 23 requires that any new construction or alteration of an existing one “deberá contar con la previa licencia del Consejo” and follow the Plan Regulador. The same text limits commercial signs to the name and type of establishment, at no more than 0.50 m² including the frame. Decreto 60-69 contains no provision on hotels, lodging or tourist rentals, and the CNPAG does not publish whether renting a historic house to tourists is a change of use (checked cnpag.com/servicios/, 9 November 2026).

The municipal lodging fee. Emisoras Unidas reported on 29 July 2022 that the official gazette had published the municipal council’s Acta 075-2022, creating a regulation under which “todo servicio de alojamiento turístico” must charge guests Q20 per occupied room per day, up to a maximum of five nights, with hotels paying the amount collected to the municipal treasury monthly. That is a press report, not the regulation’s text. The Municipalidad de Antigua Guatemala does not publish online, in anything read for this page, whether the fee is still charged in 2026, whether it covers Airbnb hosts, or what licence it requires of a lodging business. Buying in Antigua: see the Antigua buying guide.

Airbnb’s own pages

Airbnb’s help-centre article listing the places where it collects and remits taxes does not mention Guatemala, and a help-centre search for Guatemala returned no Guatemala page on responsible hosting (both read 9 November 2026). Neither help-centre page carries a Guatemala-specific rule for hosts (9 November 2026).

What no instrument settles

  • Whether a privately owned house or apartment rented by the night is an establecimiento de hospedaje that must register with INGUAT. INGUAT does not publish an answer on its legal-framework page (checked 9 November 2026), and its registration portal returned an error.
  • The text of Acuerdo Gubernativo 1144-83, INGUAT’s lodging regulation: INGUAT names it but does not link it.
  • Whether Antigua’s Q20 fee is in force in 2026 and whether it applies to Airbnb hosts.
  • Whether renting a historic Antigua house to tourists is a change of use needing CNPAG notice.
  • Condominium rules. No source read for this page addresses building rules (reglamentos de copropiedad) on short stays; read your building’s rules.

The silence of a law is not a permission. Congreso, INGUAT and SAT do not publish a law, bill or rule specific to short-term or platform rentals in anything read for this page (9 November 2026), and none of the instruments above treats nightly rental as exempt.

Questions to put in writing before you list

  1. INGUAT: does my property count as an establecimiento de hospedaje, and must I register it and charge the 10% tax?
  2. SAT: which IVA and ISR regime applies to my rental income, and must I issue invoices for each stay?
  3. Your municipality: is a licence required, and is there a lodging fee (in Antigua, the Acta 075-2022 fee)?
  4. CNPAG (Antigua only): is tourist rental of this building a change of use requiring notice under Art. 21?

Sources