Closing a Small-Taxpayer Business at SAT Guatemala (Cese de Actividades): 2026 Requirements

Quick summary: If you are an individual registered as a pequeño contribuyente (small taxpayer) and are closing your business for good, SAT calls it cese de actividades and it is done in Agencia Virtual, under Cancelación definitiva de establecimientos persona/negocio. You need the small-taxpayer purchase and sales book up to date (with the page of the last entry, the last page used and the next blank page cancelled), your unused authorized documents cancelled, a ratified RTU Digital and to be current on your taxes. If your activity is commercial or technical services, you also need the patente cancellation or the Registro Mercantil certificate, where applicable. Once approved, SAT sends the closure certificate to your registered email. The procedure page publishes no fee and no processing time.

Requirements checked on 29 September 2026 on SAT’s page Cese de Negocios Inscritos con Actividad Persona Individual and in SAT’s tax compliance FAQ. Both are in Spanish.

What cese de actividades is

When an individual stops running a business, SAT does not call it closing the NIT: its requirements page is titled Cese de Negocios Inscritos con Actividad Persona Individual (closing registered businesses, individuals), and the first requirement is filing the request in Agencia Virtual under Cancelación definitiva de establecimientos persona/negocio (permanent cancellation of establishments, individual/business). What gets cancelled is the establishment, the registered business.

When can you do it? SAT’s FAQ answers: «Puedes realizarlo en cualquier momento, siempre y cuando estés seguro de que ya no volverás a utilizar el establecimiento/negocio» (you can do it at any time, as long as you are sure you will not use the establishment or business again). If you have several establishments, you can close just the one you no longer use.

If you only want to pause the business, that is a different procedure: see temporary suspension of business activities. For how the regime itself works, see small taxpayer (pequeño contribuyente).

Requirements by type of activity

SAT’s page splits the requirements into three activity types. For a small taxpayer:

Not listed means that requirement is not on SAT’s list for that activity type. If you were registered for IVA and ISR instead of the small-taxpayer regime, SAT asks for that regime’s purchase and sales books.

The small-taxpayer purchase and sales book

This is the requirement specific to the regime. SAT words it this way: if you are a small taxpayer, the «Libro de compras y ventas de pequeño contribuyente, con registros al día, adjunta folio en donde se registró el último movimiento, último folio operado y siguiente en blanco debidamente anulado» (small-taxpayer purchase and sales book, up to date; attach the page where the last entry was recorded, the last page used and the next blank page, duly cancelled).

In practice that means three pages to attach: the one with the last recorded entry, the last page used, and the next page, blank and cancelled. If the book is behind, bring it up to date before you request the closure.

Authorized documents you did not use

SAT asks for «Documentos autorizados sin utilizar debidamente anulados» (unused authorized documents, duly cancelled) and a legible copy of the last document used, the next unused one and the last one in the range, for each series of authorized documents.

If documents were lost, stolen or damaged, SAT asks you to attach a legible copy of the report filed with the authorities, containing «como mínimo los datos siguientes: número de resolución, tipo de documento, serie y rango» (at least the resolution number, document type, series and range). For loss or misplacement, you must also file the Aviso Anulación de Documentos in Agencia Virtual, Form SAT-0511.

The patente (commercial activity and technical services)

For commercial activity, SAT asks for the «Original de la cancelación de patente o la certificación de liquidación de sociedad, cuando corresponda la certificación del Registro Mercantil de negativa de patente» (the original patente cancellation or company liquidation certificate or, where applicable, the Registro Mercantil certificate stating there is no patente), with a legible copy «con vigencia de 30 días a partir de la fecha de emisión» (valid for 30 days from issue). For technical services, the same page says «con vigencia de 30 días hábiles a partir de la fecha de emisión» (valid for 30 business days from issue). For professional services, the list includes no patente.

RTU Digital

All three types require «Estar ratificado en -RTU- Digital previo a realizar el proceso de cese de actividades con DPI o Pasaporte vigente según corresponda» (being ratified in RTU Digital before starting the closure, with a valid DPI or passport as applicable). If you have not done it, see updating your RTU and what an expired RTU really means.

Special cases that can hold the procedure up

Per the special-cases section of the same SAT page:

• You must be current on your tax obligations.
• IVA on inventory: where applicable, you must have paid IVA on inventory and/or property, plant and equipment.
• Tax-stamp patente: where applicable, you must have cancelled that authorization.
• Commercial-use vehicles: if you have vehicles with rental, urban, commercial, services, agricultural, industrial, construction or freight plates, you must have transferred or permanently inactivated them.
• Additional information: SAT warns it may request more information related to the requirements if needed.

Step by step

1. Ratify your RTU Digital with a valid DPI or passport.
2. Get current on your taxes: check for missing filings and pending payments. If you want the tax solvency certificate itself, SAT’s FAQ says: «El costo que tienes que cancelar por tu solvencia fiscal es de Q30» (the solvency certificate costs Q30), paid with Form SAT-8421 in Declaraguate. The closure page asks you to be current, not to present that document.
3. Cancel your unused authorized documents and prepare the copies by series.
4. Bring the small-taxpayer purchase and sales book up to date and prepare the three pages.
5. Where applicable, cancel the patente or get the Registro Mercantil certificate (valid 30 days for commercial activity, 30 business days for technical services).
6. Log in to Agencia Virtual and fill in the closure request under Cancelación definitiva de establecimientos persona/negocio, attaching the requirements.
7. Wait for approval. SAT says: «Al ser aprobada tu gestión de cese de actividades, recibiras la constancia de cese de actividades al correo electrónico registrado para el efecto» (once your closure is approved, you will receive the closure certificate at the email address registered for that purpose).
8. Print your Constancia del RTU from Agencia Virtual or the SAT portal. Per SAT, it no longer shows the cancelled establishments, only the active ones.

Permanent, temporary or prescribed

For the temporary closure, SAT also requires that you are not flagged under a Plan Operativo, have no payment agreements in progress and have no open files at the Intendencia de Asuntos Jurídicos, the Tribunal Administrativo Tributario y Aduanero or Fiscalización. More detail in temporary suspension of business activities.

Cases handled at an office

Per SAT’s FAQ, these closures are done at a SAT office or tax agency, not in Agencia Virtual:

• Prescribed or permanent closure after the taxpayer’s death (Form 2175)
• Permanent closure of registrations made without the taxpayer’s authorization
• Permanent closure ordered by SAT itself (de oficio)
• Closure by order of a competent judge
• Closure due to a merger by absorption (Form 2175)

What about my NIT?

If you searched for this as closing my NIT: the list of Agencia Virtual closure options that SAT publishes in its FAQ (checked 29 September 2026) is about cancelling establishments; the only option that cancels a NIT is the one for NIT Jurídico Administrativo. For an individual, what SAT describes is closing the registered business, after which your Constancia del RTU shows only the active establishments. More context in closing your NIT.

Cost and time

Common mistakes

1. A book that is behind. The requirement is the small-taxpayer book with entries up to date.
2. Forgetting a document series. SAT asks for copies for every authorized series.
3. Not ratifying RTU Digital first: SAT requires it before the closure process.
4. An expired patente certificate: 30 days (commercial) or 30 business days (technical services) from issue.
5. Commercial-use vehicles in your name that were not transferred or inactivated.
6. An outdated email address at SAT: that is where the certificate arrives.

Official sources

• SAT — Cese de Negocios Inscritos con Actividad Persona Individual (Spanish)
• SAT — Tax compliance FAQ, Cese de Actividades section (Spanish)
• SAT — Cese Temporal de Actividades (Spanish)

Related procedures

• Closing your NIT — if you searched for it as closing the NIT
• Temporary suspension of business activities — if you are only pausing
• Small taxpayer (pequeño contribuyente) — the regime
• Agencia Virtual SAT: how to register — where the closure is filed
• Tax solvency certificate — to confirm you are current
• RTU registration and updating your RTU
• SAT hub — all SAT procedures