Who collects the property tax: the municipality or the Finance Ministry (DICABI)?

The property tax (IUSI) has two possible administrators. According to Ojoconmipisto (6 April 2026), who collects the tax depends on the municipality's technical capacity: if the local government lacks it, collection is carried out by the Ministry of Public Finance (MINFIN), in which case the 2-per-thousand rate is transferred in full to the municipalities and what is collected at 6 or 9 per thousand is split 25% to the state and 75% to the municipalities; when the municipality has the technical and administrative capacity, MINFIN transfers those powers to it and 100% of what is collected goes directly to the municipality. The same outlet cites MINFIN: as of 11 March, through the Directorate of Cadastre and Appraisal of Real Estate (DICABI), it collects and administers the IUSI of 57 municipalities. It also reports that in 2025, of the 340 municipal governments, 295 recorded IUSI collection; another eight have a budget line but report no revenue, and 37 do not include it in their revenue budget. An opinion column in Prensa Libre (24 March 2026) states that around 283 municipalities administer it directly; that not all municipal councils have up-to-date cadastres and many properties are under-declared or out of date; that some mayors avoid the political cost of updating values and collecting a highly visible tax; and that the municipalities that do manage to generate revenue through IUSI tend to have relatively up-to-date cadastres, greater urban density, an active real estate market and greater administrative capacity. Jean-Roch Lebeau's blog dates to 1994 the start of the transfer of administration to municipalities with technical capacity. The guide on the Living in Guatemala website by Estuardo Enriquez (updated 22 August 2026) states that municipalities with technical capacity (it names Guatemala, Mixco, Villa Nueva, Antigua, Quetzaltenango and most departmental capitals) administer IUSI directly, attributes the IUSI fiscal register (matrícula fiscal) to MINFIN-DICABI or the delegated municipality, and warns that which interior municipalities still collect through MINFIN-DICABI changes over time and that no current official roster is published. In Villa Nueva, the municipal website offers an 'Estado de cuenta IUSI' (IUSI account statement) service and invites people to write in to request IUSI account statements, cadastral printouts (despliegue) or cadastral certificates; the municipality set up a WhatsApp number for enquiries about IUSI statements and cadastral certificates, and the municipal government implemented a measure waiving residents' IUSI fines during July, August and September 2024. Site implication: in Villa Nueva the IUSI account statement is requested from the municipality itself; for interior municipalities, the guide recommends calling the municipality and asking where the payment goes before assuming.