Engaging a contractor in Honduras runs on a fiscal receipt. An individual registers with the tax authority (SAR) for an RTN, issues a factura or a recibo por honorarios for each payment, and pays income tax on a progressive scale that tops out at 25%. The legal risk is classification: article 21 of the Labour Code presumes that personal work is governed by an employment contract, whatever the paper says. This guide covers the contractor’s tax, reclassification, the contract and the payer’s paperwork. The payment side is on our Honduras payouts page. It is general information, not legal advice.
RTN and fiscal receipts
Individual. The contractor registers with the SAR and gets an RTN: the first certificate is free and immediate, and a natural person’s RTN lasts for life (SAR, checked 2026-10-29). Taxpayers who provide services must issue a comprobante fiscal; the SAR lists the factura, the recibo por honorarios and other authorised documents, under the regime of Acuerdo 481-2017 (SAR, checked 2026-10-29).
Company. A contractor working through a company issues invoices the same way, and a US payer collects Form W-8BEN-E instead of W-8BEN. We did not verify how a foreign client is named on the receipt; ask the contractor’s accountant which fields the SAR requires.
The contractor’s tax
Income tax. Honduras taxes income on a territorial basis, and a self-employed individual receiving fees must file a return (PwC, reviewed 2026-08-10; PwC, reviewed 2026-08-10). The 2026 scale is exempt up to HNL 228,324.32 a year, 15% to HNL 348,154.10, 20% to HNL 809,660.75 and 25% above (PwC, reviewed 2026-08-10). On HNL 500,000 of taxable income that is about HNL 17,974 in the 15% band plus HNL 30,369 in the 20% band, HNL 48,343 in all. Whether pay from a foreign client counts as Honduran-source income is a question for the contractor’s accountant; we found no official text on it.
ISV. The general rate is 15% (PwC, reviewed 2026-08-10). We could not confirm the treatment of exported services; the invoice should show whichever treatment the accountant chooses.
Who bears it. The contractor. A foreign client pays the invoice gross, so a contractor quoting a net rate must cover tax and any ISV out of it. Settle gross versus net in writing.
Reclassification risk
Article 19 of the Labour Code defines an individual employment contract as one in which a person provides services under continued dependence or subordination to another, for pay; article 20 lists continued subordination as an element of the contract, and article 21 states that every personal work relationship is presumed to be governed by an employment contract (Código del Trabajo, checked 2026-10-29). The label does not decide it. Vendors read the same way: Ontop’s Honduras page says fixed hours, exclusivity or day-to-day direction mean employment whatever the contract says (getontop.com, checked 2026-10-29), and Rippling’s page calls Honduran law vague on independent contractors and tells employers to write the terms into a contract (rippling.com, checked 2026-10-29).
A single client, a schedule you set, your equipment and a fixed monthly fee are the facts a claimant would use (contractor misclassification). If the role is a job, hire through an EOR. Remote lists minimum monthly wages from HNL 13,654.56 to HNL 19,298.71 by company size from 1 January 2026 (remote.com, checked 2026-10-29), and Ontop lists a December aguinaldo and a June 14th-month salary, each one month of ordinary pay (getontop.com, checked 2026-10-29). We did not check these against the statute.
What to put in the contract
- A written services agreement scoped to deliverables, with the fee, currency, receiving account and who bears transfer charges.
- A fiscal receipt for every payment, matched to the payment reference.
- IP assignment in writing. We did not verify the Honduran default for software made by a contractor; assign the rights explicitly and ask local counsel about formalities.
- Independence markers: the contractor’s own equipment and schedule, the right to work for other clients, and a fee tied to deliverables.
Taxes and paperwork
The contractor’s side. Get an RTN, register for invoicing with the SAR, issue a fiscal receipt per payment, and file the annual return.
The client’s side. Pay gross against the receipt. US payers collect a W-8BEN from an individual and file no 1099: pay for work done in Honduras is foreign-source income (irs.gov, checked 2026-10-29), and Honduras is not on the IRS list of US income tax treaty partners (irs.gov, checked 2026-10-29).
How to pay contractors in Honduras
Wise delivers lempiras to a Honduran bank account without the recipient opening a Wise account; its US page quoted USD 47.98 per USD 1,000 by bank transfer at 1 USD = 26.9461 HNL (wise.com, checked 2026-10-29). A SWIFT wire is the alternative, and some platforms pay USD or HNL directly. The central bank allocates dollars through its auction, under rules in force since 25 February 2026 (tunota.com, checked 2026-10-29). Rails, costs and platforms are compared on our Honduras payouts page.
Contractor of Record in Honduras
A Contractor of Record is the contracting party for the contractor and reduces reclassification risk; it does not remove it. In Honduras the work still has to look independent, and the COR also collects the receipt, keeps contracts consistent across a team and flags engagements that look like dependency. Read the liability clause in the contract rather than the product name. Where the role is a job, with your hours, your tools and core work, hire through an EOR instead. Compare providers in our COR rating.