Law on the Structure of the Tax Administration 216-2004

The Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) is created as an administrative body directly dependent on the State Secretary of the Office of Finance, with headquarters in the capital city and authority throughout the entire national territory.

The Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) shall be headed by an Executive Director of Revenue who shall be appointed by the President of the Republic, and who shall be responsible for the management of all taxes, including customs duties. The Executive Director shall perform the functions of supervision, review, control, audit, and collection in the application of tax laws. The aforementioned functions shall be exercised by the Executive Directorate through two (2) administrative directorates: the Internal Revenue Directorate and the Customs Revenue Directorate.

The Internal Revenue Directorate shall be headed by an Assistant Director, under whose responsibility the administration of all internal tax revenues shall be exercised.

The Customs Revenue Directorate shall be headed by an Assistant Director, who shall be responsible for the administration of customs revenues.

In the Internal Revenue Directorate and in the Customs Revenue Directorate, a Deputy Director may be appointed who shall have the responsibility of assisting the Assistant Director in his daily activities and substituting him when appropriate.

To hold the position of Executive Director of Revenue, the following requirements must be met:

• 1)

  Be Honduran, at least thirty (30) years of age;

• 2)

  Possess a university degree;

• 3)

  Have no outstanding accounts with the Public Treasury;

• 4)

  Have broad capacity and experience in tax or customs matters;

• 5)

  Be of recognized honorability; and,

• 6)

  Have no relationship within the fourth degree of consanguinity or second degree of affinity with the President of the Republic, nor with the Secretary and Sub-secretaries of State in the Office of Finance, nor with the Executive Director or the Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors of the Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI).

To hold the positions of Assistant Directors and Deputy Directors, the same requirements must be met as for the position of Executive Director of Revenue.

For the fulfillment of the purposes established in this Law and to guarantee labor stability, the State Secretary of the Office of Finance shall issue the regulatory provisions so that the Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) has its own organization, personnel regimes, discipline and tax career, including the issuance of standards for the selection and appointment of its officials and employees.

The Budget of the Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) shall be included in the budget structure of expenditures of the State Secretary of the Office of Finance.

All personnel of the Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) shall be subject to the provisions of the Civil Service Law and its Regulations. The position of Executive Director of Revenue, of Assistant Directors of Internal Revenue and Customs Revenue and of the Deputy Directors, shall be considered positions of trust. Also considered positions of trust shall be the positions of Customs Administrators or their equivalent.

The Executive Director of Revenue, in whose position the highest normative hierarchy rests, may delegate the exercise of his functions in matters that he considers appropriate to the Assistant Directors.

The State Secretary of the Office of Finance, in accordance with the Law, shall issue the necessary measures to effect in an agile and orderly manner the administrative restructuring that this Law establishes.

TRANSITORY.- The personnel of the current Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) shall continue performing their duties and responsibilities, with their acquired rights and corresponding labor benefits being respected, without prejudice to the permanent evaluation of merit and compliance with requirements to which they must submit, in accordance with what is determined by the respective laws and regulations.

TRANSITORY.- In cases where personnel do not meet the previously established requirements for the position or their services are no longer necessary, the benefits and other labor rights that correspond to them shall be paid in accordance with the Law.

TRANSITORY.- Without prejudice to acquired rights, the personnel actions executed by the Executive Revenue Directorate (DEI) during the three (3) months counted from the date of publication of this Law shall not need to complete any additional procedure before the General Directorate of the Civil Service, when such procedure contravenes and delays the action taken.

Decree No. 159-94 dated November 4, 1994, containing the Law of the Executive Revenue Direction, as well as its amendments contained in Decree No. 142-2004 of September 30, 2004, and any other provisions that conflict with this Law are hereby repealed.

This Decree shall enter into force on the day of its publication in the Official Gazette La Gaceta. Given in the city of Tegucigalpa, Municipality of the Central District, in the Session Hall of the National Congress, on the twenty-ninth day of the month of December of two thousand four. PORFIRIO LOBO SOSA President JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ A. Secretary GILLIAM GUIFARRO MONTES DE OCA Secretary To the Executive Power Therefore: Let it be executed. RICARDO MADURO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC WILLIAM CHONG WONG SECRETARY OF STATE IN THE OFFICE OF FINANCE Tegucigalpa, M. D. C., December 31, 2004.