The Golden-bellied Flycatcher is distributed from Panama into northern Venezuela and south along the Andes to Ecuador. See the distribution map at Birdlife International. Almost all authorities include this sub-species M. h. minor as a sub-species of Golden-crowned Flycatcher M. chrysocephalus but the HBW and Birdlife International checklist includes it with Golden-bellied Flycatcher mainly on the basis of vocalisations. It is found in the borders of forest and woodlands mostly between 1,000 and 2,000 metres.

Its voice has been compared to squeezing a rubber bath duck.