“Index Tijuana and other members of the border city’s international trade community pledge to work together to create and understandable set of rules.”

Last week members of the Tijuana maquiladora association, or Index Tijuana, met with a top official of Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT) for the purpose of forwarding a dialogue on issues of mutual interest, for the purpose of bringing clarity to tax-related IMMEX rules and regulations.

Arostoteles Nunez Sanchez, along with members of his staff, met with Index Tijuana member company representatives to address specific issues that are creating some misunderstandings and confusion among members of the foreign trade community and government taxation authorities. A goal of the coming together of these groups and individuals is to find means by which to create more certainty for companies operating under the IMMEX regime that will instill in them the confidence to expand existing, and initiate new, operations. One area of particular interest to both parties concerns Article 81 of Mexican Customs Law.

Effective on June 20, 2015, Article 81 of Mexico’s Customs Law was revised to require that Importers of Record provide documented valuation support of goods that enter into Mexico to Mexican customs brokers and other legally responsible parties. The stipulation was also made that such documentation be available at the time of importation. Most of the documents that are required in this circumstance were required to be present upon importation prior to the June 20th change. Two important items, however, were added to the list of required paperwork to be presented after that date. They are:

  • Proof of payment for the merchandise. This proof can take the form of either wire transfer receipts or letter of credit documentation;
  • Any contracts that are connected to the purchase of the goods entering into the Mexican Republic from outside of its borders.

Some of the attendees at the meeting between Index Tijuana and the representatives of the SAT, expressed  the that idea that, in the case of transactions between related parties, for instance, providing the newly required documents may not be a practical or feasible possibility. In recognition of this, the announcement of the formation of working groups that will consist of members of groups like Index Tijuana, the Consejo Coordinador Empresarial (CCE), or, in English, the Business Coordination Council, and the Consejo Empresarial Mexicano de Comercio Exterior (the Mexican International Trade Business Council) will be formed for the purpose of working with government officials to review and simplify Customs operations that impact taxation that affects businesses involved in international trade.

Index Tijuana president, Federico Serrano Banuelos’s, assessment of the meeting with the top SAT representative and his staff in positive terms. According to Serrano, “The willingness of the representatives of the SAT to listen to the business community’s concerns is obvious. Although there are some issues that are not being resolved as quickly as we would like them to be, we have no complaint with the officials’ demonstrated accessibility and willingness to be flexible.”

Read the primary source for this post in its original Spanish at Monitor Economico de Baja California.