“The closing expectation that we have, with all the impacts of the first nine months, and what is seen for the end of the year, is that we meet the income goal in terms of tax and non-tax income, and in that sense that it is the basis to start next year,” explained Carlos Lerma, Undersecretary of Revenue.
The surpassed goal is due to different factors, the official explained, one is the effort in the customs part derived from work between the SAT, Customs and customs agents to eradicate bad practices in the sector, which will continue next year with changes approved in the Fiscal Code of the Federation and the new Customs Law.
The impact of new technologies
Also the digitalization of processes and the use of artificial intelligence, for the facilitation and monitoring of taxpayer compliance, stand out in this increased collection, as they facilitate the crossing of data to detect discrepancies, determine tax credits and collect them.
This adoption of technology and greater collection advances alongside a smaller number of workers. Since the end of 2018, as part of the federal government’s austerity policy, the SAT began to cut its workforce with the objective of avoiding duplication of functions. After the Covid-19 pandemic came another reduction due to staff reduction, and currently, workers report that voluntary resignations are being submitted due to work overload.
At the end of September, each employee collected 161.4 million pesos, with a workforce of 24,580 workers, when in the same period last year each worker collected 142.5 million, with a workforce of 24,840 workers. In just eight years, the SAT reduced 11,080 positions from its workforce, while the collection for each worker multiplied 2.5 times.
In addition, the collection cost per 100 pesos reached its lowest level at the end of last September, with 0.23 pesos, in the same period of 2018, the cost was more than double: 0.50 pesos.
