According to the SAT, there are 30 lawsuits against him, in which 16,000 million pesos are disputed, which were promoted by 24 companies, among which Samsung stands out. The Court’s resolution will set a precedent for making foreign investment decisions in Mexico, and the review of the Treaty between Mexico, the United States and Canada (T-MEC), which is scheduled for 2026.
If it is resolved in favor of double charging, “a terrible precedent will be set,” warned Gloria Rocío Estrada Antón, president of the Foreign Trade technical commission of the College of Public Accountants of Mexico (CCPM).
Figures from Inegi indicate that in the country there are 5,241 IMMEX manufacturing companies, which may be affected.
The maquiladora companies indicate that they want to apply double taxation derived from an interpretation of the rules. The SAT wants to charge Samsung 6,714 million pesos for VAT not withheld between 2019 and 2023.
What is double taxation?
In Mexico, any import incurs VAT, but IMMEX companies, certified in VAT and IEPS, can temporarily import merchandise into the country exempting the payment, as long as the goods, which stop in Mexico to add value or be transformed, are exported.
“When you import temporarily you have the obligation to export, because you obtained a benefit. The SAT closely monitors these return obligations,” explained Estrada Antón.
But, when a maquiladora company decides to sell that merchandise to a company resident in Mexico (acquirer), the goods must be definitively imported and the tax must be paid, which must be collected and reported to the SAT by the IMMEX.
To complete the sale, without having to physically export the goods abroad and return them to Mexico, the SAT established a logistics facility, known as virtual export (Pediment V5). However, according to the authority, this facility has generated tax evasion, so in 2019 it modified its interpretation and considered that if the merchandise is sold in Mexico, VAT must be applied, but since there is also an import, VAT must be charged.
In this case, the seller is a company abroad, which is the owner of the merchandise imported by IMMEX to be manufactured. According to the Law, the transfer tax should be transferred to the company that sells, but this is not possible, and it is transferred to the buyer residing in Mexico, the specialist explained.
