What is a tax incentive?
A tax incentive or tax benefit is a provision within the tax legal framework, which aims to encourage or support activities of specific sectors or behaviors through preferential treatment, deductions, exemptions or discounts.
What new tax incentives will there be in 2026?
According to him Economic Package 2026 which has already been approved by the Congress of the Union and will come into force on the first day of next year, there are at least seven incentives directed to natural and legal persons.
1. Repatriation of capital
Following the objective of boosting investment, the federal government proposed a program for the repatriation of money that left the country, as long as it is of legal origin, and has remained abroad until September 8 of this year.
The program was approved by Congress and comes into force on January 1, 2026. Those who choose to return the capital will pay a rate of 15% ISR without any deduction, when the rate of this tax in the country is up to 35%.
The money that returns must be invested no later than December 31, 2026, and maintained for at least the next three years. Eligible investments include the acquisition of new fixed assets or the acquisition of land and buildings, used in projects of the national strategy called “Plan Mexico” or in the Development Poles, according to the Federal Income Law (LIF) 2026.
This program had a previous edition in 2017, during the six-year term of Enrique Peña Nieto. A rate of 8% of ISR was offered, 380,000 million pesos were returned, for which between 20,000 and 25,000 million entered the public treasury, says the head of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), Antonio Martínez Dagnino.
2. Tax Regularization Program expands
This year the Fiscal Regularization Program was launched, which will continue in 2026, with some modifications.
The 2025 edition of this program offers 100% forgiveness of fines, surcharges and enforcement costs, which arise from non-compliance. It is for individuals and corporations with incomes of less than 35 million pesos, in the fiscal year that the taxpayer wants to regularize.
For 2026, the income limit was expanded for people who registered income of up to 300 million pesos in fiscal year 2024, with firm or consented tax credits. It applies to fiscal year 2024 or earlier, provided that the respective declarations are submitted and payment is made in a single payment no later than the last day of 2026, according to the LIF 2026.
“There is a greater width of the income limit to qualify for these stimuli. In the case of fines for obligations, which are not payment, 90% is forgiven, not 100%. The payment and the application must be fulfilled in 2026, the application must be submitted no later than October 2026,” explained Luis Carlos Figueroa Moncada, vice president of Fiscal of the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants (IMCP).
3. Menstrual discs and panties without VAT
As an extension of a change approved in 2021, which freed menstrual management products such as sanitary pads and tampons from paying VAT, by 2026 it was approved to include menstrual panties and discs in the list of products without this tax burden.
With this provision, Mexico will be the first country in Latin America to extend the zero rate, joining countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom and the Maldives that have already eliminated this tax on all menstrual products, says representative Anaís Miriam Burgos Hernández, from the Morena parliamentary group.
According to the Treasury, this incentive represents a collection waiver of 6,717 million pesos in 2025, and 7,131 million in 2026, which represents just 0.0187% of the GDP, according to the 2025 Collection Waivers report.
4. Nicotine for therapy without IEPS
Although there will be increases in the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) on cigarettes and tobacco, the acquisition of other products that contain nicotine and are used as nicotine replacement therapy will be exempt from paying this tax.
This, as long as the product(s) have a health registration as medicines issued by the health authority, according to the IEPS Law 2026.
