Tax Services
PV Law Firms helps you understand the complexities of the Mexican tax system, guiding you in the management and payment of taxes and duties that are necessary to operate your business.
SERVICES INCLUDE:
- Tax conciliation proceedings and litigation.
- Registration with the Federal Taxpayers Registry.
- Management procedures for the Ministry of Finance (SHCP) and the Tax Administration System (SAT).
- Advice on the preparation and reporting under the Foreign Investment Law (LIE) and Regulations.
- We also offer personal and business accounting services.
Who needs Mexican tax advice?
Almost every foreigner who owns, rents, sells or earns in Mexico. The Mexican tax system does not work like the one back home: obligations attach to activities — owning property, collecting rent, invoicing clients, employing staff — and the SAT (Mexico's tax authority) has become remarkably good at cross-referencing banks, rental platforms and the Public Registry. The owners who get in trouble are rarely the ones who planned; they are the ones who assumed the rules did not apply to them.
Property: buying, owning and selling
Each stage of property ownership carries its own taxes. At purchase, the acquisition tax and closing costs; while you own, the annual predial (property tax) and, if you rent the property out, income tax on the rent; and at sale, capital gains tax (ISR) — the one that produces the most painful surprises, because the final number depends on paperwork decisions made years earlier, at the time of purchase.
The single most valuable moment to think about the exit tax is before you buy. How the deed is valued, how improvements are documented and invoiced, and your residency status all change what you will owe when you eventually sell. We plan that with you from day one — and if you already own, we review what can still be improved.
Rental income and the SAT
If your condo earns money on Airbnb, VRBO or through a property manager, Mexico already knows: platforms report and withhold taxes on Mexican rentals. Owners with a proper structure routinely keep more of their income than owners who never registered — and they sell with fewer complications. If you have been renting informally, there are orderly ways to regularize before the SAT reaches out first.
When something has already gone wrong
Audits, assessments, frozen bank accounts, taxes charged in error — we also litigate. Our firm has experience in tax conciliation proceedings and in fighting illegal or incorrect taxes, in many cases recovering unjust payments for our clients. Bring us the notification as early as possible: deadlines in Mexican tax proceedings are short and strict.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on what you do in Mexico: owning is different from renting, renting is different from selling, and running a business is different again. Rather than guessing from forums, bring your situation to a consultation — the applicable taxes can usually be mapped out in a single meeting.
Mexico taxes the gain on a sale, but the final number varies dramatically depending on your residency, your paperwork and how the purchase was documented years earlier. The time to think about the exit tax is before you buy — and definitely before you list.
You are not the first, and there are orderly ways to regularize. The worst option is waiting until the SAT finds you first. A confidential consultation will tell you where you stand and what your options are.
