Sheinbaum’s SAT wants to attract taxpayers with honey, not ice

This program would be “substantially different from the tax reductions that have been applied in the past, which mainly benefited large taxpayers and resulted in the foregoing of billions of pesos in revenue,” the document states.

In the administrations led by Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto in the first years of their government, 2006 and 2013, respectively, programs were launched to forgive taxes for companies. Consequently, in the period 2007-2015, 572,743 million pesos in tax debts of companies were canceled, in addition to granting benefits of 172,335 million, Fundar revealed on October 1, 2019.

This type of ‘fiscal forgiveness’ ended in the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who instead of granting this type of stimulus, began with the inspection and collection of past debts from large taxpayers. The tax authority has the power to review up to the five immediately preceding fiscal years of taxpayers.

What is the program about?

To be entitled to the benefits of this program, individuals and legal entities must have annual income of up to 35 million pesos.

“All taxpayers who meet this limit, regardless of their tax regime, will be able to access the program and benefit from a fiscal stimulus equivalent to the fines, surcharges and execution expenses owed, so that they will only have to pay the contributions or fees updated compensatory measures,” says the head of the Executive, Claudia Sheinbaum, in the ILIF addressed to the Congress of the Union, for analysis, discussion and voting, before the start of 2025.

Who cannot participate?

Taxpayers who have been convicted of tax crimes; that they have not refuted the facts that were attributed to them in the procedures established in articles 69-B and 69-B Bis of the Federal Tax Code (referring to false tax receipts and shell companies), and that they have been beneficiaries of widespread and massive programs of previous tax forgiveness, will not be able to apply to the benefits that this program plans to grant.

When is this program expected to apply?

The Treasury detailed that the program will only apply in fiscal year 2025 and includes debts from fiscal year 2023 or earlier; In addition, taxpayers must submit their request to the SAT, the National Customs Agency of Mexico or to the tax authorities of the coordinated federal entities.

For greater efficiency in the implementation of this program, the Treasury will suspend the administrative execution procedures and will not require guaranteeing the fiscal interest. In addition, the assets seized as a precautionary measure will be returned once the taxpayer makes the corresponding payment. In turn, the taxpayer must consent to the debit and recognize that their request does not constitute an instance and that the authority’s response will not be contestable, says the ILIF.

To get this program off the ground, it is proposed to establish it through the thirty-fourth transitional provision in the ILIF.