According to the Customs Law, which has been in force since 1982, all natural and legal persons who import goods into the territory of Mexico or export goods to foreign countries are subject to foreign trade taxes, and the Customs Law also specifies the taxes that must be paid by various foreign trade operations "regardless of the place of origin or destination".
Commodity classification
Since July 1988, the Mexican system of classification of imported goods has been changed to the Harmonized System of Classification and Coding of Goods (HS system), thus bringing it into line with the most common methods.
Commodity valuation
Assessing the value of a commodity to determine its tax liability is usually based on the invoice price of the commodity. However, if there is a financial or commodity relationship between the foreign supplier and the Mexican importer, other valuation methods may be used. In general, when there is a financial, commercial or other form of relationship between a foreign supplier and a Mexican importer, it can be assumed that conditions of free competition do not exist between them.
At this point, the importer must complete "the Determination of Normal Value", stating its relationship with the foreign supplier, and determine a normal value after several adjustments to exclude non-free competition factors. In other words, such imported goods are valued by adding to the sales price the value of the preference or discount obtained when the goods are traded under conditions of non-free competition. Customs duties shall be added to the normal value after customs inspection. On this basis, Customs may also determine the standard adjustment elements of the commodity transaction between the importer and its major foreign supplier so as to be applicable to the valuation of other similar transactions.
Customs rate
Import duties range from duty-free to 20%; But the tariff rate on most taxable goods is limited to between 0 and 10 percent. For example, seeds for agricultural production and grains for consumption are exempt, and aircraft engines are subject to a 10% duty. The tariff rate for vessels is between 10% and 20%; The tariff rate for industrial vehicles is 10%; Most hand tools are 20%.
Special tariff and customs union
Under separate trade agreements with countries of the Latin American Integration Alliance, Mexico offers certain tax breaks on imports from these countries. After the North American Free Trade Agreement comes into effect, the flow of goods between the three countries will tend to be liberalized.
