On January 29, 2023, the Tax Administration Service (SAT) announced its 2023 Master Plan for Auditing and Collection. While there was no tax reform in 2023, meaning no new taxes were created or existing rates increased, the SAT aims to achieve higher tax collection than in 2022.
Currently, the SAT has increased the use of information technologies to enhance efficiency in its management and verification functions.
Additionally, with the 2020 tax reforms (which introduced the concept of “business purpose”) and the 2022 reforms (which reinforced this concept), tax authorities were granted greater legal tools to achieve the goal of increasing tax collection.
The SAT stated that the Master Plan consists of coordinated actions among the following departments: Large Taxpayers, Federal Tax Auditing, Collection, and Foreign Trade.
Actions to be Taken
The SAT’s actions will focus on:
- Authority Management:
This authority has been exercised through Invitation Letters, aimed at encouraging voluntary compliance and/or monitoring the regularization of taxpayers with discrepancies in their tax obligations. The plan also mentions greater coordination with state entities. - Auditing Actions:
The SAT will analyze and schedule reviews of unusual transactions (income and expenses), strengthen foreign trade audits, and publish effective tax rates for Income Tax (ISR) purposes.
Sectors Under Review
In addition to these actions, the SAT identified 16 economic sectors that will be subject to audits to regulate non-compliant taxpayers or those with discrepancies in their tax obligations:
- Steel
- Food
- Automotive
- Beverages and Tobacco
- Commerce
- Construction
- Electronics
- Energy
- Entertainment
- Pharmaceutical
- Mining
- Real Estate Services
- Financial System
- Telecommunications
- Shareholding
- Tourism/Hospitality
Key Areas of Review
Tax authorities also specified the key concepts and behaviors they will be monitoring:
- Improper application of tax credits
- Hydrocarbon supply chain
- Excise Tax (IEPS) credits
- Pensions, payroll exemptions, and simulated specialized services
- Refunds, 0% VAT rate, non-taxable operations, and temporary imports
- Underpricing in foreign trade operations and misuse of trade agreements
- Compliance verification of VAT-IEPS certifications
- Mining rights
- Corporate restructurings and their tax implications in spin-offs and mergers
- Shareholders (individuals involved in restructuring operations)
- Tax losses
- Preferential tax regimes
- Financing, debt capitalization, and profit distribution
- Payments abroad and international restructurings
- Trusts
Impact on Multinational Groups
Several of these key review areas are directly related to multinational group operations, such as corporate restructurings (mergers and spin-offs), preferential tax regimes, financing, debt capitalization, foreign payments, and international restructurings. These will serve as additional indicators that tax authorities will closely monitor.
For this reason, it is crucial to anticipate these audits and implement preventive actions in response to this new SAT strategy.
Suggested Preventive Actions
To mitigate risks, we recommend implementing the following preventive actions:
- Compare effective tax rates published by the SAT against the applicable ISR (Income Tax) rates.
- Conduct a fiscal risk analysis and diagnosis.
- Verify compliance with requirements regarding payments to foreign residents, preferential tax regimes, and foreign ISR credits.
- Align operations with the value chain.
- Ensure that the contractual vehicle supporting the operations is appropriate.
- Properly document transactions between related parties (business purpose, materiality, and economic substance).
If you would like to review the complete Master Plan for Auditing and Collection, you can access it through the following link.
