Mexico's Online Tax Surveillance Becomes Operational

As part of the Tax Reform that became effective on January 1, 2014, the Mexican Congress passed a series of amendments to the Federal Tax Code for the purpose of modernizing and facilitating the compliance and enforcement of tax obligations. Such amendments gave tax authorities tremendous surveillance power over taxpayers, which we believe is contrary to human rights of privacy and legal certainty.

As of June 30, 2014, Federal Tax Authorities in Mexico ("SAT") may communicate with corporate taxpayers electronically by sending emails to a personal inbox kept in SAT's website called the Tax Inbox (buzón tributario).

That seems to be perfectly in line with modern forms of communication. However, when a taxpayer considers that SAT may serve all kinds of notices through the Tax Inbox, including notices of deficiency, initiation of audits, imposition of penalties or any other, some concerns start to arise.