Collection from large taxpayers fell 7.7% in January-September: SAT

Between January and September, collection from large taxpayers registered more than 1.3 trillion pesos, which meant an annual contraction of 7.7% in real terms, reported the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in its Tax and Management Report.

Collection from large taxpayers represented 47% of total tax revenue, that is, 2.9 trillion pesos; However, it meant that the participation of the aforementioned sector fell from the 50% registered in the same period of 2021 and that it maintained until the end of the year.

While in 2020, the first year of the pandemic and closure of the economy, collections from large taxpayers represented 52%, according to SAT data.

Reaching that share was due to the fact that the treasury managed to get large companies such as BBVA, Femsa, IBM, Grupo Modelo, Walmart or América Móvil, among others, to pay their respective debts.

Ramiro Ávalos Martínez, vice president of tax at the Mexican Institute of Public Accountants (IMCP), told El Economista that the contraction that has occurred in the amount and participation in the collection of large taxpayers is part of a reconfiguration in income tributaries.

In this sense, the collection of taxes from the wages and salaries system was 756,010 million pesos, which meant an annual increase of 6.7% in real terms; and therefore the participation in tax revenue grew from 24 to 26%.

In this section, growth was due to the effects of the reform of the Outsourcing Law.

For its part, the collection of taxes from legal entities totaled 706,122 million pesos, an annual increase of 6.2% in real terms.

This meant that the participation of said sector went from 23 to 24% of the total collection.

Additional efforts leave 147,500 million pesos

At the same time, secondary collection –or additional collection efforts– from large taxpayers accounted for 147.518 million pesos between January and September of this year. Which meant an annual contraction of 4.8% in real terms.

Ávalos Martínez commented that the data for the third quarter of this year shows a slight contraction, but the supervisory body remains in tune with the secondary collection.

“Secondary collection from large taxpayers has been sustained, it has had a slight reduction without it being important.”

The fiscal vice president explained that the drop in secondary collection from large taxpayers is, in part, a consequence of collection efficiency tools, such as the obligation compliance program or deep surveillance. Given this, taxpayers avoid surcharges, fines and updates that make the debt more expensive.

The authority reported that although voluntary compliance is preferred to inspection actions, additional efforts have not relaxed, so that in January-September 2022, 866 large taxpayers were inspected.

Total collection of 302,439 million pesos for inspection

If the examination of large taxpayers is added to the rest of the causes, the examination strategy collected 302,439 million pesos, at the end of the ninth month, which represented an annual contraction of 5.8% in real terms.

From January to September, the inspection of taxpayers that are not classified as large, reached a collection of 154.921 million pesos, of which 54.315 million pesos correspond to acts of inspection of foreign trade.

Miguel Ángel Tavares Sánchez, a member of the technical fiscal commission of the College of Public Accountants, explained to this space that the inspection of foreign trade is extremely efficient because the authority has the suspension of the import register, which is an instrument of pressure that does not have with other taxpayers.

“If a taxpayer is suspended from the import registry, they literally stop the operation (…) For this reason (the control of) foreign trade is much more effective,” said Tavares.

The inspection of foreign trade identifies evasive behaviors in real time in the highest risk sectors such as the automotive industry; steelmaker; textile and clothing; electronics; wines and liquors, as well as in the constant monitoring of taxpayers who operate under special trade programs.

Who are they

The SAT considers a large taxpayer to be one who declares income of more than 1,500 million pesos per year. The register of large taxpayers has 12,206 companies.

During 2019, 2020 and 2021, 541,682 million pesos were collected, while in the entire previous six-year term, 630,784 million pesos were collected.

In other words, in just three years of the current administration, more than 86% of what was collected in the previous six years has been collected.

santiago.renteria@eleconomista.mx