Foreign Trade

  • Home
  • Practices
  • Foreign Trade

Table Of Content

Foreign Trade

The lawyers specialized in the Foreign Trade practice of ​​VGA are widely experienced in advising their Mexican and foreign clients in the international transactions that they conduct day by day in their operation, following the growing foreign investment in the Mexican region.

VGA supports a variety of companies in obtaining and conserving several economic programs of foreign trade that mitigate the fiscal impact of these operations on their finances and accounting, as well as to simplify their import and export processes and guarantee compliance on all the obligations to which they are subject in this matter, in accordance with the applicable tax, customs and commercial legislation.

At VGA we specialize in supporting our national and international clients to legally enter merchandise into the country, either for consumption or to integrate it into their supply chain and manufacturing and marketing processes. One of the most efficient ways to achieve this, while obtaining tax benefits, is through economic programs to boost foreign trade, created by the Ministry of the Economy.

We have experience in obtaining the IMMEX, PROSEC, ECEX, ALTEX and VAT Certification programs.

We also support our national and international clients in the sale and transportation of goods or services to various countries, to respond to their international business. In the same way, we design strategies that allow our clients to standardize and take advantage of their foreign trade operations, through programs created by the Ministry of the Economy and through various customs and taxable instruments such as the “Constancias de Transferencia de Mercancía” or CTM´s to make their operation more efficient, and benefit their finances.

Our law firm is also experienced in compliance matters regarding international commercial treaties, such as the USCMA, that recently entered into force, in all matters related to rules of origin and provenance of merchandise covered by the treaty.

Manufacturing, Maquiladora and Export Services Industry Program (IMMEX)

One of the foreign trade programs that we obtain most frequently for our international clients is the IMMEX program. This is an export promotion instrument that it is applicable to companies that import goods temporarily and that carry out an industrial or service process, since it works by deferring the payment of the general import tax, value added tax and compensatory quotas, as long as they carry out an industrial or service process destined to the elaboration, transformation or repair of merchandise or to export services.

At VGA we support our clients by obtaining the IMMEX program before the administrative authority, by managing the drafting of necessary documentation with technical and specific information provided by our clients and assisting them in face-to-face and virtual procedures through which said data or documents are presented.

The IMMEX program has four different modalities. At VGA we have assisted a variety of national clients with foreign investment to obtain all of the following:

Industrial, which includes all manufacturing factories in their production, transformation, and repair processes.

Shelter, for all those companies that are part of a supply chain of foreign or national companies, in which the final product is exported exclusively to the same foreign company.

Services, which includes companies that provide services to other companies, for example, cleaning, operation, or maintenance.

Outsourcing, applicable to companies that do not have facilities to carry out production processes and therefore manufacture through third parties that are registered in their authorized IMMEX program.

VGA has assisted a wide variety of clients so that, through a request to expand their authorized IMMEX program, they can add new export products and import goods to those already authorized in their program, thus obtaining additional benefits in their finances.

Regarding compliance in foreign trade, we ensure that our clients are always fully complying with their applicable legal obligations to prevent them from being sanctioned or that their authorized programs are suspended or canceled, which could result in a tax credit for the company.

One of the main obligations of companies that have an authorized IMMEX program is the presentation of an annual report, in accordance with article 25 of the IMMEX Decree, with the general objective of informing the Ministry of Economy of their trade balance, providing data that must be consistent with the annual tax return filed for the same fiscal year and likewise meet the objectives to which they are subject under their authorized program.

Sector Promotion Programs (PROSEC)

PROSEC is an instrument aimed at all companies that are producers of merchandise, in order to import with a preferential ad-valorem tariff various goods to be used in the elaboration of specific products, regardless of whether the merchandise to be produced is destined for export or to the national market.

At VGA we have supported several of our clients to obtain the PROSEC program, drafting the necessary documentation with technical and specific information provided by our clients and assisting them in face-to-face and virtual procedures through which such data or documents are presented. Likewise, our firm has successfully obtained extensions of these authorized programs, thus obtaining additional benefits in its finances.

Regarding compliance in foreign trade, we ensure that our clients are always fully complying with their applicable legal obligations to prevent them from being sanctioned or that their authorized programs are suspended or canceled, which could result in a tax credit for the company.

Highly Exporting Companies (ALTEX)

At VGA we have successfully obtained ALTEX programs for our clients, which is an instrument to promote exports of Mexican products, aimed at supporting their operation through administrative and fiscal facilities. It has a variety of benefits in foreign trade, such as the refund of the VAT tax, when there is a surplus, in an approximate term of five business days, free access to the Commercial Information System administered by the Ministry of Economy, exemption from the requirement to have a second review of export goods at the customs office of exit when they have previously been cleared at an internal customs office, the power to appoint a customs agent for various customs and various products, among others, depending on the authorized program

At VGA we have supported several of our clients to obtain the ALTEX program, drafting the necessary documentation with technical and specific information provided by our clients and assisting them in face-to-face and virtual procedures through which such data or documents are presented. Likewise, our firm has successfully obtained extensions of these authorized programs, thus obtaining additional benefits in its finances.

Regarding compliance in foreign trade, we ensure that our clients are always fully complying with their applicable legal obligations to prevent them from being sanctioned or that their authorized programs are suspended or canceled, which could result in a tax credit for the company.

Registry of Foreign Trade Companies (ECEX)

The ECEX program is an instrument to promote exports, through which marketing companies will be able to access international markets with administrative facilities and financial support from development banks, applicable to companies dedicated solely to the marketing of products abroad that comply with the requirements established in the Decree for the Establishment of Foreign Trade Companies.

It has a variety of benefits, such as the automatic issuance of the Highly Exporting Companies Certificate (ALTEX), which guarantees the immediate return of the balance in favor of Value Added Tax (VAT), the authorization, where appropriate, of a Temporary Import Program to Produce Export Items (PITEX) in its specific project modality, a 50% discount on the cost of non-financial products and services that Bancomex determines and the financial assistance and support from Nacional Financiera on the achievement of their projects, as well as specialized training and technical assistance services.

At VGA we have supported several of our clients to obtain the ECEX program, drafting the necessary documentation with technical and specific information provided by our clients and assisting them in face-to-face and virtual procedures through which such data or documents are presented. Likewise, our firm has successfully obtained extensions of these authorized programs, thus obtaining additional benefits in its finances.

Regarding compliance in foreign trade, we ensure that our clients are always fully complying with their applicable legal obligations to prevent them from being sanctioned or that their authorized programs are suspended or canceled, which could result in a tax credit for the company.

The ECEX program has different modalities. At VGA we have assisted a variety of national clients that have foreign investment to obtain all the following:

  • Export consolidator, applicable to any company whose main activity indicated in its charter of incorporation is the integration and consolidation of merchandise for export, that has a subscribed and paid up capital of at least two million pesos and that exports merchandise of at least five producing companies.
  • Export promoter, applicable to any company whose main activity indicated in its constitutive act is the commercialization of merchandise in international markets, that has a subscribed and paid share capital of at least two hundred thousand pesos and that exports merchandise from at least three companies producers.

VAT and IEPS certification.

These certifications allow our clients to apply for a tax return equivalent to 100% of the amount due for the Value Added Tax (VAT) and the Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS), when these are generated by the introduction of merchandise to national territory under customs regimes for temporary importation, destined to the elaboration, transformation or repair in maquila or export programs of such merchandise, by the tax deposit to undergo the vehicle assembly and manufacturing process of elaboration, transformation or repair in a controlled area and a strategic controlled area.

Rules of origin

The rules of origin are the necessary criteria to determine the national origin of a product. The provisions on rules of origin contained in the USCMA and, previously in the NAFTA, were designed to ensure that the advantages of this free trade agreement are granted only to goods produced in the North American region, and not to goods that are made, totally or for the most part, in other countries

At VGA we have extensive knowledge of the content of both international free trade agreements and the rules of origin specific to each one of them, which allows us to advise our clients on foreign trade so that they can benefit from the tariff privileges imposed by the various free trade agreements in force, entered by Mexico.

Proof of Transfer of Merchandise or Constancias de Transferencia de Mercancía (CTM´S).

By using the proof of merchandise transfer, companies in the auto parts industry may temporarily sell imported parts and components, as well as parts and components that incorporate temporarily imported goods under their IMMEX Program, to companies in the terminal automotive industry or the manufacturer of motor transport vehicles industry to be integrated into their vehicle assembly and manufacturing processes, provided that the provisions of the General Rules of Foreign Trade are complied with, and the corresponding VAT is transferred for said sales or disposals.

Companies may transfer temporarily imported merchandise under its program, to other companies with an authorized IMMEX program or to companies registered to operate in its program, to carry out export-related sub-manufacturing operation processes directly and exclusively for the purposes specified in the authorized IMMEX program, according to its modality or to each specific operation. The companies of the auto parts industry may consider the parts and components or inputs that have been temporarily imported as exported. On the other hand, it will be deemed that the national ones or those that would have been imported permanently, that correspond to parts and components or inputs incorporated, which are indicated in the CTM´s issued by the companies of the terminal automotive industry or manufacturer of motor transport vehicles, have been exported.

Latest

Publications

Get In TOuch