Jiménez Reyes, general administrator of the Foreign Trade Audit, highlighted that the SAT plays a crucial role in foreign trade by facilitating compliance with tax and customs obligations, in addition to improving efficiency, legality and transparency in the movement of goods through of the borders.
The SAT aims for all customs procedures to be conducted online through the Single Window for Foreign Trade (VUCEM), completely eliminating the use of paper, stated Jiménez Reyes. During the 84th National Congress of Customs Brokers, the official noted that the government’s digitization strategy for procedures has made foreign trade in Mexico more agile and secure.
“In general, everything related to the SAT is being digitized, and in the area of foreign trade, we aim to incorporate all procedures into VUCEM so that nothing needs to be submitted on paper and everything is done online,” Jiménez Reyes specified.
He highlighted that Mexico is a pioneer in Latin America in implementing the Authorized Economic Operator (AEO) certification program. To improve its functionality, all procedures are being incorporated into the Single Window for Foreign Trade.
Currently, there are 957 AEO companies, which accounted for 57% of foreign trade operations at the national level in 2023. Of these companies, 61% are importers or exporters, 20% are customs brokers, 17% are truckers, and 2% are others.
Jiménez Reyes recalled that the SAT plays a fundamental role in foreign trade, facilitating compliance with tax and customs obligations and contributing to efficiency, legality, and transparency in the movement of goods across borders.
Mexico has 50 land, sea, and air customs offices through which more than one trillion dollars’ worth of imported and exported goods pass annually. Additionally, these customs offices are essential for tax collection, capturing more than two-thirds of all VAT collected by the federal government.
The virtual president-elect of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, has proposed that during her administration, the country’s customs offices be modernized to make them more efficient and increase tax collection by 250 billion pesos per year.
