Income from inspection breaks record: Third quarter report

THEY RAISE MORE BY PUSHING THE TAXPAYERS

Inspection continues as one of the factors that has allowed public finances to stay afloat during the six-year term, in the absence of a fiscal reform and without sufficient resources in the federal funds to face unforeseen events.

Data of the Secretary of Finance They point out that the federal government collected 646,746 million pesos from taxpayer inspection activities in January-September of this year, an amount that implied a real annual increase of 29.2%.

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The figure not only represented a historical maximum for the same nine-month period, but also implied a little more than triple the resources that were collected by audits at the beginning of the six-year term, which were 181,703 million pesos at current prices.

The figure of treasury income from audits of taxpayers was equivalent to, in turn, 18.4% of total tax income between January and September 2023, the highest proportion that the Treasury has recorded for the same period.

The record figures reported by the Ministry of Finance are reinforced by the audit profitability indicator, which marked 192.9, which means that the government collected that amount of pesos for each peso it invested in auditing taxpayers, also the highest profitability rate since there are data, and which represents 2.5 times what was observed at the beginning of the six-year term.

FACTORS

He Service tax administrationdirected by Antonio Martínez, has explained on several occasions that the increase in the efficiency of collection through inspection has been due, first of all, to the fact that there was greater coordination of the different areas of the institution, which has made it possible to optimize the use of administrative tools and maximize the amount of possible resources.

Secondly, the SAT has explained that the increase in revenue from audits is due to the fact that the preferential treatment that was previously given to certain taxpayers, especially large taxpayers, has been eliminated and an even review is being applied in strict accordance with the law.

For their part, various private sector analysts have stated that the federal government's strategy of increasing revenue collection is positive, since it makes the most of the legal regime and combats tax evasion and avoidance.

However, they have warned that this strategy has the problem that there will come a time when it is exhausted and does not provide more resources, which is why it is necessary for the country to discuss a comprehensive tax reform, in addition to the risk of falling in threats to companies to make them pay their contributions, which could inhibit private investment.

By 2024, the last year of the government, private sector analysts predict that inspection tasks will be further strengthened, falling mainly on large taxpayers, individuals and corporations.

Photoart: Erick Retana

MORE INDICATORS

The Treasury data highlights that the SAT required 22,479 inspection acts in January-September 2023 to collect 615,746 million pesos, which implied an increase of 5,416 acts or 31.7% compared to the same period in 2022. .

The Treasury also reported that the SAT spent 2,182 million pesos to audit taxpayers, which implied a 4.3% annual drop in real terms.

Finally, if the resources for audits had not been mediated in the reference period, tax collection would have registered a decrease of 10.9 percent annually in real terms as of the third quarter of 2023, instead of the 9.1 percent real increase actually observed in the referred period.

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