Mexico's tax authority targets 550,000 non‑paying firms to boost revenue

Mexico's tax administration (SAT) has identified roughly 550,000 of the 900,000 registered companies that do not currently pay taxes, representing about 60 % of the formal corporate sector. The government plans to increase fiscal collection by expanding the tax base rather than creating new levies, a direction reaffirmed by Subsecretary Carlos Lerma Cotera.

The strategy includes intensified audit and compliance efforts, as well as simplified regimes such as the Simplified Trust Regime (Resico) that allow small businesses to pay rates as low as 2.5 % of revenue. The aim is to raise tax revenue from 15.2 % of GDP in 2025 to 15.6 % by 2026, supporting a projected public‑budget increase of about 492 billion pesos.

Officials stress that the approach seeks to formalize the informal sector, improve productivity, and avoid new tax reforms, aligning Mexico's collection rate with the average for Latin America while still below OECD levels.