While declaring it, if required to do so by Mexican Law, what is the largest sum of money, in USD, that you can carry with you into Mexico without being taxed, or assessed a duty of any kind by Mexico?
I remember on the declaration thing you have to fill out on the way into Cancun it asks if you have more the $10,000. I dont know if that is the limit before they asses anything ar not though. OOOOhhhh a money thread and that was your post No. 666.
There should not be any "tax" simply for bringing in large amounts of cash. Failure to declare it, on the one in a million chance they they find it could however lead to problems. The better question would be why not just withdraw funds once your here, or if purchasing property just transfer via bank/monex/westernunion/etc. I can't really think of any good reason to risk carrying so much cash on your person. Personally I wouldn't like the idea of having to check yes, to that question for fear that I might find a welcoming party waiting for me at the exit. :lotsofmichaelfs:
Pretty funny, Gonzo! (But, I'm not at all superstitious!:icon_wink Life, your comment about the personal safety issue is an interesting one, worthy of some consideration: a truly large sum would attract attention, and make it worth somebody's trouble. However, I've not heard of attacks on people leaving the airport, other than in Mexico City, and in those cases, it involved exchanges of large sums of foreign currency for pesos, in the airport, so people outside customs were made aware of the situation/opportunity. We got in the habit of carrying large amounts of cash in the former Soviet Union. There, customs not only required you to declare the money, but would require you to hand it over- and they would then count it, themselves, in plain sight of all. (You had to be careful, or you might find the pile coming back to you a hundred or so "short".) In spite of the supposed risk of carrying cash, I never had any trouble from criminals of any type, at any time, with nearly every passenger on every plane also packing a lot of cash. I don't know if customs here requires you to hand over your cash so they can verify the declared amount; or, if they do, whether they do it in a private or public area. ________________________ I raised this question because I'm under the impression that if you put large sums of money through a bank account there is a tax assessed on it of up to 2%.
I'm not entirely sure how the (relatively) new bank law works, to be honest. The idea that they just tax everything over an amount seems very unfair. I've heard people suggest that its only "cash" deposits that are subject to the tax, while others have claimed ANY source of funds gets taxed. I also don't know if you can avoid the tax or get it back by filing with SAT. Its a stupid law for sure and undoubtedly hurts many small businesses, and in the end, consumers, who have to pay for the additional tax. If you think it may be an issue for you I'd suggest that you speak with a bank representative and by all means pass on what you learn. But again, unless you intend to make a huge purchase I can't see why you wouldn't just leave the money in the US and withdrawal as needed at the ATM and/or use the credit card.
We do as you said for living expenses: it ends up costing about one percent of the sums withdrawn if we access cash through ATMs using our "check cards": this method is both convenient, and safe. (To withdraw sums using credit cards is, as I understand it, several times more expensive, and we haven't had any reason to do that.) But, this is getting well beyond the scope of my original question, which just had to do with whether there is a tax assessed on cash brought into Mexico, on your person, as opposed to being wired into a bank (which I think is subject to a 2% tax).
V - There is a member of the Women's Club who owns a money exchange here. We've been able to transfer money to her company's US account and get it out in cash here in Mexico. She will not do this if she doesn't know you personally, so I won't state her name here. But since your wife is a member she may have success in moving money this way. This is the cheapest way to transfer money to Mexico, without carrying it yourself, that I have found. As far as I understand it there's no tax assessed when you carry more than $10K into Mexico. But you do have to declare it because they can seize it if you do not. We have a friend who routinely carries in amounts above $10K, he declares the amount, discloses where it came from and what he intends to use it for and that's it.
Sorry, Life, you did: it was your use of the word "should" that left me feeling uncertain, and you may have been just as positive with the information behind your "should", as Rivergirl was with hers! V.
