Thank you, MD, but which "tax office" was it that you went to? And, where is it located? Could it be the same office T.J. was referring to as "Catastro," which he described as being next to AguaKan? (When I think of "Tax Office", in relation to paying property taxes, it is the office in the Municipal Building, on Av Tulum- quite a different place.)
V we have had ours transferred to our name approximately three years ago. Used the same process as MD. It was the office next to Aguakan to finalize the process. The cost was approximately 250 pesos and didn't take much time at all.
My predial bill came in the name of the former owner, too: I asked my Notario to arrange to change it, and they got it wrong. The predial bill came out, next time, showing one of my names as my surname. Bummer. Today, I went to Catastro to try to get this corrected. Catastro had moved! It was no longer next to AguaKan, which I suppose has also moved. To find out where it went to, I walked to City Hall on Av Tulum, where I was told it could now be found near the intersection of Av Kabah and Lopez Portillo. I got there around 9:40 AM. There was no line, and no waiting. They took my information, made copies from my Escritura (Mexican title document), and had me sign a tramite (request for action from a government agency) for the name change. There was no charge for the tramite, nor the copies. They told me to come back in one week, bringing my copy of the tramite, and they would confirm for me if the change had been made as requested. Another day, another good experience with Mexican Governmental processes! Now we´ll see if I can get that INAPAM discount, this year, which I missed out on last year owing to the discrepancy on the name.
That's a good experience? Running round for half a day and having to come back in a week to see if a very simple request was granted? Most countries would fix this with one 5 minute phone call.
I was in the offices of Catastral for ten minutes: there was no charge, and they made copies of documents they could have required me to make. These were good things. As far as whether it could be done on the phone, somewhere else, given the need to provide positive ID, you may perhaps be imagining a better world than the one you actually left. As a general proposition, dealing with the government here is a time consuming process, but I've spent long waits in the U.S. too, trying to get things done; so, aside from the fact that I do these things myself here, instead of having lawyers, accountants or mortgage companies do them, I don't see a lot of difference. I wouldn't need immigration documents in the U.S., and I wouldn't have to file monthly tax declarations, but that's about the only difference of significance that comes quickly to mind. _____________________
I recently bought some premium bonds in England. They got my name wrong. 3 very expensive phone calls later, and 2 letters and....yep my name is still wrong. They have my first and last name the wrong way round - so simple to fix yet so hard apparently. I have also been trying to pay my NI from abroad. I went to the tax people at the library and they said "oh we only help give people money here for benefits, call this number", so I called the number and was told to call another number, I then had to first get forms sent for a pension forecast blah blah blah. I went back the next year to have another go and the desk has been closed with a sign "Due to cutbacks we are closed" England's in recession - I'm trying to pay into their system from abroad, so won't even be using it, and they make it this f*in hard! I though they would make it really simply so they generate revenue however small. Government institutions suck - you should know about bureaucratic nonsense mate - think back to when you were a cog in their wheel.
I admire your cheery resolve V, but I think sometimes the opposite can be true. We get so used to the inefficiency and bureaucracy that we begin to think it is normal and that our previous lives in other countries were just as blighted - when they werent. Changing name and address on predial here is akin to changing for Council Tax purposes in the UK. If still in the UK I'd visit this link: Contact Council Tax : Nottingham City Council and could choose to process this by either post, phone, email, in person or via an online form. In Cancun, first the office had moved, you had to go to another office to find out where the office had moved to, then go to the new office. Next week you've got to physically go back and see if they have done what was requested. Let's be honest changing a clearly incorrect transposed name is about as simple as it comes. The fact you were pleased they didn't charge you for copies kind of hits the nail on the head. Remembering back to the UK when Jannet and I were there, the only time we had to physically visit an office was when we got married (registrars) and when we bought a house (solicitors). All our bills were direct debit. Passports, driving licences and even Jannet's immigration (2 years to attain unrestricted residency) was dealt with either online or by post and this was 14 to 8 years ago. Any utility problems all resolved by phone. Mat, it's true that mistakes happen anywhere but what would you do if the Premium Bonds people told you to pop by their office next week to get it sorted out? That's what they'd say here.
Good point Steve, and I remember when I got my new passport then renewed my driving license and they could automatically retrieve my passport photo and insert into my driving license - all done online - 1 week later it was at my house!
I left the U.S. so long ago that the age you spoke of, Steve, was one that I never experienced; but, things are easier done, often times, in the U.S. than here, even in my limited experience. My reaction here in Mexico is relief if something doesn´t prove too difficult, rather than distress that it is difficult. Looks like I´ve adjusted my standards downward! Dealing with ScotiaBank is more of a bother to me than dealing with the government. I´ve invested three personal visits to the bank to try to persuade them to correct the names on our fideicomiso account, so far without success, though I´m optimistic that when I go back on 6 November, as they requested, I´ll find they´ve finally corrected it. I didn´t want to deal with David, who seems more interested in selling fideicomisos than servicing them afterward, so I went to the info desk and asked if there was someone else I could speak with: I was directed to an unmarked door and was told to ask for Isabel. I entered a roughly finished and very busy workspace with papers stacked around. Isabel was willing, but didn´t know how to work the system to make changes such as I was requested. After five minutes of trying she summoned another person who seemed to know more how to navigate the bank´s system. Between them, they seemed to manage to make some entries which were correct, but they said to finalize the changes required action in Mexico City. They prepared a tramite for this purpose. We´ll see what happens. I avoid dealing with banks here, whenever possible, but I didn´t have much better experiences with banks in the U.S., frankly.
Reflecting further on it, I realize there is another reason that I feel good, most of the time, when dealing with governmental processes here: it is getting through the processes, successfully, and in a reasonable amount of time (my perspective), neither offering nor paying money to governmental officials for "expedited" handling. Extra payment has never even been hinted at in my dealings with employees of the government here, in spite of corruption being a feature of life. I think this is a matter of attitude, projected by the customer, which in my case is businesslike, and never suggests I'm in a hurry about anything. The message I hope to give is, don't even bring it up, you won't like what you'll hear. I tell my students that it's not Mexican Government officials who are corrupt, it's Mexican people, as a whole, with government officials just being a subgroup: Mexican people elect corrupt Mexican officials, then pay them to stay that way. Mexicans are proud of many things about their country: they are not proud of how corrupt it is. However, they rationalize this in many ways, including that they find it a convenience, and they have accepted that this is who they are (let's say, for now). I try to raise doubts among my students about accepting this as a given by asking them if they could imagine a promotional, extolling the virtues of Mexico as a place to live and in which to do business, which included a reference to this aspect of Mexican life. Mexico's economy is doing well, but the core social problem, maldistribution of wealth, is buttressed by corruption: eliminate it, and you would go far to breaking down the wall. Mexico attracts a good deal of direct foreign investment: it would attract a lot more, if it could become the first Latin country to have a reasonably low level of corruption. It does not.
