During the first quarter of the year, the tax authority collected 132,839 million pesos, which represents 8.3 times the original target, according to the Ministry of Finance.
The strategy implemented by the Tax Administration Service (SAT) to audit Mexico's largest corporations delivered highly favorable results for government coffers at the start of the year, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP).
During the first quarter, revenue generated through audits of so-called Large Taxpayers reached 132,839 million pesos, a figure that exceeded by 8.3 times the 15,913 million pesos originally projected by the tax authority.
Specialists agree that this spike in collection stems from a combination of settling long-standing disputes and an aggressive digital enforcement strategy that enables targeted audits on companies with annual revenues exceeding 1.5 billion pesos.
Pedro Canabal, partner at Baker Tilly and member of the Mexican Institute of Foreign Trade Executives, noted that it is "highly probable" that this rebound is partly due to payments initiated by Grupo Salinas, owned by Mexican businessman Ricardo Salinas Pliego. The conglomerate made a first installment on January 29 for over 10,400 million pesos, corresponding to a fraction of an accumulated tax debt totaling 32,133 million pesos. Under the structure agreed upon with the Federation Treasury, the firm will settle identical amounts on a monthly basis until mid-next year.
"SAT is successfully turning its audits into effective collections, regularizations, tax corrections, and conclusive agreements, without necessarily relying on a tax reform," he clarified. However, he noted that audit-driven revenue is volatile and should not be treated as recurring income. "We should not treat this data as a permanent target. We must monitor how the fiscal package for the next fiscal year is being planned."
Audit-driven revenue is not SAT's ideal scenario; however, when a corporation or individual exhibits irregularities in their tax payments, the authority proceeds with a review.
Precision Strikes
Although there are more than 16,000 large companies, SAT cannot audit all of them simultaneously. Consequently, it manages oversight of this 0.02 percent of the taxpayer registry through "precision strikes." Last year, SAT audited 863 large companies, representing a six percent decline compared to 2024.
Guillermo Mendieta, member of the Fiscal Audit Technical Commission of the College of Public Accountants, stated that SAT utilizes precision strikes when auditing the large taxpayer sector due to the digital footprint left by electronic invoicing. "Precision strikes are derived from the invoicing issued by taxpayers, which serves as the driving force behind tax enforcement," he declared.
SAT's precision is also measured by its effectiveness. Data from the Ministry of Finance reveals that enforcement efficacy for large taxpayers exceeded expectations in the first quarter, reaching a 119 percent compliance rate. To put this into perspective, the authority recorded 101.5 percent growth in reviews of audited small and medium-sized taxpayers.
According to the member of the College of Public Accountants of Mexico, another key driver for executing an audit on a large corporation lies in annual returns, provisional payments, or informative returns. Additionally, SAT considers transfer pricing, as well as stock alienation and tax audit reports.
While Large Taxpayers account for just 0.02 percent of the total taxpayer registry, their contribution represents 52 percent of total tax revenues. In 2025, tax collection reached 5.35 trillion pesos, of which 2.7 trillion pesos came from large firms.
Related content
