Mexico Launches New eAccounting Requirements

After announcing the largest change to its eInvoicing schema in years in late 2016, Mexico also announced a major update to its eAccounting mandate in January 2017. Though the SAT, Mexico’s authority, did not announce a specific implementation timeline for eContibilidad 1.3, it caught businesses off-guard when it began enforcing the measures in October.

The SAT has since reversed this enforcement, again accepting reports using version 1.1 based on a technical glitch incurred by taxpayers not yet complying with pagos. In April 2018 pagos will begin being enforced using version 1.3. However, the SAT’s quick move to try to start enforcing these updated reports show their importance – the polizas (journal entries) and upcoming pagos requirement are key in Mexico’s goal of increasing automated edits.

Under eContibilidad 1.3, companies are now required to report five different types of documents in polizas: sales, purchases, nomina (payroll), travel and expenses, and pagos. All of these documents must be linked from the taxpayers ERP to corresponding UUID identifiers to justify VAT deductions. Pagos, or payment receipts, represent the biggest challenge to compliance with these new accounting measures. Taxpayers will now be required to electronically document payments, necessitating new SAP extractions and affecting new business processes (accounts receivable).

• The updated eAccounting measures also mandate several changes to existing reports, most notably:
• The move to XML version 1.1 to 1.3 – documents submitted in version 1.1 will be rejected.
• The requirement to specify the collection method (Metodo de Pago) used. Fields corresponding to Check (Check), Transfer (Transferencia) and Other Payment Method (OtroMetodoPago) are now mandatory not only for outbound payments, but also for inbound payments/collections.
• Changes to the structure and pattern of imports and document numbering (numero de tramite).
• Header changes for auxiliary reports, including the chart of accounts, trial balances and journal entries
• Changes to the Account Catalog specifying asset, liability and capital accounts, which can be presented as debtor or creditors.

Further complicating the move to eContibilidad 1.3 is the misperception by some taxpayers that they are exempt from these measures after being granted amparos – or stays from mandated compliance. The supreme court of Mexico’s recent rulings prove an unwillingness to uphold these amparos – meaning companies that were granted these stays need to prepare for these new accounting measures – and do so quickly.