Property Gains Tax Info

Capital gains tax is based on the profit you make when you sell your property in Mexico, when property changes hands, the notary withholds a certain percentage, based on the difference between the recorded value on the title (fideicomiso) and the sales price with a variety of deductions.

New Rules for Capital Gains in Mexico Starting 2007
Mexico, as well as the United States, provides its residents a capital gains tax incentive for their primary home. The new tax incentive in Mexico states that if you sell your “primary residence” after five years, you pay no capital gains. This law is in place for residents (Mexicans or foreigners), and in order to provide proof that your house is primary residence you need can provide one of the following documents:

1) Phone Bill
2) Electricity Bill
3) Local Mexican Bank Statements

The documentation above needs to be addressed to the property owner, his/her spouse, or his/her ascendants or descendants using the address of the property being sold. Another distinction made on your primary residence is that the land it resides on shall include no more than 3 times the total covered area of construction for the house. This is to prevent the qualification of the capital gains exemption when a land owner sells several acres of land with just a small house on it.

Article 109 XV of the income tax law called “Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta” was recently modified and now exempts from the tax any primary residence sold for an amount no exceeding one million five hundred thousand units of investment (UDIS) which is approximately $500,000 usd as of today. UDIS is a unit of investment calculated in respect to the rate of inflation. The value of a unit is established by the Banco de Mexico, which is published on the internet at www.sat.gob.mx/nuevo.html.

If a homeowner sells his house before he has resided in it for 5 years, he will be responsible to paying the capital gains tax for an amount that exceeds the one million five hundred thousand UDIS.

Please keep in mind too that the capital gains exemption for your primary residence is applicable only once per year.