Specialist Urges SAT Regularization Program for Out-of-Compliance Fuel-Sector Companies

Fuel-sector companies in Mexico can accumulate multimillion-peso fines for failing to comply with tax authority SAT requirements for volumetric controls, while a regulatory specialist is calling for a regularization program similar to an existing initiative for environmental compliance.

Diego González Pérez, manager of volumetric controls at Grupo CIITA, during a webinar last month, said SAT should consider establishing a regularization scheme, similar to the Pronagas effort led by the environmental regulator ASEA, that would allow fuel companies with outstanding volumetric-control obligations to become compliant while potentially reducing their financial exposure.

Under Pronagas, companies can comply with their environmental obligations while providing benefits such as reduced financial penalties, exemption from precautionary measures and support throughout the process.

A similar SAT program could help companies address outstanding volumetric-control requirements as Mexican authorities increase product traceability requirements to combat the illicit fuel market, González said.

“We have to move forward and adapt to what the authorities are requiring from us,” he said.

Fuel retailers, transporters, fuel marketers, self-consumption facilities and other market participants subject to volumetric-control requirements must submit information on fuel volumes to SAT on a daily or monthly basis, depending on their activities.

Companies that fail to submit the required reports can face fines of about 39,500 to 44,300 pesos per month ($2,198 to $2,465), González said. For corporate groups operating multiple service stations, prolonged noncompliance can therefore result in multimillion-peso penalties.

He noted that companies may receive fines covering only one or two months of noncompliance despite having been out of compliance for more than a year, which he described as a way for SAT to call companies’ attention to the issue without imposing penalties for the entire period.

“In other words, it’s not in their interest to bankrupt the sector either,” he said.

SAT obligations are established in the Miscellaneous Tax Resolution with regulations having been fully enforceable since 2022, including self-consumption facilities, which have become subject to the obligations more recently, González said.

Fuel companies that operate without a permit from the National Energy Commission, or CNE, can face additional compliance risks. He said SAT may block a company’s ability to issue invoices or access the platform used to upload volumetric-control reports. Once this happens, the only way to continue operating is to obtain a CNE permit and then submit it to the tax authority to resume operations.

“The SAT is legally empowered to fine you, conduct an audit, impose a tax liability, carry out an inspection and shut you down,” he said. As a result, seeking to reopen a service station through legal action rarely works if there is no valid permit in place.

González urged fuel-sector companies to focus on preventing noncompliance by understanding their reporting obligations, reviewing the information submitted to SAT and assessing potential corporate liability before the tax authority initiates an enforcement process.

Reporting by José Luis Adriano, jadriano@opisnet.com; Editing by Karla Omaña, komana@opisnet.com and Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com