In an environment marked by tax collection pressure, the need for legal certainty and the demand for a “level playing field” for investment, the Tax Administration Service (SAT) is outlining a discursive – and operational – shift in its auditing strategy for 2026: fewer audits, greater focus and more homogeneous rules.

Through the dissemination this Monday of best practices in review processes , the tax authority seeks to send a double signal to the taxpayer: on the one hand, to limit the discretion and downtime that have historically strained the tax-business relationship; on the other, to tighten the net against conduct that erodes the tax base, from the simulation of operations and the abuse of deductions to irregularities in foreign trade.

The message is clear: oversight will not disappear, but it will be more targeted, more transparent, and, at least on paper, more predictable in a key year for the country’s revenue and competitiveness.

These are the best practices for transparency in audit processes for 2026, according to the SAT:

1.- The 2026 Master Plan “Taxpayer Services and Auditing” will be published.

2.- In case of non-compliance with tax payments, only one audit will be carried out

per taxpayer.

3.- In the audit processes, a sample of the items subject to review will be requested, not 100% of the information.

4.- The audit will primarily focus on those taxpayers who engage in the following conduct:

• Conduct transactions with invoicing or payroll companies.
• They present recurring tax losses.
• Simulate or abuse deductions.
• Obtain undeclared income.
• Abuse of tax incentives.
• They exhibit inconsistencies between what they import or buy and what they sell.
• Import products at below-market prices and fail to comply with non-tariff regulations or restrictions.
• Do not pay withholding taxes for your employees.
• Conduct transactions with tax havens.
• Request improper refunds.
• Pay less effective tax compared to your sector.

5.- The same application and criteria will be guaranteed in any SAT office in the country regarding audit procedures in items such as discounts, unidentified deposits, materiality, marketing, imports, non-tariff regulations, as well as permits, certifications and foreign trade authorizations.

6. Refunds for individuals will be processed on average within 5 days, and for businesses within 30 days. The legally established timeframe is 40 business days.

7. Taxpayers are reminded of the reporting channels:

1. Email: denuncias@sat.gob.mx
2. SAT brand: 55 6272 2222 or 55 6272 2728 option 8.
3. SAT Portal, SAT Complaints section at https://www.sat.gob.mx/portal/public/tramites/quejas-odenuncias
4. Official social media accounts: Facebook SAT México; X @SATMX
5. SAT Mobile Application for mobile devices, Complaints and reports section.
6. Authorized trustees, consult the directory at gob.mx/sat

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In her first year in office, the federal administration headed by Claudia Sheinbaum announced that 133,769 verifications were carried out from October 2024 to June 2025 , which, according to her narrative, represented a 7.21% increase compared to the same period the previous year. However, a comparison with data from the Sixth Report of former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) revealed the opposite.

AMLO’s report indicated that from September 2023 to June 2024 there were 141,587 verifications , while Sheinbaum’s First Government Report (2025) indicated that there were 124,773 for an almost identical period (from October 2023 to June 2024), that is, seven thousand 800 fewer .

To make a comparison between similar and non-conforming periods presented in the presidential document, a look at the figures from the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transportation (SICT) and those from the Federal Directorate General of Transportation (DGAF) reveals that the data is different, and the increase in inspections referred to is much higher.

Comparing the figures for inspections carried out in the September cycle of the previous year with those of June of the current year, it is found that the 6th Government Report refers to 141,587 inspections , while the First Government Report could have published the real figures of 175,838, which is an increase of 24 percent.

As you may recall, Claudia Sheinbaum took office as president of Mexico on October 1, 2024 , so the comparison in the report is from October 2024 to June 2025.

Thus, taking this period as a reference, it is found that in the cycle from October 2023 to June 2024, 124,773 verifications were achieved, while for the same period but the following year, that is, already in the administration of Claudia Sheinbaum, 161,209 were achieved, this translates into a progress of 29%, data that is far from what was published in the report to the nation.

These contradictions are no small matter. Weight and dimension checks are the primary tool for controlling the circulation of heavy vehicles, preventing accidents, and reducing damage to the road network. Inspections and medical examinations are key elements in road safety. When government reports provide inconsistent figures, what erodes is trust in inspections.

The outlook for the industry is twofold: it faces challenges in road safety, overweight control, and operator supervision , while official data offer three versions of the same reality. Neither adding up September nor comparing time cuts makes the numbers add up. The result is an incomplete puzzle , where the official pieces never quite fit together.

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The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) published on its website a “Significant Safety Concern” (SSC), still unresolved, detected in the audit conducted in February and March, regarding the verification of radio aids for air navigation, which should be carried out by the Federal Civil Aviation Agency (AFAC).

This concern is one of the 11 that ICAO has identified since the creation of this alert figure, and it is made public through its website. In this case, it involves AFAC as the responsible authority.

“ICAO has identified an SSC that remains unresolved by Mexico. The SSC issue belongs to the area of air navigation services (ANS) regarding the expiration of the periodicity of flight inspection of radio aids for navigation. This does not necessarily indicate a particular operational safety deficiency but rather indicates that the State is not providing sufficient operational safety oversight to ensure the effective implementation of all applicable ICAO standards,” it added.

Contrary to what ICAO has stated, the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications, and Transportation (SICT) stated that it has conducted significant oversight. It emphasized that AFAC, together with Navigation Services in Mexican Airspace (Seneam), has carried out these aerial verifications during the last two months, which, it pointed out, “maintained the proper functioning of the air navigation equipment.”

It stated that two months ago, they enabled a verification program that includes the review and calibration of radio aids nationwide.

“To date, 95% of existing radio aids nationwide have been verified, resulting in a high level of compliance with international operational margins. It should be noted that the verification tasks carried out over the last two months represent unprecedented work due to the high number of reviews and calibrations performed in such a short time,” the statement emphasized.

It indicated that aviation safety was prioritized at all times, and Seneam engineers kept navigation systems within operational standards, the evidence of which was presented to ICAO.

“For this, they anticipated international demands in terms of aerial verification, with cutting-edge technology to keep navigation systems permanently calibrated and comply with international regulations,” it emphasized.

According to the international organization that belongs to the United Nations, during an audit, ICAO can detect insufficient capacity in the audited State to adequately supervise its service providers, whether airlines, airports; air navigation services, as is the case and/or service provider, within the area under its jurisdiction.

ICAO does not directly audit the aviation industry or sector service providers, but focuses on the “surveillance capacity” of operational safety by the governmental authority designated as responsible for civil aviation.

“(It is carried out) to obtain more specific information about the safety of the various components of the aviation system (i.e., airlines, airports, aircraft, or air navigation service providers)” through supervisory actions by authorities based on the guidelines of the annexes of the Chicago Convention, the origin of this international organization.

It added that the full technical details of the conclusions are made available to the Civil Aviation Authority of the State, in the case of Mexico corresponding to AFAC, to guide rectification, as well as to facilitate any action they deem necessary to ensure safety.

Furthermore, “The audited State also commits to periodically inform ICAO of progress in correcting the safety issue,” it noted.

The audit of the Mexican aviation authority by ICAO began on February 14 and concluded on March 14, the investigation was divided into two phases.

According to the minutes – derived from the first phase of the audit – in possession of A21, the global authority found 142 observations regarding operational safety surveillance in Mexico.

According to the official documents of the audit, there are 94 responses to questions classified as “unsatisfactory”, 32 “satisfactory” and 16 “pending”. The documents indicate that 69 of the 142 observations are related to air navigation.

On the other hand, ICAO pointed out that, in addition to Mexico, the ICAO member States with unresolved SSCs that remain published on the secure website are as follows: Armenia, Bhutan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ecuador, Russian Federation, Liberia, Zimbabwe.

With information from A21

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