Tulum, Q.R. — Mexico’s Tax Administration Service (SAT) set up a highway spot check Thursday outside the town of Tulum. Vehicles, mostly transport, were being pulled over and inspected for smuggling items.
Personnel from the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) were set up with a highway notice alerting motorists to the merchandise checkpoint. The stop was implemented near the Tulum archaeological zone entrance along the federal highway where transported products were being verified for their compliance with tax and customs regulations.
SAT personnel were assisted with the four-hour inspections by elements of the Navy in checking vehicles traveling in both directions. The check stop was in place from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. Thursday and was a first for the state.
SAT is authorized to carry out reviews of foreign trade operations outside of customs to verify compliance with tax laws since the new National Customs Agency of Mexico (ANAM) came into force in 2022.

The operation in Tulum is part of a broader effort to reduce smuggling in Mexico, which in 2024, has already led to the seizure of more than 2 billion pesos in goods, according to the federal government.
In May, the Government of Mexico released information regarding SAT’s findings of courier and parcel companies that carry out irregular imports. According to their report, “the Tax Administration Service (SAT) identified improper practices by parcel and courier companies in the import of various goods that seek to avoid paying the general import tax and the value added tax (VAT).”

The goods found being smuggled into the country under the SAT radar were mostly clothing, home decorations, jewelry, kitchen utensils, toys and electronics. Those goods were being brought into the country by courier and parcel companies from “foreign companies dedicated to online sales, e-commerce platforms and consignees, which, by failing to pay taxes and failing to comply with non-tariff regulations and restrictions, could incur in the crime of smuggling and tax evasion.”
SAT explained the illegal procedure as “the handling of orders that are shipped on the same day, week or month, dividing them into individual packages in which the original value of the order is undervalued, so that the value of each package does not exceed $50 United States dollars.

“Assisting, helping, aiding, collaborating, contributing, cooperating, coordinating or participating directly or indirectly to improperly apply the simplified clearance of goods through courier and parcel companies, failing to pay IGI and VAT, as well as failing to describe or incorrectly describing the products,” is considered illegal.
“Anyone who advises, counsels, provides services or participates in the performance or implementation of any of the above practices, is considered improper practice. For this reason, the SAT carries out auditing actions to strengthen surveillance and combat such practices,” they said in a statement.