Desk Audit for materiality of operations: 99.92% reduction of a Presumptive Tax Contingency in Foreign Trade Matters.

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Desk Audit for materiality of operations |

99.92% reduction of a Presumptive Tax Contingency in Foreign Trade Matters.

Desk Audit for materiality of operations |

99.92% reduction of a Presumptive Tax Contingency in Foreign Trade Matters.

Summary

The purpose of the Desk Audit procedure was to verify the correct compliance with the taxpayer’s tax and customs obligations, with special emphasis on the materiality of the foreign trade operations carried out during the years subject to review. The legal defense service in charge of ST STRATEGO was developed both in the Conclusive Agreement instance before PRODECON and in the DESK AUDIT procedure itself.

 

The legal defense strategies implemented by ST STRATEGO made it possible to achieve a 99.92% reduction in the presumptive tax contingency that the Supervisory Authority had estimated at the beginning of the procedure: from an initial estimate of $1,133,410,020.31 pesos, the company only made a final payment of $862,063.86 pesos — figures that make this matter a success story that reflects the technical and legal efficiency of the firm in dealing with highly complex inspection procedures in foreign trade matters.

Background

By means of official letter number 110-04-02-00-00-2023-*** of October 26, 2023, with order number CGA190*****/23, issued by the Central Administration of Foreign Trade Operations of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), the DESK AUDIT procedure was initiated by our client in order to verify compliance with the obligations to which it is affected by: in order to verify compliance with the tax and customs provisions to which it is subject as a direct subject in matters of the following federal contributions: General Import Tax, Value Added Tax and Customs Processing Fee, as well as non-tariff regulations and restrictions, including the corresponding official Mexican standards.

 

Specifically, within the scope of the aforementioned review, 201 temporary import pedimentos were established processed within the fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

 

Following the stages corresponding to said audit procedure, on August 30, 2024, a detailed record of appearance was drawn up, by which the observations detected in the audit procedure were communicated.

 

The observations detected by the authority are made up as follows:

“… The taxpayer ***********, during the period from January 3, 2018 to April 11, 2019, the taxpayer processed 201 pedimentos, document code IN (Transfers of goods (virtual temporary importation) virtual introduction to a fiscal warehouse or to a strategic bonded area; virtual return of national suppliers), with which merchandise was imported consisting mainly of “Capacitors, thermistor, fuse, diodes, integrated circuit, steel screws” among others, with a customs value in the amount of $672,710,861.00.————————————————————–
(…)
In this way, it is necessary that, for the goods of the 201 pedimentos reviewed, it is not possible to corroborate the destination that gave them to them, which results in the omission of contributions (Customs processing fee, General Import Tax and Value Added Tax), updates, surcharges and fines; being in a position to apply a fine for the non-return of the goods in accordance with the provisions of article 182 section II, sanctioned through article 183, section III, both of the Customs Law)…”.

The tax credit estimates at that time were as follows:

(Customs processing fee, General Import Tax and Value Added Tax), updates, surcharges and fine provided for in article 182 section II, sanctioned through article 183, section III, both of the Customs Law)

(reproduced from information provided by the authority)

Based on the above, and from the moment the observations were communicated to the company, ST STRATEGO began its involvement in the matter, to provide support and Legal Defense of the audit and tax contingency procedure.

To this end, the following actions were immediately implemented:

Summary

The purpose of the Desk Audit procedure was to verify the correct compliance with the taxpayer’s tax and customs obligations, with special emphasis on the materiality of the foreign trade operations carried out during the years subject to review. The legal defense service in charge of ST STRATEGO was developed both in the Conclusive Agreement instance before PRODECON and in the DESK AUDIT procedure itself.

 

The legal defense strategies implemented by ST STRATEGO made it possible to achieve a 99.92% reduction in the presumptive tax contingency that the Supervisory Authority had estimated at the beginning of the procedure: from an initial estimate of $1,133,410,020.31 pesos, the company only made a final payment of $862,063.86 pesos — figures that make this matter a success story that reflects the technical and legal efficiency of the firm in dealing with highly complex inspection procedures in foreign trade matters.

Background

By means of official letter number 110-04-02-00-00-2023-*** of October 26, 2023, with order number CGA190*****/23, issued by the Central Administration of Foreign Trade Operations of the Tax Administration Service (SAT), the DESK AUDIT procedure was initiated by our client in order to verify compliance with the obligations to which it is affected by: in order to verify compliance with the tax and customs provisions to which it is subject as a direct subject in matters of the following federal contributions: General Import Tax, Value Added Tax and Customs Processing Fee, as well as non-tariff regulations and restrictions, including the corresponding official Mexican standards.

 

Specifically, within the scope of the aforementioned review, 201 temporary import pedimentos were established processed within the fiscal years 2018 and 2019.

 

Following the stages corresponding to said audit procedure, on August 30, 2024, a detailed record of appearance was drawn up, by which the observations detected in the audit procedure were communicated.

 

The observations detected by the authority are made up as follows:

“… The taxpayer ***********, during the period from January 3, 2018 to April 11, 2019, the taxpayer processed 201 pedimentos, document code IN (Transfers of goods (virtual temporary importation) virtual introduction to a fiscal warehouse or to a strategic bonded area; virtual return of national suppliers), with which merchandise was imported consisting mainly of “Capacitors, thermistor, fuse, diodes, integrated circuit, steel screws” among others, with a customs value in the amount of $672,710,861.00.————————————————————–
(…)
In this way, it is necessary that, for the goods of the 201 pedimentos reviewed, it is not possible to corroborate the destination that gave them to them, which results in the omission of contributions (Customs processing fee, General Import Tax and Value Added Tax), updates, surcharges and fines; being in a position to apply a fine for the non-return of the goods in accordance with the provisions of article 182 section II, sanctioned through article 183, section III, both of the Customs Law)…”.

The tax credit estimates at that time were as follows:

(Customs processing fee, General Import Tax and Value Added Tax), updates, surcharges and fine provided for in article 182 section II, sanctioned through article 183, section III, both of the Customs Law)

(reproduced from information provided by the authority)

Based on the above, and from the moment the observations were communicated to the company, ST STRATEGO began its involvement in the matter, to provide support and Legal Defense of the audit and tax contingency procedure.

To this end, the following actions were immediately implemented:

OUR APPROACH

The actions carried out by ST STRATEGO within the framework of the Legal Defense service were developed in two instances: the Conclusive Agreement procedure before the Taxpayer Defense Attorney (PRODECON) and the Desk Audit procedure.

CONCLUSIVE AGREEMENT

1.

In order to address the observations made by the Supervisory Authority through the Official Notice of Observations number 110-04-04-2024-**** dated October 15, 2024, the written request for the adoption of the Conclusive Agreement was prepared and submitted to PRODECON based in Tijuana, Baja California, on November 13, 2024. This request was formally admitted on November 19, 2024.

2.

Once the Conclusive Agreement instance was opened, ST STRATEGO prepared and presented various legal defense promotions aimed at distorting the observations raised by the authority in said instance as well as the attention of different working groups with the authority. Due to the nature of this closing report, the individual content of each promotion is not detailed; however, all the writings submitted are in the service’s file and are available to the taxpayer for consultation.

3.

It is the case that, after the corresponding procedural stages in the Conclusive Agreement, an Agreement was concluded, in the following terms:

“… SOLE: The Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade “4” of the Central Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade of the General Administration of Foreign Trade Audit, considered 48 foreign trade operations of the 201 observed to have been distorted due to the irregularity established in the official notice of observations, relating to materiality in terms of article 59, first paragraph, section IX, paragraphs a), b), c) and last paragraph of the Federal Tax Code…”

The cases that the Honorable Authority considered to have been distorted in the conclusive agreement are the following consecutive:

In view of the above, 24% of the cases observed were distorted by virtue of the interposition of the conclusive agreement.

4.

It should be noted that, once the conclusive agreement stage was concluded, the DESK AUDIT stage was REACTIVATED, which was suspended by the aforementioned procedure promoted before PRODECON.

DESK AUDIT.

Once the Desk Audit Procedure was reactivated, the following actions were carried out to disprove the rest of the persistent observations.

1.

A brief of evidence and allegations was prepared, which was presented on October 31, 2025, in the official office of the supervisory authority, formulating allegations and exhibiting the corresponding supports in order to disprove the observations.

2.

Similarly, in order to refute the persistent observations, various briefs of Legal Defense were prepared, in order to assert additional allegations and present in scope, various information and documentation supporting compliance with the obligations reviewed; to mention some of the briefs and legal steps taken, were the following:

  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on December 1, 2025.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on January 19, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on February 10, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on March 3, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on March 30, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on April 9, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on April 23, 2026.

Each of the promotions presented constituted a solid and meticulously structured legal defense strategy, which integrated the exhaustive analysis of the facts, the applicable legal grounds and all the evidence collected, systematized and evaluated by the ST STRATEGO team. Far from being mere procedural writings, each promotion was built with a high-level technical-legal approach, specifically aimed at disproving the irregularity attributed by the authority in terms of  the lack of materiality of the operations, providing on each occasion sufficient documentary, accounting and operational evidence to demonstrate the existence and real economic substance of the operations reviewed.

MANAGEMENT, INTEGRATION AND VALIDATION OF THE MEANS OF PROOF

As part of the intervention, the St. Stratego team carried out the analysis, validation and comprehensive review of the supporting documentation in foreign trade and tax matters that the client already had, corresponding to 5 fiscal years (2018-2022), in order to verify its consistency, integrity and correct correlation between the different documentary sources

FOREIGN TRADE

The St. Stratego team carried out the analysis and validation of the supporting documentation of 201 import pedimentos, through the physical review and digitization of the corresponding files, as well as the preparation of the working paper that systematized said information.

  1. As a result of this analysis, an additional 395 export pediment files were identified, linked to 2,097 invoices (remittances), on which individual review and validation was carried out, integrating for each invoice all the related supporting documents (pedimentos, invoices, exit sheets, consignment notes, delivery and purchase orders, packing lists, electronic correspondence, customs clearances, among others).
  2. Regarding the 2,097 exit sheets identified, the documentary status of each one was validated, and it was found that 35% were intact, while the remaining 65% presented various incidents (missing invoices, transfers between distribution centers, changes of carrier or scattered information), which were located, collated and regularized through the review of 1,402 exit sheets out of a total of 2,097.
  3. Likewise, the search and location of 419 missing invoices in physical and electronic files was carried out, as well as the validation of 621 consignment notes, of which the information corresponding to 31% was compared and confirmed through direct coordination with the carrier.

TAX

  1. The cross-checking and validation of 300 bank statements was carried out, corresponding to 5 fiscal years (2018 to 2022), with the purpose of referencing and validating the working papers related to income, freight, payments to the customs agent and own transportation.
  2. A total of 53,819 CFDIs and XML files issued and received during the 2018-2022 period (15,290 issued and 38,529 received) were downloaded and validated from the SAT portal, constituting the documentary basis for the analysis of income and operations.
  3. Regarding income, 731 operations were analyzed and validated, through the cross-checking between the CFDIs consulted on the SAT portal and the accounting records, integrating the supporting documentation of 17 clients into a total of 578 documents (CFDIs, XML and accounting policies).
  4. In terms of payments to the customs broker, 365 export declarations were validated along with their corresponding bank crossing, integrating and comparing a total of 8,497 supporting documents (1,458 CFDIs and XML, 3,914 accounting policies, 1,377 payment vouchers and 213 pedimentos).
  5. With regard to freight, the information on bills of lading corresponding to the 201 import declarations related to 395 export declarations was validated, comparing a total of 36,842 supporting documents (8,768 consignment notes, 9,358 CFDIs and 18,716 journal and expenditure accounting policies), including cross-referencing with bank statements.
  6. Regarding own transportation, the accounting auxiliaries of gasoline, fuels and lubricants corresponding to the years 2018, 2019 and 2021 were validated, comparing a total of 21 supporting documents.
  7. Finally, the accounting auxiliaries provided by the client for the identification of foreign trade operations were reviewed, including auxiliaries of foreign carriers and transportation equipment, carrying out the respective cross-checking in the 5 fiscal years analyzed to confirm the existence of operations with the indicated carriers.

OUR APPROACH

The actions carried out by ST STRATEGO within the framework of the Legal Defense service were developed in two instances: the Conclusive Agreement procedure before the Taxpayer Defense Attorney (PRODECON) and the Desk Audit procedure.

CONCLUSIVE AGREEMENT.

1.

In order to address the observations made by the Supervisory Authority through the Official Notice of Observations number 110-04-04-2024-**** dated October 15, 2024, the written request for the adoption of the Conclusive Agreement was prepared and submitted to PRODECON based in Tijuana, Baja California, on November 13, 2024. This request was formally admitted on November 19, 2024.

2.

Once the Conclusive Agreement instance was opened, ST STRATEGO prepared and presented various legal defense promotions aimed at distorting the observations raised by the authority in said instance as well as the attention of different working groups with the authority. Due to the nature of this closing report, the individual content of each promotion is not detailed; however, all the writings submitted are in the service’s file and are available to the taxpayer for consultation.

3.

It is the case that, after the corresponding procedural stages in the Conclusive Agreement, an Agreement was concluded, in the following terms:

“… SOLE: The Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade “4” of the Central Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade of the General Administration of Foreign Trade Audit, considered 48 foreign trade operations of the 201 observed to have been distorted due to the irregularity established in the official notice of observations, relating to materiality in terms of article 59, first paragraph, section IX, paragraphs a), b), c) and last paragraph of the Federal Tax Code…”

The cases that the Honorable Authority considered to have been distorted in the conclusive agreement are the following consecutive:

In view of the above, 24% of the cases observed were distorted by virtue of the interposition of the conclusive agreement.

4.

  1. It should be noted that, once the conclusive agreement stage was concluded, the DESK AUDIT stage was REACTIVATED, which was suspended by the aforementioned procedure promoted before PRODECON.

Revisión de Gabinete.

Once the Desk Audit Procedure was reactivated, the following actions were carried out to disprove the rest of the persistent observations.

1.

A brief of evidence and allegations was prepared, which was presented on October 31, 2025, in the official office of the supervisory authority, formulating allegations and exhibiting the corresponding supports in order to disprove the observations.

2.

Similarly, in order to refute the persistent observations, various briefs of Legal Defense were prepared, in order to assert additional allegations and present in scope, various information and documentation supporting compliance with the obligations reviewed; to mention some of the briefs and legal steps taken, were the following:

  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on December 1, 2025.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on January 19, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on February 10, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on March 3, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on March 30, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on April 9, 2026.
  • Brief of evidence and arguments filed on April 23, 2026.

Each of the promotions presented constituted a solid and meticulously structured legal defense strategy, which integrated the exhaustive analysis of the facts, the applicable legal grounds and all the evidence collected, systematized and evaluated by the ST STRATEGO team. Far from being mere procedural writings, each promotion was built with a high-level technical-legal approach, specifically aimed at disproving the irregularity attributed by the authority in terms of the lack of materiality of the operations, providing on each occasion sufficient documentary, accounting and operational evidence to demonstrate the existence and real economic substance of the operations reviewed.

MANAGEMENT, INTEGRATION AND VALIDATION OF THE MEANS OF PROOF

As part of the intervention, the St. Stratego team carried out the analysis, validation and comprehensive review of the supporting documentation in foreign trade and tax matters that the client already had, corresponding to 5 fiscal years (2018-2022), in order to verify its consistency, integrity and correct correlation between the different documentary sources

FOREIGN TRADE

The St. Stratego team carried out the analysis and validation of the supporting documentation of 201 import pedimentos, through the physical review and digitization of the corresponding files, as well as the preparation of the working paper that systematized said information.

  1. As a result of this analysis, an additional 395 export pediment files were identified, linked to 2,097 invoices (remittances), on which individual review and validation was carried out, integrating for each invoice all the related supporting documents (pedimentos, invoices, exit sheets, consignment notes, delivery and purchase orders, packing lists, electronic correspondence, customs clearances, among others).
  2. Regarding the 2,097 exit sheets identified, the documentary status of each one was validated, and it was found that 35% were intact, while the remaining 65% presented various incidents (missing invoices, transfers between distribution centers, changes of carrier or scattered information), which were located, collated and regularized through the review of 1,402 exit sheets out of a total of 2,097.
  3. Likewise, the search and location of 419 missing invoices in physical and electronic files was carried out, as well as the validation of 621 consignment notes, of which the information corresponding to 31% was compared and confirmed through direct coordination with the carrier.

TAX

  1. The cross-checking and validation of 300 bank statements was carried out, corresponding to 5 fiscal years (2018 to 2022), with the purpose of referencing and validating the working papers related to income, freight, payments to the customs agent and own transportation.
  2. A total of 53,819 CFDIs and XML files issued and received during the 2018-2022 period (15,290 issued and 38,529 received) were downloaded and validated from the SAT portal, constituting the documentary basis for the analysis of income and operations.
  3. Regarding income, 731 operations were analyzed and validated, through the cross-checking between the CFDIs consulted on the SAT portal and the accounting records, integrating the supporting documentation of 17 clients into a total of 578 documents (CFDIs, XML and accounting policies).
  4. In terms of payments to the customs broker, 365 export declarations were validated along with their corresponding bank crossing, integrating and comparing a total of 8,497 supporting documents (1,458 CFDIs and XML, 3,914 accounting policies, 1,377 payment vouchers and 213 pedimentos).
  5. With regard to freight, the information on bills of lading corresponding to the 201 import declarations related to 395 export declarations was validated, comparing a total of 36,842 supporting documents (8,768 consignment notes, 9,358 CFDIs and 18,716 journal and expenditure accounting policies), including cross-referencing with bank statements.
  6. Regarding own transportation, the accounting auxiliaries of gasoline, fuels and lubricants corresponding to the years 2018, 2019 and 2021 were validated, comparing a total of 21 supporting documents.
  7. Finally, the accounting auxiliaries provided by the client for the identification of foreign trade operations were reviewed, including auxiliaries of foreign carriers and transportation equipment, carrying out the respective cross-checking in the 5 fiscal years analyzed to confirm the existence of operations with the indicated carriers.

OUTCOME

CONCLUSION OF THE DESK AUDIT PROCEDURE.

As a result of the Legal Defense carried out, by means of official letter number 110 04 04 2026 *** dated April 27, 2026, the Central Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade of the Tax Administration Service,  resolved the conclusion of the procedure in the following terms:

a

The cases observed were considered solved, with the exception of 19 cases; on which the company opted for regularization; which it accredited through letters received on April 7 and 23, 2026, the taxpayer provided 8 key A3 pedimentos (Regularization of Goods (Definitive Importation) and that were validated by the authority.

It should be noted that the amount resulting from the regularization carried out was as follows:

Value Added Tax with its updates and surcharges, as well as the applicable fine for exceeding the return period, in a total amount of $862,063.86 (Eight hundred and seventy-two thousand sixty-three pesos 86/100 M.N.) , concepts that were made up of the following amounts.

  1. $214,624.31 (Two hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred and twenty-four pesos 31/100 M.N.) Value Added Tax omitted updated.
  2. $189,298.55 (One hundred and eighty-nine thousand two hundred ninety-eight pesos 55/100 M.N.) surcharges.
  3. $458,141.00 (Four hundred and fifty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-one pesos 00/100 M.N.) fine for exceeding the return periods.
  4. d. $862,063.86 (Eight hundred and seventy-two thousand sixty-three pesos 86/100 M.N.)

In that sense, from an initial estimate of the presumptive tax credit that the authority had determined for the amount of $1,133,410,020.31 pesos, the company only paid the amount of $862,063.86 pesos.

OUTCOME

CONCLUSION OF THE DESK AUDIT PROCEDURE.

As a result of the Legal Defense carried out, by means of official letter number 110 04 04 2026 *** dated April 27, 2026, the Central Administration of Special Operations of Foreign Trade of the Tax Administration Service,  resolved the conclusion of the procedure in the following terms:

a

The cases observed were considered solved, with the exception of 19 cases; on which the company opted for regularization; which it accredited through letters received on April 7 and 23, 2026, the taxpayer provided 8 key A3 pedimentos (Regularization of Goods (Definitive Importation) and that were validated by the authority.

It should be noted that the amount resulting from the regularization carried out was as follows:

Value Added Tax with its updates and surcharges, as well as the applicable fine for exceeding the return period, in a total amount of $862,063.86 (Eight hundred and seventy-two thousand sixty-three pesos 86/100 M.N.), concepts that were made up of the following amounts.

  1. $214,624.31 (Two hundred and fourteen thousand six hundred and twenty-four pesos 31/100 M.N.) Value Added Tax omitted updated.
  2. $189,298.55 (One hundred and eighty-nine thousand two hundred ninety-eight pesos 55/100 M.N.) surcharges.
  3. $458,141.00 (Four hundred and fifty-eight thousand one hundred and forty-one pesos 00/100 M.N.) fine for exceeding the return periods.
  4. d. $862,063.86 (Eight hundred and seventy-two thousand sixty-three pesos 86/100 M.N.)

In that sense, from an initial estimate of the presumptive tax credit that the authority had determined for the amount of $1,133,410,020.31 pesos, the company only paid the amount of $862,063.86 pesos.

Conclusion

The present case reaffirms the technical and legal capacity of ST STRATEGO in the attention of highly complex inspection procedures in matters of foreign trade, customs and federal taxes. As a firm specialized in Tax and Customs Legal Defense, we have proven experience in the public and private sectors, which allows us to understand the procedure of the supervisory authority from both perspectives and design effective defense strategies before Desk Audit procedures, Home Visits and other inspection acts, as well as in alternative resolution instances such as the Conclusive Agreement before PRODECON.

Our work processes are certified under the ISO 9001:2015 Standard, which guarantees our clients the rigorous, traceable and consistent handling of each file, from the integration and validation of documents to the construction of the legal strategy and its follow-up until the favorable resolution of the matter.

Cases like the present one show that the legal and financial certainty of a company before the tax authority is achievable when it has the appropriate technical support; at ST STRATEGO, the peace of mind and security of our clients are the reason for our daily work.

Conclusion

The present case reaffirms the technical and legal capacity of ST STRATEGO in the attention of highly complex inspection procedures in matters of foreign trade, customs and federal taxes. As a firm specialized in Tax and Customs Legal Defense, we have proven experience in the public and private sectors, which allows us to understand the procedure of the supervisory authority from both perspectives and design effective defense strategies before Desk Audit procedures, Home Visits and other inspection acts, as well as in alternative resolution instances such as the Conclusive Agreement before PRODECON.

Our work processes are certified under the ISO 9001:2015 Standard, which guarantees our clients the rigorous, traceable and consistent handling of each file, from the integration and validation of documents to the construction of the legal strategy and its follow-up until the favorable resolution of the matter.

Cases like the present one show that the legal and financial certainty of a company before the tax authority is achievable when it has the appropriate technical support; at ST STRATEGO, the peace of mind and security of our clients are the reason for our daily work.