Personal Items Into Mexico

The Mexican Tax Administration Service has announced that from November 1st 2011 until January 8th 2012, visitors with Mexican passports who travel to Mexico by land will be allowed to bring in $300 USD of merchandise without incurring a tax, equaling the rights for those who arrive by air or by sea.

Also, during this time, travelers from the fringe states or border region that are traveling towards the interior of Mexico can import merchandise valued up to $300 USD. This temporary rule applies to any person who introduces merchandise from another country when he or she enters Mexico or moves from the border region to the rest of the country.

Travelers (minors included) have the right to bring into Mexico their personal luggage and personal articles without paying taxes. Personal luggage and personal items are defined below:

Personal Luggage

Each passenger (minors included) can include articles that are mentioned below, new or used, as part of their personal luggage, without the payment of taxes:

• Goods for personal use, such as clothing, footwear and personal toiletries and beauty products. These must be in an amount appropriate for the duration of the trip and cannot be for commercial sale, including wedding party items and baby travel accessories, such as strollers and baby-walkers.Explanatory notes
  : When evaluating whether or not the items you are bringing are for personal use or commercial gain, they take into account the duration and the circumstances of the trip, the object of the trip, your profession, your stated activity in Mexico and the “characteristics of the passenger”. In order to bring articles for the travel, cleanliness and entertainment of a baby as part of your luggage, it is required that the baby is traveling with the passenger.
• Two photographic cameras or video recorders including 12 rolls of film or videotapes
• Photographic material printed or on film
• Three portable cell phone or of other wireless network devices
• One global positioning device (GPS)
• One portable typewriter
• One electronic calendar
• One new or used portable computer (laptop, notebook, omnibook or similar items)
• One portable copier or printer
• One portable projector
• One CD or DVD recording device

The above items can be new or used and can include their accessories.

Sport Equipment

• Two new or used portable sports items (like surfboards… )
• Four fishing rods
• Three speedboats with or without sails and their accessories
• Trophies or other awards, as long as they can be normally transported by the passenger
• One treadmill
• One exercise bike Explanatory notes
  : In order for the sport equipment to be considered part of the personal luggage of the passenger, the passenger must be able to carry it.
  Regarding trophies of sport hunting, if the trophy is a dead or dissected animal or its parts, it must be brought to the warehouse of the Customs Department for processing and import, through a customs agent. This will require paperwork, payment of corresponding taxes and fulfilling the required permissions.

Electronic and Entertainment Equipment

• Portable device for the recording or reproduction of sound or both
• Two image and digital sound recorders or reproducers or one portable reproducer of compact discs and one portable reproducer of DVD’s
• A pair of portable loudspeakers, whether new or used, and their accessories
• Five laser disks, 10 DVD disks, 30 compact disks (CD) or magnetic tapes (audiocassettes), for the reproduction of sound
• Three software packages
• Five storage devices for any electronic equipment
• Books, magazines and printed documents
• Five toys, including collectible toys
• One video game console and five video gamesExplanatory notes
  : In case of toys, if the toys are present in a package that contains more than one piece, each package will be considered as one toy.

Medical Devices

• One device for measuring blood pressure
• One device to measure glucose
• Drugs for personal use. In the case of psychotropic substances, the prescription must be available to show the agent.

Luggage

Trunks, suitcases, bags or any other article necessary for the transport of luggage. You can bring any number of trunks, suitcase, bags or any other article necessary to transfer your items. These are not taxed by the Mexican government.

Passengers over 18 years of age

• A maximum of 20 packs of cigarettes
• 25 cigars or 200 gr. of tobacco
• Up to 3 liters of alcoholic beverages and 6 liters of wine

Other Personal Items

• One telescope
• One set of binoculars
• One tent and other associate articles used for camping
• For the elderly and for people with disabilities, any items that replace or reduce their limitations, such as walkers, wheelchairs, crutches, canes or similar items
• Two musical instruments and their accessoriesExplanatory notes
  : As for the musical instruments to be considered as part of the personal luggage they must be portable, which means the passenger must be able to carry the item.

Personal Tools

• A set of hand tools including their case, which may include a drill, pliers, wrenches, dices, screwdrivers, cables, among othersExplanatory notes
  : For the tools and their cases to be considered as part of personal luggage, the passenger must be able to carry the items.

Any additional items brought by the passenger will not be considered part of their personal luggage.

In Addition To All That…

The Mexican Government grants to any person, national or foreign, the permission to bring a given quantity of merchandise into the country without paying rights or duties.

If you enter Mexico by sea or air: You are permitted to bring with you up to $300 USD (or equivalent) in one or various articles, not including beer, alcoholic beverages and wrought tobaccos.

If you enter Mexico by land: You are permitted to bring with you up to $75 USD (or equivalent) in one or various articles, not including beer, alcoholic beverages, wrought tobaccos and gasoline (you may bring in the gasoline in the gas tank of the vehicle in alignment with manufacturer’s specifications). From November 1, 2011 until January 8, 2012, that limit is raised to $300 USD for anyone with a Mexican passport.

In all cases it is necessary to have the invoice, bill, receipt or any other document that shows the commercial value of the merchandise.

Each person in a family (father, mother and the children, including even those who are underage) gets an individual allowance, even when they arrive into Mexico simultaneously and in the same mean of transportation.

If a passenger wants to bring merchandise other than what is defined above into Mexico, they will have to import these goods and pay the corresponding taxes.

For the import of merchandise that exceeds the personal allowance, there are two procedures allowed. There is a simplified procedure for travelers, which can be handled with paperwork and payment in the Customs Office at the point of entry. This is only available if the merchandise is worth less than $3000 USD and the merchandise is not subject to restrictions. For anything that does not qualify for the simplified procedure, there is also the importation procedure, done by means of a customs declaration and transacted by a customs agent that must be hired by the importer.

The additional personal allowance is done regularly each year to facilitate families and tourists traveling in and out of Mexico during the holidays. The regular $75 personal allowance for traveling by land will be back in effect on January 9, 2012.