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Future Retiree

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  1. Thanks. As I (very much not an expert, which is why I asked the original question), Mexican law generally says that you almost always owe income taxes on income from Mexican sources even if you are a nonresident. Makes sense. If you are a non-citizen resident of Mexico, you owe taxes on worldwide income (with possible exceptions for social security and possibly pensions). Their definition of "resident" seems to be either that you spend more than 183 days in the country OR your "center of vital interests" is in Mexico (which I believe means main home, bank accounts, any brick-and-mortar business, etc.). If that is the case, you are probably a resident even if you spend less than 183 days in the country. There is a tax treaty between the U.S. and Mexico which is supposed to eliminate the danger of double taxation, even though the U.S. normally taxes citizens on worldwide income. As far as I can see, the main concern for people working remotely from Mexico for U.S. companies (apart from the hassle and probable expense of figuring out the paperwork at tax time) is that for what would be fairly modest salaries by U.S. standards can be relatively high by Mexican standards, and since Mexican income taxes are progressive, Mexican taxes are likely to be higher for those individuals. But, as others have pointed out, this is obviously an evolving situation. I don't think any of the law really contemplated the issue of remote work via the internet), and certainly nobody was expecting a pandemic. So it may well be (although I don't know this) that for practical reasons, the Mexican government has made a decision not to prioritize collecting taxes from people in this situation. But I really have no idea about that, and while I might not worry about things too much for an extra few months in Mexico, I wouldn't be willing to count on the situation's continuing this way forever. Thanks to all who have replied.
  2. Many thanks. I am in almost exactly the same situation, so I very much appreciate your reply.
  3. Thanks. You're the second person in this thread who has mentioned her. I'm not actually in the Guadalajara area at the moment, but I will definitely try to get in touch with her. I appreciate the guidance.
  4. Okay, thanks for the reply, even though it makes no sense at all.
  5. Thanks. Maybe I'm paranoid, but as I said, I'm willing to take the what-they-don't-know-won't-hurt-them approach short-term, but not if I'm planning to make living in Mexico. (And you might be surprised. There are cases of U.S. companies monitoring IP addresses to find out where their employees are working from. That's not an issue for me, fortunately.) Thanks for mentioning that. An excellent point. However, it turns out that yes, based on savings rather than income, I would qualify for residencia temporal. That shouldn't be an issue. (Of course, if I were depending on the income from remote work to meet the requirements, that would open another can of worms. In that position, one would have to assume that the MigraciĆ³n people and the SAT people (or their computers) don't talk to each other. And just in case there's any doubt, I'm not trying to avoid paying taxes I owe or get away with anything. I just want to have an official, clear idea of where I stand.
  6. Hi. I (from the U.S.) am starting to make plans to move to Mexico long-term. But there is an issue I need an authoritative answer to, and despite my best efforts, I'm not finding anything definitive on the Internet. Basically, I want to know if a U.S. citizen living in Mexico and doing remote work (freelancing and other) for U.S. people and entities owes Mexican income taxes. Many people say no, but my reading of Mexican tax law would strongly suggest that they do. Opinions are all over the map. A lot of people advice just not worrying about it or asking too many questions, which I might be willing to do for a year, but not forever. Before I commit to pulling up stakes and moving to Mexico long term (or even permanently), I need to have a clear answer to this. Any thoughts on how I could go about getting one? If you have suggestions for an attorney or tax professional in Mexico who could help me, I would love to hear them. (I speak Spanish, so language is not an issue.) And if you are such a person yourself, I would be interesting in arranging a short consultation. Thanks for any guidance.
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