The ABC of the registration with the Federal Taxpayers Registry (RFC) for those over 18 years of age in 2022

A few weeks ago, the Tax Code Updates (Miscelánea Fiscal) for the year 2022 were published, stipulating that it is a fact that all Mexican citizens over 18 years old must register with the Federal Taxpayers Registry (RFC), due to the addition of the 5th paragraph of section A of Art. 27 of the Federal Tax Code, which states that:

«Individuals of legal age must request their registration with the Federal Taxpayers Registry. In the case of individuals without economic activities, said registration will be made under the heading “Registration of individuals without economic activity”, in accordance with the Regulations of this Code, so they will not acquire the obligation to file returns or pay contributions and they will not be applicable sanctions, including that provided for in article 80, section I, of this Code »

The reasons that gave rise to this addition are mainly to “promote the tax culture among young people” and “facilitate their incorporation into the labor field”, however, the head of the Tax Administration Service (SAT) in her appearance before the Commission of Finance and Public Credit of the Lower House also argued that this modification is a preventive measure to prevent young people from suffering identity theft by so-called invoicing companies, since they choose young people over 18 years old to create shell companies and when the SAT locates the person in question, verifies that it is an identity theft.

Therefore, this provision establishes the obligation to register with the RFC even when economic activities are not carried out, in this way they do not acquire the obligation to submit declarations or pay contributions. It should be noted that in this article 27 section C, referring to the powers of the authorities, section XIII was added, which establishes the possibility of canceling or suspending the RFC when it is confirmed that the taxpayer has not carried out any activity in the five previous exercises.

“In this sense, if a young person of 18 years old registers in the RFC and until the age of 23 he/she has not carried out any economic activity, the SAT has the power to cancel or suspend the RFC, so with this measure he/she will have greater control over the taxpayer base since it seeks that registered taxpayers from the age of 18 have economic activities and thus can be subject to control, although the current situation of young people is not considered, since many of them at the age of 18 barely begin their higher education and are not involved in working life,” said Jorge Flores, general accountant for the legal and business firm BC&B.

Likewise, there are other cases in which young people absorbed mainly by technology have started an economic activity through social networks, it is in this type of situation where the authority does not have the power to control them, for this reason, it is that the SAT It intends to generate a culture of contribution in accordance with what is established in Article 31 of the Constitution in its section IV. Therefore, the modification made in the financial system to report cash deposits greater than fifteen thousand pesos cannot be set aside, which seeks to link bank movements with the RFC registered in the financial system.

Registration must be initiated by pre-registration on the SAT portal, as established in the file of procedure 39 / CFF “Application for registration in the RFC of individuals”, published in Annex 1-A of the Third Resolution of Modifications to the Tax Code Update Resolution for 2021 of November 18 of this year; likewise, said procedure is concluded before the SAT offices after an appointment generated in order to obtain the Unique Acknowledgment of Registration in the RFC.

Finally, those individuals of legal age who do not register in the RFC will not be subject to any infringement, so it will be interesting to observe the effects that this new measure will generate on the taxpayer registry and if it will comply with that provided by the explanatory statement. So, without forgetting the crisis caused by appointments for procedures before the SAT, it is expected that they are prepared for the applications that will come from next year, although it is not yet defined if there is any time limit to be able to comply with this obligation”, commented Jorge Flores.