The short answer
If you bring product into Mexico by courier or parcel service and that shipment was cleared under the simplified procedure, that operation is not deductible for ISR (Mexican income tax) purposes.
This comes from article 88 bis of the Customs Law (Ley Aduanera), introduced by the reform decree published in the Federal Official Gazette on November 19, 2025, in force since January 1, 2026.
This isn't news from this week: it has applied all through 2026. We're writing about it now because it's the kind of rule that gets discovered late — when the accountant is preparing the return and asks for the pedimentos — and by then the year has already run.
What the simplified procedure is
Article 88 bis empowers the customs authority to authorize courier and parcel companies to clear the goods they transport through a simplified procedure, subject to specific registration, risk-analysis and traceability requirements.
In practice it's what lets an international parcel reach your door without you filing your own pedimento: the courier consolidates and clears under its own authorization.
Mexico's General Foreign Trade Rules set a value threshold for using it: it applies when the customs value does not exceed USD 2,500 per recipient or consignee.
It's convenient and it's fast. And that's the point: the convenience carries a tax cost that never appears on the shipping quote.
Why this matters more than it looks
There's a brand profile that falls into this without noticing: the one just starting to import, still at small volumes, bringing in samples, first production runs or urgent replenishments by courier because it's the quickest path.
Each of those shipments feels minor on its own. Added up across a year they can represent a real share of cost of goods. And if they were cleared under the simplified procedure, that amount doesn't reduce your taxable base.
The contrast is uncomfortable: the same product, from the same supplier, can be deductible or not depending on how it was cleared.
How to tell which procedure your goods came in under
This isn't settled by intuition or by which carrier delivered it. It's settled by looking at the document:
- Ask for the pedimento for each import. Not the waybill, not the courier's invoice: the pedimento. If the operation used the simplified procedure, the document reflects it.
- Check whose name it's in. Under the ordinary procedure the pedimento is in the importer's name — your company, your RFC, your registration in the importers' registry. Under the simplified one, it doesn't work that way.
- Ask your accountant before closing the fiscal year, not after. This is a tax determination specific to your operation, and it also depends on meeting the other deductibility requirements.
If your intent is to deduct, the path is the ordinary procedure with a pedimento in your own name, which means being registered in the importers' registry and working with a customs broker. That doesn't make everything automatically deductible — the other requirements still apply — but it does avoid the specific limitation in 88 bis.
When courier still makes sense
This isn't an argument for abandoning courier shipping. It's an argument for using it knowingly:
- Samples and prototypes you won't resell.
- Urgent replenishments where the cost of delay outweighs the non-deducted tax.
- Volume low enough that opening a formal import operation doesn't pay for itself yet.
Past a certain volume, the math changes. When what you bring by courier starts being sellable inventory rather than the exception, it's worth comparing against a consolidated import by container or consolidated freight: it's usually better per unit, and it comes in through the door that does allow deduction.
Frequently asked questions
So I can never deduct a courier import? The article 88 bis limitation applies to operations processed under the simplified procedure. An import that arrives by courier but is cleared under the ordinary procedure, with a pedimento in the importer's name, is assessed under the general deductibility rules. Confirm your specific case with your accountant.
Since when does it apply? Since January 1, 2026, under the decree published in the DOF on November 19, 2025.
What is the simplified procedure's value limit? The General Foreign Trade Rules place it at goods whose customs value does not exceed USD 2,500 per recipient.
Can I credit the VAT on those imports? That's a separate question from income tax and has its own treatment. We don't answer it here because it depends on the specific operation — it's exactly the kind of detail to raise with your accountant with the pedimentos in hand.
This is general logistics information, not tax advice. Deductibility decisions depend on your specific operation and are determined by your accountant or tax advisor.
When volume justifies bringing product in formally, here's how we support importing and warehousing from the moment goods are released.