Crypto taxes in Mexico: rates, rules and open questions

People searching for "Mexico crypto tax rate" usually expect a single number. There isn't one. Mexico's income tax law has no crypto chapter, the SAT (Mexico's tax authority) has not issued a crypto-specific rule that we could find, and the most cited reference is a 2021 preliminary study by PRODECON, the taxpayer ombudsman, which binds nobody.

What follows is the interpretation most Mexican accountants work with, clearly flagged where the ground is soft, plus the extra questions foreigners face. It is not tax advice. If the amounts matter to you, money is well spent on a contador (accountant) who has filed virtual-asset income before, ideally one who also understands your home country's rules.

First question: are you a Mexican tax resident?

For expats this matters more than any rate. Under the Federal Tax Code, an individual is generally a Mexican tax resident if they have their home in Mexico. If you have a home in two countries, the test moves to where your "center of vital interests" is, for example where more than half your income comes from or where your main professional activity takes place. Treaties, including the one between Mexico and the US, add tie-breaker rules.

Two consequences follow. A residency visa and tax residency are separate things: a temporary resident who keeps a home and income abroad may not be a Mexican tax resident, while someone on a tourist entry who has effectively moved here might be. And Mexican tax residents are taxed on worldwide income, so a gain on Coinbase or Kraken counts just like one on a Mexican exchange. Non-residents are taxed in Mexico mainly on Mexican-source income; whether a crypto sale by a non-resident is Mexican-source is not clearly addressed anywhere we found. If your status is unclear, settle that first with a cross-border accountant.

How the SAT is expected to treat a crypto sale

In November 2021 PRODECON published its preliminary study on the tax nature of cryptocurrencies. Its main conclusion: when an individual sells crypto, it is an enajenación de bienes, a disposal of movable property, in the same family as selling a car or a painting. That puts crypto into an existing chapter of the income tax law rather than a new one.

PRODECON defends taxpayers; it doesn't collect tax. Its study guides practice but doesn't bind the SAT or the courts. It is still the closest thing to an official position, and Forvis Mazars notes that the 2026 tax miscellany (RMF) added no crypto rules. One detail catches people out: under PRODECON's reading, tax arises when you sell even if the pesos stay on the exchange. Withdrawing to a bank is not the trigger; the sale is.

What counts as a taxable event

Tax applies when you give up crypto in exchange for something. In practice:

• Buying and holding: no tax until you dispose of it.
• Selling for pesos or dollars: taxable on the gain. This is the core case.
• Swapping one coin for another: commonly treated as a permuta (barter), meaning a disposal at the moment of the swap. It isn't expressly regulated.
• Paying for something with crypto: a disposal, same logic as a sale.
• Being paid in crypto for work or for goods you sell: income at the value received, under the rules of your activity.
• Mining and staking: possibly income on receipt; there is no rule, only general principles.
• Moving coins between your own wallets: not a disposal. Keep the transaction record so you can show it was a transfer, not a sale.

Working out your gain

The basic formula is proceeds minus cost. Cost includes what you paid plus buying fees; proceeds are net of selling fees. PRODECON also mentions that the cost can be adjusted for inflation, which trims the gain when you held for a long time.

A simple example: you bought bitcoin for MXN 40,000 including fees and later sold it, receiving MXN 55,000 after fees. Your gain is MXN 15,000. If you bought in several lots at different prices and sold only part, you need a way to assign cost. Two methods are common: first in, first out (FIFO), where the oldest coins are treated as sold first, and average cost, where you divide everything you paid by everything you bought.

The SAT doesn't prescribe either for crypto. Treat them as a reasonable way to keep your books, not as an official rule. Pick one, apply it every year, and be able to back each number with records. If you trade in dollars, convert each trade into pesos at the exchange rate for that date and note the source you used.

The current ISR rate table

A crypto gain has no rate of its own. It is added to your other income for the year, such as salary or freelance fees, and the total is taxed under the progressive table in Article 152 of the income tax law. For 2026 the table was updated by a factor of 1.1321 because cumulative inflation passed 10%, and it was published in Annex 8 of the RMF.

What matters is your marginal rate, the bracket your last peso of income falls into. With MXN 300,000 of other income plus a MXN 15,000 gain, you stay in the 21.36% bracket, so the gain adds about MXN 3,204 of tax. A large gain can push you into a higher bracket, which is worth simulating before you sell.

Where the "20%" comes from

Spanish-language sites often say crypto "pays 20%". The law does provide a 20% provisional payment on the gross amount of a sale of goods. PRODECON mentions it for sales to a company, which withholds it when the deal exceeds MXN 227,400. That payment is credited against the real tax in your annual return. When you sell on an exchange, normally nobody withholds anything and the tax is settled in April.

The 3-UMA exemption is disputed

Some advisers apply an exemption for gains on movable goods (Article 93, section XIX(b) of the income tax law): the year's gain is exempt up to three times the annual UMAUnidad de Medida y Actualización: a peso reference value used for fines, thresholds and exemptions. The 2026 annual UMA is MXN 42,794.64., which in 2026 is MXN 128,383.92. The SAT has not confirmed that it applies to crypto, and some specialists won't use it. If your accountant does, ask for the reasoning in writing and keep full cost records. Skipping a filing because "I made less than 128k" is the risky version of this idea.

IVA (VAT) is unsettled

The VAT law says nothing about virtual assets. Some specialists argue a sale of goods carries 16% IVA unless expressly exempt; others argue a crypto sale shouldn't. There's no official criterion, so don't treat "crypto is VAT-exempt" as fact. Platform fees normally do carry IVA. For occasional sellers this matters less than income tax; for anyone running crypto as a business it can matter a lot.

Losses and frequent trading

Keep records of losses as carefully as gains. The income tax law allows losses on disposals of goods to be used under certain conditions, but how that works for crypto, and against which income, is a technical question for your accountant. Offsetting a crypto loss directly against salary generally doesn't work.

PRODECON's study had occasional sellers in mind. If you tradeBuying and selling frequently to profit from short-term price moves. habitually, the SAT may treat it as a business activity with monthly provisional payments. Companies pay 30% on taxable profit under the general regime. Large trades often go through OTC desks; our OTC guide covers how settlement works.

What the SAT can already see

"The SAT will never know" is an increasingly bad bet:

• AML reports. Platforms serving Mexicans file reports for operations from 210 UMA (MXN 24,635.10 at 2026 values) or with fees of 4 UMA or more. The legal guide explains the rules.
• Your bank. Every SPEI transfer from an exchange to your Mexican account shows the sender's name.
• Platform data access. From 1 April 2026, Article 30-B of the Federal Tax Code requires digital platforms to give the SAT permanent, real-time online access to their transaction data. Whether crypto exchanges fall under that definition, which targets digital-services platforms, is unclear.
• CARF. In November 2023 Mexico joined the commitment to the OECD's CARFCrypto-Asset Reporting Framework: an OECD standard under which crypto service providers report client transactions to tax authorities, which exchange the data between countries., and Finance Ministry officials said it would enter Mexican law from 2027. Once live, exchanges abroad will report Mexican residents' activity to their own tax authorities, which pass it on.

Binance is a common question. Its peso arm, Medá, is a CNBV-licensed Mexican entity, and as a platform serving Mexicans Binance falls under the AML reporting rules. What it won't do is calculate your tax or issue a Mexican tax certificate. Our Binance review covers how Medá works.

How to file

Individuals file the annual return in April of the following year on the SAT portal, using an RFC (tax ID) and either a password or an e.firma (electronic signature). Prepare the numbers first.

US citizens and other foreigners

US citizens and green-card holders owe US tax on worldwide income wherever they live, so a crypto sale in Mexico is also reportable to the IRS. If you are a Mexican tax resident too, both countries may tax the same gain; foreign tax credits and the US–Mexico treaty are the usual tools to avoid paying twice. US reporting forms such as FBAR, Form 8938 and the broker statements issued by US exchanges are outside the scope of this guide. A cross-border accountant can tell you which apply.

Canadians, Britons and other Europeans should check whether their home country still considers them resident. Leaving a country doesn't automatically end your tax ties to it, and some countries tax gains on assets you held before you left.

Receiving crypto from abroad. Family remittances are generally not taxed for the recipient in Mexico, although we found no official position on stablecoin remittances. Selling the USDT you received is a disposal; if you sell at the value it arrived at, the gain is minimal, but keep the record. See the remittance guide for routes and costs.

Finding the right accountant

If you've bought a few hundred dollars of bitcoin and haven't sold, you don't need anyone yet, just keep your records. We strongly recommend a contador if you sold at a gain of tens of thousands of pesos, made many swaps, earn in crypto, mine or stake, or moved countries during the year. Ask whether they have filed virtual-asset income before, which cost method they use, whether they apply the 3-UMA exemption and why, and how they treat swaps. For expats, a bilingual firm that also prepares US or Canadian returns saves a lot of back-and-forth.

When you're ready to cash out, the guide to selling crypto in Mexico compares bank withdrawals and leaves a clean trail for every trade.

Stuck on terms like cost basis, CARF or UMA? The crypto glossary explains them in plain English.