How to Report Bitcoin to the SAT in Mexico: 2026 Guide

Summary: If you are a Mexican tax resident who sold, swapped, or spent bitcoin, start with a complete transaction history and a peso-denominated calculation for each disposal. Then have a Mexican tax accountant determine the applicable income-tax regime, any provisional payment, and the entries for your annual return. Mexico's Income Tax Law (LISR) has no chapter written specifically for cryptocurrency. Prodecon, the taxpayer ombudsman, has published a preliminary view that individuals' cryptocurrency sales belong under the rules for disposal of assets (enajenación de bienes). That view is useful guidance, though it does not settle every transaction or bind the SAT. This article explains the records to collect and the questions to resolve before filing. If another country also taxes you, review those obligations separately.

When can bitcoin create taxable income?

Buying bitcoin and continuing to own it generally creates no disposal. A sale for pesos, an exchange for another asset, or a purchase paid in bitcoin can create income that must be analyzed for ISR. Moving bitcoin between wallets you own ordinarily leaves ownership with you; keep enough records to show the source and destination of the transfer.

Under the LISR's general disposal rules, a barter (permuta) is treated as two disposals. Applying that rule to a bitcoin swap or payment means recording the peso value of what you gave up and the asset or service you received at the time of the transaction. The SAT has no bitcoin-specific filing instructions that resolve every variation of these transactions. Discuss unusual swaps, gifts, and business payments with your accountant. See the Mexico crypto tax guide for broader context. LISR, article 119; Prodecon's preliminary study.

Gather your records before opening the SAT portal

For each tax year, assemble:

• Purchases and disposals: Date, time, bitcoin amount, value in pesos, trading fees, and transaction reference for every purchase, sale, swap, or payment. Export histories from every exchange or service you used.
• Bank and platform evidence: Statements, invoices or other transaction documents, and SPEI receipts that connect pesos entering and leaving your accounts to the corresponding trades.
• Wallet movements: Transaction IDs, addresses, and your own notes identifying transfers between accounts or wallets you control.
• Foreign-currency values: The original amount, the peso conversion, the rate's source, and the date or time used. Ask your accountant to choose a defensible, consistent conversion approach.
• Remaining bitcoin: Units held at 31 December and the purchase records supporting their cost for future disposals.

If you buy or sell through Aureo, your transaction history shows the amount, date, and fee in pesos. Communicating with tax advisors about Bitcoin also provides a summary template and spreadsheet model.

Calculate the gain under the disposal-of-assets approach

If your accountant concludes that Title IV, Chapter IV of the LISR applies, articles 119 to 124 govern the disposal calculation. In simplified form:

Gain = peso value received − allowable updated acquisition cost − allowable commissions

Article 121 permits a documented acquisition cost and commissions paid by the seller in connection with acquiring or disposing of the asset. The statute also provides for updating qualifying acquisition costs and commissions for inflation. A single subtraction of the original peso cost from the sale proceeds may therefore differ substantially from the statutory calculation. LISR, articles 120–124.

Three issues need particular care:

1. Inflation adjustment and the 10% annual cost reduction

Article 124 says that, for movable assets other than securities and equity interests, the acquisition cost is generally reduced by 10% for each year between purchase and disposal. The resulting cost is then updated for inflation from the purchase month to the month immediately before the disposal. If more than ten years have passed, that provision treats the asset as having no acquisition cost. These rules matter only if the relevant movable-asset classification applies to your bitcoin transaction.

The same article allows qualifying assets that do not lose value over time to avoid the annual reduction, subject to the regulation. Article 210 of the LISR regulation names certain assets that receive this treatment and requires prior tax-authority authorization for other assets. Bitcoin is not among the assets it names. Ask your accountant whether the movable-asset rule applies and what documentation or authorization would support a different treatment. LISR, article 124; LISR regulation, article 210.

2. Matching sales to purchases

If you bought bitcoin at several prices, you need a documented method for identifying which acquisition cost belongs to the units disposed of. The Chapter IV provisions do not prescribe a bitcoin-specific FIFO or weighted-average rule. Show your accountant your transaction history and ask which method your facts support. Apply the chosen treatment consistently and retain the underlying purchase records.

3. Holding period in the annual calculation

Article 120 divides a Chapter IV gain by the number of years between acquisition and disposal, with a maximum of 20 years, and sets out how the resulting portions enter the annual tax calculation. This is more involved than adding the entire gain to salary or other income and applying one marginal rate. Ask how the provision applies to your transactions, particularly when a sale contains bitcoin bought on different dates. LISR, article 120.

If a sale produces a loss, keep its calculation and ask how it can be treated. The specific loss-offset rules in articles 121 and 122 name real estate, shares, equity interests, and certain certificates. They do not expressly give ordinary movable assets the same treatment. See tax loss offsetting for bitcoin in Mexico. LISR, articles 121–122.

Could a 20% provisional payment apply?

Under the Chapter IV approach, article 126 generally sets a provisional payment for disposals of assets other than real estate at 20% of the total transaction amount. This is a payment toward the annual ISR calculation; the provision uses the gross amount at this stage. When the buyer is a Mexican resident or a foreign resident with a permanent establishment in Mexico, the buyer generally withholds it. Where the buyer is a foreign resident without a Mexican permanent establishment, the seller generally files and pays within 15 days after receiving the income. The statute also provides a route to a lower provisional payment under specified conditions.

For qualifying movable assets other than securities and equity interests, article 126 waives this withholding and provisional payment when the individual transaction is below MX$227,400. This is a provisional-payment threshold. It does not make the transaction exempt from annual ISR. Prodecon's preliminary study applies the disposal framework to cryptocurrency, but the statutory text does not resolve every question about the buyer or a platform's role in an intermediated bitcoin trade. For a transaction at or above the threshold, ask who, if anyone, must remit a payment, whether a lower payment procedure is available, and what proof you need to credit a payment or withholding in the annual return. LISR, articles 126 and 152; Prodecon's preliminary study.

Is there an exemption for smaller bitcoin gains?

Article 93(XIX)(b) provides an annual exemption for a limited amount of gain on certain movable assets. Its wording excludes shares, equity interests, securities, and the taxpayer's investments. The provision does not identify bitcoin or say that every small bitcoin gain qualifies. Ask a Mexican tax specialist whether your holdings fall within that exclusion before using the exemption. Its annual gain threshold is separate from the MX$227,400 transaction threshold for the article 126 provisional payment. LISR, articles 93 and 126.

Which part of the return applies?

The reporting category depends on the legal characterization of your activity. Discuss it before entering numbers in the SAT portal.

Prodecon's analysis rejects treating bitcoin as a currency simply to classify its sale as a foreign-exchange gain. A person's trading frequency alone does not automatically establish RESICO eligibility. If you already use RESICO, have your accountant review the interaction before assuming your bitcoin transactions belong there. LISR, articles 113-E and 141–142; Prodecon's preliminary study. Companies face a different analysis, covered in the bitcoin tax framework for corporations in Mexico.

When is the annual return due?

Article 150 generally sets an individual's annual ISR return in April of the following year. The SAT accepted 2025 annual returns during April 2026 and lists disposals of assets among the income categories that can require a return. A 2026 disposal would ordinarily enter the 2026 annual return filed in April 2027, subject to the applicable regime and the filing rules then in force. A provisional payment, where required, has its own earlier timing. RESICO taxpayers should check the applicable annual-return rules with their accountant rather than assume every RESICO case follows the same filing obligation. LISR, articles 126 and 150; SAT, who must file the 2025 annual return.

Article 150 also requires certain otherwise exempt income to be disclosed once total annual income exceeds MX$500,000. It specifically identifies categories in article 93, including exempt home-sale income under section XIX(a). It does not list the movable-asset provision in section XIX(b) in that passage. The MX$500,000 figure is not a general exemption for bitcoin profits. LISR, article 150.

How long should you keep the evidence?

Article 30 of the Federal Tax Code (CFF) generally requires tax-related documentation to be retained for five years, counted from the filing date or the date a related return should have been filed. When a document has tax effects spanning several years, the period starts with the return for the last year affected. Keep the purchase evidence for bitcoin you still hold and retain it through the later sale and its applicable record-retention period. Preserve your exports, calculation worksheets, exchange-rate sources, bank receipts, and any withholding documents. CFF, articles 28 and 30.

Do exchanges report bitcoin transactions to the SAT?

Providers covered by Mexico's anti-money-laundering rules for virtual assets must identify their customers and submit notices to the Finance Ministry through the SAT when a transaction reaches 210 UMA, or when the charge for the service reaches 4 UMA. At the 2026 daily UMA value of MX$117.31, those thresholds are MX$24,635.10 and MX$469.24, respectively. The law also addresses certain accumulated operations over six months. These are anti-money-laundering notices submitted by covered providers; they are separate from the customer's ISR return. LFPIORPI, article 17(XVI); SAT threshold table.

International automatic exchange of crypto-asset tax information is a separate system. In its list updated 14 September 2026, the OECD places Mexico among jurisdictions committed to undertaking first exchanges under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) by 2029. That timetable does not replace current Mexican filing obligations or establish that any particular exchange files each customer's income-tax return. OECD CARF commitments.

Questions to take to your accountant

1. Which LISR chapter applies to my sales, swaps, and bitcoin payments, and why?
2. If Chapter IV applies, how will we match each disposal to documented purchases and update the allowable cost and commissions?
3. Does the article 124 reduction in acquisition cost apply? Is there a legally supported way to avoid it for my holdings, including any required prior authorization?
4. How does article 120's holding-period calculation apply to my transactions?
5. For any transaction of MX$227,400 or more, does article 126 require a provisional payment or withholding? Who is responsible, and what documents support the credit on my annual return?
6. Do any of my losses qualify for a deduction or offset under the regime you recommend?
7. Could article 93(XIX)(b) apply to my facts despite its exclusion for investments?
8. Which exchange-rate source and transaction-time convention should we use for trades priced in another currency?
9. Which returns and records do you need from every exchange, bank account, and wallet?

Prepare an estimate before you file

The Aureo Bitcoin tax calculator lets you enter bitcoin disposed of, peso proceeds, cost basis, fees, and optional annual income. It runs in your browser and provides an educational estimate using the annual ISR tariff. It has no acquisition-date or disposal-date fields, so it does not perform the article 124 inflation and cost-reduction calculation or article 120's holding-period calculation. It also does not determine whether an article 126 provisional payment is required. Bring its estimate and your transaction records to your accountant for the final calculation.

Reviewed against official sources available on 25 September 2026. This article is general information for individuals and does not determine a taxpayer's legal classification or filing obligation.