Every month your company pays IVA (Mexican VAT) on almost everything it buys: goods, rent, services, assets. And every month it collects IVA on what it sells. The difference between the two is what you report to the SAT. But when the IVA you paid (creditable) exceeds the IVA you collected, the equation flips: the SAT owes you. That's your credit balance.
Why does it build up?
A credit balance isn't a sign that something is wrong: it's the natural consequence of certain business models. The most common cases:
- You export: foreign sales are taxed at 0%, but your domestic purchases pay 16%.
- You sell 0%-rated products: food, medicine and other items under article 2-A of the IVA Law.
- You're investing heavily: machinery, equipment, remodeling — lots of IVA paid before sales ramp up.
- Your inventory grows faster than your sales: you buy today what you'll sell in months.
It's your money, not a prize
The most expensive mistake companies make is treating the credit balance as a decorative number on the return. It's liquid money you can recover through a refund, or apply against other taxes through compensation. Leaving it asleep is giving the SAT an interest-free loan.
A credit balance that goes unclaimed for 5 years expires. After that, the money is no longer yours.
How do you recover it?
With a refund claim on the SAT portal, backed by a file proving every peso of creditable IVA is real: valid CFDIs, traceable suppliers, bank-documented payments and materiality of operations. The SAT has 40 business days to resolve — if the file is properly built from the start.
