Crypto Taxation in Mexico: How Income and Capital Gains Are Treated

• DATE: 9 01 26
• BY: Stellan Marwick

Buying Bitcoin in Mexico doesn’t mean you’re tax-free. Even though the government doesn’t have a special law just for crypto, your gains still count as income-and you owe taxes on them. If you sold Ethereum for pesos, traded Dogecoin for Solana, or used Bitcoin to pay for groceries, you triggered a taxable event. There’s no gray area here: the Mexican tax system sees crypto as intangible movable property, not money. That changes everything.

When You Owe Tax on Crypto

You don’t pay tax just because your Bitcoin went up in value. Taxes kick in only when you dispose of it. That means:

• Selling crypto for Mexican pesos
• Trading one crypto for another (like BTC for ETH)
• Using crypto to buy goods or services
• Gifting or transferring ownership

Even buying coffee with Litecoin counts. The moment you spend it, the IRS-style rule applies: you’re selling that Litecoin at its market value at the time of the transaction. If you bought it for 2,000 pesos and spent it when it was worth 5,000 pesos, you just made a 3,000-peso gain-and that’s taxable.

Staking rewards, airdrops, and mining income? Those count too. When you receive them, they’re treated as income at their fair market value in pesos on the day you get them. Later, if you sell or trade those rewards, you’ll owe capital gains on any increase since you received them.

How Much Tax You Pay

There’s no separate capital gains rate in Mexico. All income-whether from a salary, freelance work, or crypto-is taxed under the same progressive system.

For individuals: Rates range from 1.92% to 35%, depending on your total annual income. But here’s the catch: you get a yearly exemption of up to 90,000 pesos (about $4,000 USD) on capital gains from movable property, including crypto. That means if your total crypto profits for the year are under that amount, you pay nothing. If you made 120,000 pesos in gains, you only pay tax on 30,000 pesos.

For companies: It’s simpler. All crypto profits are taxed at a flat 30%, no matter how long you held the asset. Short-term trades? Long-term holds? Doesn’t matter. 30% is the number.

There’s no distinction between short-term and long-term gains like in the U.S. Holding Bitcoin for five years doesn’t lower your tax bill. The only thing that matters is whether you sold it-and how much you made.

What You Must Track

The Mexican tax authority (SAT) doesn’t give you a checklist. But if you’re audited, you’ll need proof. That means keeping records for every single transaction:

• Date and time of purchase
• Amount of crypto bought
• Cost in pesos (based on exchange rate at the time)
• Source of funds (bank transfer, wallet, etc.)
• Date and time of sale or trade
• Amount received in pesos or other crypto
• Market value in pesos at time of disposal
• Name of counterparty (exchange, person, merchant)

Most people use multiple wallets and exchanges. That makes tracking messy. The standard method for calculating cost basis is First-In-First-Out (FIFO). So if you bought 1 BTC in January for 200,000 pesos and another in June for 250,000 pesos, and you sell 1 BTC in December, the tax system assumes you sold the first one you bought.

Exchange rates matter. You can’t just use the price on CoinMarketCap. You need to use the rate from the exchange where you traded, or a reliable public source like the Bank of Mexico’s daily rate. If you used Binance to trade ETH for USDT, use Binance’s rate at the exact time of the trade.

Reporting Requirements

There’s no crypto-specific tax form. You report crypto gains on your annual income tax return under “other income” or “capital gains from movable assets.”

But there’s another layer: anti-money laundering rules. If you transact more than 65,000 pesos (roughly $3,500 USD) in crypto in a single transaction or cumulatively in a month, the exchange or service provider must report it to the Ministry of Finance. That doesn’t mean you’re under suspicion-it’s just standard procedure. But if you’re doing small trades across multiple wallets to avoid reporting, that’s risky. The system is designed to catch patterns, not just single transactions.

Non-residents don’t pay Mexican tax on crypto sales-even if they traded with a Mexican exchange. But if you’re a Mexican citizen or resident, you owe tax on worldwide crypto gains. That includes trades made while traveling abroad.

What’s Not Covered

There’s no official guidance on many real-world crypto activities:

• How to value tokens from DeFi protocols
• Whether a hard fork creates taxable income
• How to handle lost private keys or hacked wallets
• Whether NFT sales are treated as capital gains or business income

Tax professionals in Mexico say the safest approach is to treat everything as taxable unless you have clear proof otherwise. If you received a new token from a hard fork, record its value on the day you gained control. If you lost crypto, don’t assume you can deduct it-Mexico doesn’t allow loss deductions for lost or stolen crypto unless it’s part of a formal legal claim, which is rare.

How Mexico Compares to Other Countries

Compared to Latin America, Mexico’s rules are middle-of-the-road. El Salvador made Bitcoin legal tender in 2021 but removed that status in January 2025-now it’s taxed like any other asset. Argentina offered a one-time amnesty for crypto holdings declared before March 31, 2025, to bring hidden assets into the system. Brazil taxes crypto at 15% for gains over 35,000 BRL per month.

Mexico’s 35% top rate is high, but the 90,000-peso exemption helps small traders. The lack of a long-term discount hurts investors who hold for years. The real burden? The reporting complexity. Unlike countries with dedicated crypto tax software integration, Mexico forces you to manually track every trade across platforms.

What to Do Now

Don’t wait for a tax notice. If you’ve traded crypto in Mexico since 2024:

1. Export all transaction history from every exchange and wallet you used
2. Convert every buy/sell to pesos using the exchange rate at the time
3. Calculate your total gains for 2025 using FIFO
4. Subtract the 90,000-peso exemption if you’re an individual
5. Include crypto income in your 2025 annual tax return due by April 30, 2026

Use a spreadsheet or free crypto tax tool (like Koinly or CoinTracker) to help organize data. Don’t rely on exchange summaries-they often don’t include transfers between wallets or DeFi interactions.

If you’re unsure, hire a tax advisor who’s handled crypto cases before. Most accountants in Mexico still treat crypto as a mystery. Find one who’s read the Fintech Law and understands Article 758 of the Federal Civil Code.

The government isn’t going to send you a crypto tax guide. You’re responsible for figuring it out. But if you keep clean records and report honestly, you’re doing more than most. And in Mexico’s evolving crypto landscape, that’s the best protection you can have.