SAT Best Practices for Transparency in Audit Processes

At the beginning of 2026, the Tax Administration Service (SAT) announced its “best practices for transparency in audit processes.”

In an official statement, the tax authority highlighted the best transparency practices that will be applied in 2026 in tax audit and/or review processes, in order to provide legal certainty and fair and equitable conditions for investment and compliance with tax obligations.

In support of this, the SAT reported the following:

·         The 2026 Master Plan “Taxpayer Services and Auditing” will be published.

·         In cases of non-compliance with tax payments, only one audit will be conducted on the taxpayer.

·         In audit processes, only a sample of the items subject to review will be requested, not all the information.

In the case of tax audits, the review will focus on taxpayers exhibiting risky behaviors, such as: issuance and handling of false invoices; recurring tax losses; simulation of tax transactions; undeclared income; abuse of tax incentives; inconsistencies between imports, purchases, and sales; imports at below-market prices and non-compliance with non-tariff regulations or restrictions; failure to pay withholding taxes; improper refund requests; etc.

Finally, the tax authority established that it would guarantee the consistent application of criteria in all offices nationwide regarding audit procedures, particularly in areas such as discounts, unidentified deposits, materiality, marketing, imports, non-tariff regulations, as well as permits, certifications, and authorizations related to foreign trade.

Regarding tax refunds, it is assured that the average processing time will be 5 days for individuals and 30 days for corporations, within the legal timeframe of 40 business days.