Recent visitors to Mexico are coming back with more than just sunburns and serapes. They’re also coming back with tales of being held up at Mexico customs by officers intent on enforcing rules that impose harsh taxes on visitors with more electronic devices than the government deems necessary.
News accounts are popping up about tourists facing hefty fines for bringing in too many laptops, iPads and similar devices. Some say they’ve been forced to pony up hundreds of dollars to get through customs on arrival.
The law states travellers face taxes of up to 19% of the deemed value of the device. But “deemed value” can be one thing to a visitor and something else entirely to a customs officer, and travel forum websites are filled with stories of people who feel they got hosed.
In a recent story at USA Today, it was reported that Florida-based travel advisor Tammy Levent brought her laptop and iPad through CUN and had to pay almost USD$200 in fines.
Levent is owner of Elite Travel Management Group and visits the Riviera Maya several times a year for work, often bringing new agents with her for training.
She told the publication that when she arrived at CUN for a recent trip, a border agent pulled out her laptop and an older iPad and told her “You can’t have both.” Levent said she’s always brought these devices with her before, and that it was never an issue.
In a story at Riviera Maya News, David Ortiz Mena, President of the Tulum Hotel Association, said it’s “incredible” that customs officers are hitting tourists with fines at a time when local authorities are trying to lure more visitors to the region.
"At the end of the day, you want tourism but you’re driving people away," she said. "You have huge companies like pharmaceutical companies... (bringing groups in) and they’re coming with laptops and iPads."
Forbes recently posted a story that says this is “happening to tourists everyday, especially at CUN, Mexico’s largest airport.”
A writer for Forbes said a friend arrived at CUN recently. A customs agent searched her bag and found an iPad and MacBook Pro, then demanded she pay 3,690 Mexican pesos (about USD$190 or CAD$255) in duty for the laptop “or kiss it goodbye.”
"This has actually been in effect for a very, very long time," Michael Boguslavskiy, a travel agent for Caballeros Vacations who specializes in Cancun trips, told USA TODAY. "It was never strongly enforced but now they are enforcing it worse than they ever have before.”
One alleged victim on Reddit said he arrived at CUN with a camera and three lenses and was forced to pay USD$200 in taxes for two more lenses than he was allowed. And that was after negotiating the original fine to a smaller amount.
Some 35,000 people fly into CUN every day. If the government hit just one per cent of those visitors with a fine of USD$200 if would mean USD$25 million a year, and that’s just for one airport.
The Mexican government’s website has a long list of items that people can bring in without paying taxes, whether items or new or second-hand. For electronics, this is what the site says is allowed: Two cameras or camcorders and camera gear; three cellphones or other wireless devices; one GPS; one electronic organizer; one laptop, notebook, omnibook or other portable computing device; one portable copier or printer; one CD burner and one portable overhead projector and its accessories.
There are tons of other limits, including four fishing rods, two musical instruments and their accessories, ten DVD’s, 30 CD’s, one pair of binoculars, and five toys, including collectibles, one videogame console and five videogames (be careful if you have kids).
On top of everything else, the language is clearly outdated. Who even owns a CD burner? And who, other than snowbirds who drive to Mexico, would take 30 CD’s or ten DVD’s?
