PEMEX Pays 8% More IEPS in 1Q23

PEMEX paid MX$27.04 billion (US$1.5 billion) to the Tax Administration Service (SAT) under the concept of Special Tax on Production and Services (IEPS) for gasoline and diesel in 1Q23. This represented a real annual increase of 8%, according to the Tax and Management Report prepared by the tax authority.

The total amount collected through IEPS on gasoline and diesel between January and March 2023 reached MX$28.84 billion (US$1.64 billion), with PEMEX contributing 90% and other participants such as Shell, British Petroleum or Repsol contributing the remaining 10% as they import and sell hydrocarbons.

Both the state-owned and private companies act as intermediaries between the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (SHCP) and the final consumer, as they collect IEPS on gasoline and later transfer it to the federal government. By the end of the first quarter of the year, the collection of IEPS on gasoline had grown by 33.6% annually. However, the amount collected did not meet the target set by the SHCP, as there was a shortfall of MX$14.284 billion (US$813 million).

The unmet collection target can be attributed to two factors. The first is the refunds and compensations of IEPS, while the second is the tax incentives for hydrocarbons. The total amount of IEPS refunds for gasoline in the first quarter of the year reached MX$6.073 billion (US$345 million), representing a real annual increase of 124%. This increase was a result of the reduction in tax incentives for gasoline, which were no longer at nearly 100% levels.

Juan Pablo López, a researcher in income and taxes at the Center for Economic and Budgetary Research (CIEP), mentioned that the main beneficiaries of the refunds are not PEMEX but other market participants. However, PEMEX does receive the majority of IEPS compensations. 

IEPS refunds to private companies amounted to MX$3.725 billion (US$212 million) in the first three months of the year, representing a real annual increase of 25%. PEMEX received refunds of MX$2.970 billion (US$169 million), compared to zero refunds in 1Q22. Meanwhile, compensation for PEMEX reached MX$18.250 billion (US$1.03 million) in 1Q23, while the NOC had no compensation recorded in the same period of the previous year.

Private companies received MX$833 million (US$47.4 million) in compensation during the mentioned period, representing a real annual contraction of 23%. Moreover, the gross collection of IEPS for PEMEX, which includes the total reductions due to refunds, compensations or regularization, grew by 93% annually in real terms. Despite the results seen in IEPS collection for PEMEX, the enterprise contributed MX$63.3 billion (US$3.6 million) to the public treasury in the 1Q23, representing a real annual contraction of 6.8%.