What you must know about the issuance of the CFDI and the complemento Carta Porte

Find out everything you need to know about the issuance of the Invoices with Complemento Carta Porte.  

To validate the contract between a carrier and its client, you need a transport document called Carta Porte. Other names for it are Comprobante para Amparar al Transporte de Mercancías Digital por Internet and Comprobante Fiscal Digital por Internet (CFDI). This document certifies the carrier’s taking responsibility for the merchandise and for its shipping. 

Complement to the transit document

Last  May 1st, the Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) published the complemento Carta Porte. This document requests additional information regarding the goods or merchandise, the places of origin, intermediate points, destinations, and means of transportation, as well as information concerning the transportation of hydrocarbons and petroleum products, where applicable.          

The purpose of the new regulation is to prevent smuggling and informal shipping and service contracting. The CFDI with the complemento Carta Porte must be produced prior to the shipping of goods through national territory. The information that this document must provide depends on who is taking part in the operation, the means of transportation, and what type the CFDI is: of income or of transfer. What is the difference between these two, and who must issue them?          

1. CFDI of transfer

Owners of domestic goods may prove their transportation via land cargo services on federal highways by means of a CFDI of the transfer type. The incorporation of the complemento Carta Porte will validate the legal possession and shipping of the goods. This document must be issued by:

• The owners of goods or merchandise, when using their own means of transportation.   
• The intermediary or the transportation agent, when providing logistic services for the shipping of goods or merchandise, or if it has been given the mandate to act on behalf of the client.

2. CFDI of income

Taxpayers whose activity is to provide cargo transportation services must issue the CFDI of Income, which covers the provision of this type of service and its remuneration, to which they must add the complemento Carta Porte. It is important to mention that this CFDI of Income type incorporating the “Bill of Lading” complement, will serve to cover the legal possession of the merchandise. This document must be issued by:

The transportation service provider as long as he was hired for the goods or merchandise transportation.

Fines and penalties

The carrier can be sanctioned by the authority with a fine of 17 thousand to 93 thousand 330 pesos if:

• He does not deliver the CFDI with complement Carta Porte to his clients.
• He delivers it, but it does not meet the legal requirements.

In the event of repeated offenses, the tax authorities will have the power to preventively close the taxpayer’s establishment for a period that can go from three to fifteen days, according to article 75 of the Código Fiscal de la Federación.

Carriers ask for an extension

The complemento Carta Porte came into effect on June 1; however, members of the Cámara de Autotransporte de Carga (CANACAR) asked the SAT to implement it until October 1. The postponement was agreed upon after roundtables with this institution, which included the participation of transport service providers of different modalities from the private sector, as well as carriers.

At a meeting attended by representatives of CANACAR with the head of the SAT, Raquel Buenrostro, the following agreements were defined:

• Publication of the agreed changes to the CFDI before September 15.
• Extension of the implementation of the complement Carta Porte until November 30.
• A trial period from December 1 to December 31.
• It should be mandatory from January 1, 2022.
• The planning of new meetings during the extension period, in the legal, regulatory, and security orders, to adjust all the details that allow the correct application of the complemento Carta Porte complement.
• The development of a free mobile application to facilitate compliance with the new measure for small carriers.