While Upwork is your home for work, we know that your physical home could be anywhere in the 180+ countries where we operate. Because each country has its own rules and regulations, some users have taxes that are specific to their location.
In Mexico, this includes an income tax on digital services that we are required by Mexican law to withhold from the earnings of freelancers and agencies.
The great news is that you have total control over whether we withhold 1% or 20% of your earnings on Upwork. Because we hope to withhold as little as possible, we urge you to add your RFC (Clave en el Registro Federal de Contribuyentes) number, if you haven't already.
If you add your RFC and it matches the Mexican Tax Administration Service's (Servicio de Administración Tributaria/SAT) records, we will only be required to withhold 1% of your earnings instead of 20%. To enter your RFC number, go to your account's Tax information.
Mexican income tax
In Mexico, income tax withholding is a means of collecting a portion of the income tax owed by Mexican taxpayers on identified transactions.
Legislation that became effective as of June 1, 2020, and was modified effective January 1, 2021 (the Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal), requires businesses like us to collect income tax on the earnings of service providers who are based in Mexico, such as freelancers and agencies who use Upwork.
This means that if you are based in Mexico, we are required to withhold this tax from your earnings. We remit what we collect to the Mexican government.
The amount to be collected from your earnings is determined by whether you provide a Clave en el Registro Federal de Contribuyentes (RFC) number to Upwork.
How Mexican income tax withholding works
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A 1.0% tax will be withheld from your earnings if you have provided an RFC number to Upwork and it matches the Mexican Tax Administration Service's (Servicio de Administración Tributaria/SAT) records
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A 20.0% tax will be withheld from your earnings if you have not provided your RFC or your RFC has been rejected
NOTE
You will be able to claim a tax credit or refund from the Mexican government should you pay more taxes than required. (Since we’re not tax experts and want you to receive the most accurate information, please contact a trusted tax expert or advisor for specific advice. We can’t provide tax help.)
Frequently Asked Questions
We began collecting this tax on April 6, 2021.
The withholding tax is calculated based on the gross amount that you invoice your client, so it is calculated prior to freelancer service fees or any other fees that may reduce the amount credited to your account.
Unfortunately, we cannot provide specific tax advice. Since we want to make sure you receive the specific information you need, we suggest you contact a trusted tax advisor.
We are required to withhold a specific percentage of your earnings, as defined by Mexican law. Since we want to make sure you receive the specific information you need, we suggest you contact a trusted tax advisor. We cannot provide tax advice.
You will be able to claim a tax credit or refund from the Mexican government should you pay more taxes than required. (Unfortunately, we cannot provide specific tax advice. Since we want to make sure you receive the specific information you need, we suggest you contact a trusted tax advisor.)
No, Upwork does not keep the funds withheld under this tax law. We are required to forward any tax we collect from our users to the Mexican government.
Yes. The same legislation that requires Upwork to collect income tax also imposes VAT collection on certain digital services transactions.
