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Leaving Mexico by air with bullion coins....


CharlieG

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I have a friend who is planning to fly out of GDL to the U.S. and is thinking of transporting some gold bullion coins with her with a market value in excess of US$10K.  She knows that they will have to be declared to U.S. Customs upon arrival in the U.S. but needs to know if there is any requirement to declare them to Mexican Customs when departing from GDL and, if so, where at GDL airport would she go to make the declaration. 

Has anyone had experience with a situation such as this?  Any thoughts and guidance would be appreciated. 

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It will be interesting to see how many people can/will respond to this question with 1st hand knowledge of flying out of Mexico with in excess of US$10,000 in gold bullion coins in their possession. 

Remember, no fair suggesting that they google it!

 

 

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http://omawww.sat.gob.mx/informacion_fiscal/normatividad/formas_fiscales/Paginas/declaraciones.aspx

You download the PDF form on the third item on the list in English [D3 ingles - declaration form 3 ] . Put it into storage in you computer or smart phone and then into edit mode. Fill out the details. Print out 2 copies then put one copy into the SAT something to declare box in security check area when passing through to departures at the airport. Any check, cash, money order, securities etc. over $10,000 USDs needs to be declared when departing Mexico or you have violated the law.

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48 minutes ago, RickS said:

It will be interesting to see how many people can/will respond to this question with 1st hand knowledge of flying out of Mexico with in excess of US$10,000 in gold bullion coins in their possession. 

Remember, no fair suggesting that they google it!

 

 

People asking for assistance usually are not savy with Spanish wordings for many subjects. Don't use Google Translator correctly or use Goolge.com.mx. Don't know the correct names of the many Mexican institutes like I do. I have no problem doing it for them and doing it correctly instead of them Googling their inquiry in English on Google USA and getting some troll's advise which is common these days.

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AlanMexicali,

Thank you very, very much.  That is exactly the information I was seeking.  The instructions do not specifically mention gold coins which concerns me a bit but then neither do the instructions for declaring monetary instruments when entering the U.S. and they definitely want anything with a value of over US$10K to be declared.   I guess the best course of action is to have my friend declare the coins at their market value and hope there is no other, unknown problem relating just to metals.

I really appreciate your help.  

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  • 4 weeks later...

As a followup to my original post I want to provide some first-hand information on how leaving Mexico by air with a substantial number of gold bullion coins actually worked out....

My friend with the coins and I went through the process Saturday.  Following AlanMexicali's advice I went to the site link he provided and found the SAT form required to declare monetary instruments in excess of US$10,000 when leaving Mexico.  I read all the instructions carefully, filled out the form and thought we were completely prepared when we checked in at the airport in Guad.  Approaching the security check area I inquired as to where the "box" was located into which I needed to put the declaration.  I got blank looks from several officials I asked and finally was told I needed to go to the Aduana  "window" instead.  We started searching for the Aduana window.....

After being misdirected several times we finally were pointed down a long corridor where construction was being done and after a long walk arrived at a place with a desk and a metal detector where I started telling my story about wanting to declare that we were leaving the country with bullion coins.  The pleasant female guard at the desk didn't know what I was talking about (although I speak good Spanish) and called someone else out who led us around to the Aduana office which it turned out is located in the passenger arrival section of the terminal. Not easy to access from the check in area.

The office was staffed by five young ladies and an older, male manager.  We were greeted with smiles, seated on a sofa in the outer office and then asked questions by several different girls who kind of seemed to know what was going on but kept going back to the inner office to confer with the manager and coming out again with more questions.  We had allowed over an hour before the flight boarded to get this done and the clock was ticking.

We were told to just wait and I started hearing the manager making phone calls from the inner office asking someone else questions but I could not make out what he was saying.  Time went by and the phone calls continued.  About 15 minutes before boarding time I mentioned to one of the girls that we had to catch out plane and was told "tranquillo".  Just relax. Right!

With ten minutes left the manager finally came out from the back waving the documents we'd provided, the declaration and a spreadsheet I had prepared that detailed the numbers of gold bullion coins we carried by country of issuance, denomination, face value and market value based on the prior day's closing spot metal prices for coins plus the total of U.S. and Mexican currency being carried.  He then explained that after all his questioning one of his superiors had finally advised him that Mexico did not consider bullion coins issued by foreign governments or mints to be "money"  and therefore these coins were not required to be included in the Mexican "Declaration of Money" required when leaving the country with more than $10K in monetary instruments.   Mexican bullion coins, he explained, WERE considered to be money but not foreign coins.  So, with 5 minutes left before boarding we were dismissed with smiles and hand shakes but with no documentation of what he had just told us nor any proof that we had been examined and released by Aduana.  We headed for the plane and then....

We found we had to go through security again to get to the gate.  For the first time during the years that I have been travelling in and out of Latin countries with small numbers of coins the guy checking the Xray of our carry on bags noticed the metal and had to examine the contents of the bag.  He pulled out the plastic sheets containing the coins, started waving them around and calling his buddies over to check out the pretty coins.  The clock was still ticking.  Other travelers were watching.  Not good! Somehow maintaining my composure I carefully explained the deal to the security guy, who obviously didn't know anything about handling a situation like ours,  but who, to my pleased amazement, put the coins back in the bag and waved us through.  Miracles do happen and fortunately the plane boarded late and we made it.  Whew!  That was a nerve wracking experience.

Bottom line is....You can travel in and out of Mexico legally carrying foreign bullion coins if when coming in you declare them as "mercancia", merchandise, rather than money and when leaving you really don't have to declare them at all. But good luck getting through security without a hassle. Best to report first to the Aduana office to get some direction and perhaps something in writing to get you through security. Best to allow lot's of extra time because something will almost certainly get complicated by the reality that most of the officials involved don't know the regulations themselves.  

Then, when arriving in the U.S. such coins ARE considered to be "monetary instruments" and must be declared to U.S. customs on FinCEN form 105.  That's another whole story.  U.S. Customs turned out to be rather cold and suspicious and asked a lot of questions about the source and the purpose of carrying the coins.  Welcome home, Traveler!  Having a credible story ready is suggested and probably the truth works best. In any case this procedure can take up to an hour also.  

AlanMexicali's advice was partially correct.  When leaving Mexico with Mexican coins such as Libertades or Centenarios they must be declared as money if the value is more the US$10K.  Whether this is face value or market value did not come up as we were so short of time and this was not our immediate problem.  Nor was there time to discuss what would happen when incoming foreign coins are reported as merchandise...subject to duty? To IVA?  I don't know and don't need to know as I will never again get involved in such a situation.  I am clear now that foreign coins are not required to be declared under Mexican law when they are being removed from Mexico. They must, however, be declared at market value when leaving or entering the U.S. and failure to do so is a crime. Confiscation is probable if undeclared coins are discovered. 

Although there is a lot of merit to the idea of having some of one's wealth in the form of "real" money in their possession and available even when living in a foreign country the realities involved in moving bullion coins back and forth across national borders with all the restrictions that currently exist make such a plan pretty difficult and just a whole lot of hassle to execute.  It can be done but is probably not worth the trouble.  I won't even get into the risks of driving in and out of Mexico with such a valuable cargo.  Definitely not recommended.

Hopefully this rather wordy report will help others who may have the same questions that I had.  

 

 

 

 

 

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