Job Discussion Forums

Independent in La Paz! · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 2:27 pm Post subject: Forma Independiente

It's not quite that simple. To get your "forma independiente" you need an RFC #. You have to take a copy of your FM3 (or 2), duly stamped by the immigration office, to Hacienda and apply. The process only takes about a half an hour. When you get your number, you take it back to immigration and the process continues. You account for your income in two ways. If you are teaching a private individual, just keep track of the money in a notebook. When you teach for a person who has a company, or for a corporation, you give them a "recibo de honorario"which you have preprinted with your RFC number. These are all numbered and supposedly Hacienda keeps track of the numbers. You must charge a ten percent tax that is subsequently remitted to Hacienda on all income you claim. You have to make an appointment at Hacienda each month to make a "declaracion" of your income and expenses. For any expenses to be valid, you must show a factura or recibo. They deduct the taxes you have paid on these facturas from those that you charged your students and you remit the balance at any bank, plus whatever income tax is calculated. Sounds complicated, but after the first couple of appointments it gets easy. Don't know why, but I actually enjoy the experience!

MO39 · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 4:09 pm Post subject: Re: Forma Independiente

[quote="Independent in La Paz!"]

TheLongWayHome · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 1016 Location: San Luis Piojosi

Independent in La Paz! · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:19 pm Post subject:

Yes, you have to charge the IVA tax of 10 per cent on all of your declared income. If you don't charge your students, you will end up paying it personally, as I found out a couple of declaraciones ago. I know that many people don't declare a lot of their cash income...this comes with its own dangers and is a personal decision. To be legal, you should keep a record of all your students and what they have paid you. Hacienda can visit you and ask for this record at any time without notice. In response to the last comment re crooks, I have been pretty lucky here in La Paz with employment and employers, but independent is the way to go, despite the accounting and legal hoops.

Independent in La Paz! · Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 7:33 pm Post subject: FM3 or 2 to work?

Oops, sorry MO39, I missed your first question. What type of visa do you have? As I understand it, yes, you must have an FM3 or 2 to be able to work. By definition, a tourist doesn't do any business activities. However, this is a grey area for me as I have had an FM3 for longer than I have taught here. It is fairly simple to get an FM3. It is renewable every year and, since we live in LP full time, it is necessary.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

Independent in La Paz wrote:

Independent in La Paz! · Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 1:49 pm Post subject: thanks

Thanks for that. We often forget about the rest of the country here, and when friends go to visit their family in, say, Sonora, we say they are going to Mexico. Another thing about Hacienda, they will not accept gas receipts unless you have paid by cheque or credit card. Very interesting link re taxation. Thanks again.

sarliz · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Jalisco

Okay, I've re-read all of the previous posts and I'm still a little foggy about my best course of action. Here's my situation: I have an FM3 that expires in the end of December. The visa was issued in Oaxaca, and is for a school that I'm no longer working at. I'm living in Guadalajara now, and after recieving some job offers at schools, I discovered my best route was to teach private classes. I just finished my first week of classes, I'm working with my boyfriends brother, who has his master's in ESL, and we're both teaching 3 classes of about 15 students each. So, I need to do something about my FM3, but I'm not exactly sure what. I have no idea what my cunado's tax situation is, and he's not really my employer. Can I just waltz into migra and tell them I'm working independently and would like a Forma Independiente? Or do I "ask" permission first (pretend like I haven't started yet but would like to)? Thanks a grillion.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

By law, the school in Oaxaca would have had to cancel your FM3 within 30 days. Has that time passed now?

notamiss · Posted: Thu Nov 15, 2007 6:53 pm Post subject:

I was sponsored for my FM2 by a university but they dropped the project I was working on. This didn't matter until a few months later, when it was time for my annual renewal (refrendo) of the FM. At that point, I would have had to provide a letter from my "employer" as one of the documents for the renewal, but the university couldn't provide such a letter since I wasn't associated with them any longer. So that was when I had to formalize my independent status. For that to happen, Immigration required a letter from the direcci�n of the university stating that I was no longer with them, and a letter written by me stating my proposed activities as a freelancer (independiente). At the Immigration office I went to, they gave me a photocopied sheet with a list of all the documents and fees required for both "change of employer" and "FM renewal."

So if things haven't changed in 5 years since I went through this, you will want to ask Immigration what letters, documents & fees you need for a cambio de calidad to the status of independiente, and one of the things needed will be a letter from the school you used to work at, saying that you're no longer employed there.

sarliz · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Jalisco

Uh-oh. Yeah. What happened was I went back to Chicago for the summer, and thought I would be returning to Oaxaca after that, so my ex-boss said he could leave my visa un-cancelled for a bit, because migra told me that it wouldn't be a problem if I was leaving for a few months for vacation. But then I didn't go back to Oaxaca (I didn't have an agreement with ex-boss or anything, he was just trying to help me out). So where does this leave me? Am I here visal-less? Yikes.

dixie · Joined: 23 Apr 2006 Posts: 644 Location: D.F

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

That sounds right Dixie. And Guadalajara INAM is a " by the book" kind of place.

Sarliz, did you get your FM3 stamped by INAM when you exited Mexico?

sarliz · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Posts: 198 Location: Jalisco

Argh! That's another no. We were driving, and we kept looking for an office on the Mexican side of the border, but by the time we found someone to ask, we had accidentally crossed. I did get it stamped on re-entry, though, after getting a bit of (deserved) grief from the border official.

Samantha · Joined: 25 Oct 2003 Posts: 2038 Location: Mexican Riviera

I guess the first thing to do is determine if your ex-employer put your FM3 down more than 30 days ago. Likely if he needed to hire a foreigner to replace you at the beginning of the semester.

I think I would have been inclined to reenter on a tourist visa, after not being stamped out, but that might be a moot point at this stage.