What Is A Pedimento? Mexico's Customs Declaration Explained

A pedimento is the official Mexican customs declaration that legalises the import or export of goods. It records what the goods are, their tariff classification, their customs value, their origin and the duties and taxes paid. Only a licensed Mexican customs broker can file it, and without it goods cannot legally enter Mexico as a commercial import.

• The pedimento is the document that legalises a commercial import or export in Mexico (SAT).
• Only a licensed Mexican customs broker, an agente aduanal with a patente, can file it (SAT).
• It records the tariff classification, customs value, origin, and the duties and taxes paid.
• Mexican tariff codes are ten digits: eight for the fracción arancelaria plus two for the NICO (RGCE 2026).
• Correcting a wrongly declared field afterwards is a formal rectification with its own cost and time.

What is a pedimento?

It is Mexico's official customs declaration. It states what the goods are, how they are classified, what they are worth, where they came from and what was paid. Without it, a commercial import has not legally happened.

If you ship anything commercially into Mexico you will hear this word in every conversation, so it is worth understanding properly rather than treating it as generic paperwork. A pedimento is the formal customs declaration filed with the Mexican authorities to legalise the entry or exit of goods. It is not a shipping document like a bill of lading, and it is not an invoice. It is the legal act of declaring, and the moment it is filed and cleared, the goods have entered Mexico lawfully and can circulate and be sold there. Before that moment they cannot, no matter where they physically are. The document records a specific set of facts: what the goods are, the tariff classification they fall under, the customs value on which taxes are calculated, the country of origin, the regime under which they enter, who the importer of record is, and the duties and taxes paid. Because it is a legal declaration rather than a description, accuracy matters in a way that shipping paperwork does not. The person whose name is on it is asserting that these facts are true, and the authority can verify them. This is also why the pedimento is the reference document for everything afterwards: if you need to prove what you imported, when, at what value and under what classification, the pedimento is the answer.

Who files it, and what is on it

Only a licensed Mexican customs broker can file a pedimento. It carries the tariff code, customs value, origin, regime, importer details and the taxes paid, and each of those fields carries consequences if declared wrongly.

The filing itself is restricted. Only a licensed Mexican customs broker, known as an agente aduanal and holding a patente, can present a pedimento. This is not a formality you can handle yourself, and your freight carrier cannot do it for you either. It is the single most common surprise for companies entering the Mexican market: you may organise everything else, but this step requires a licensed professional by law. On the content side, a few fields deserve attention because they drive both cost and risk. The tariff classification determines the duty rate and which non-tariff regulations apply to your product, and Mexican codes run to ten digits: the first eight are the fracción arancelaria and the last two are the NICO, a commercial identification number. As of 2026, an incorrect or missing NICO became explicitly sanctionable in its own right, not just the eight digit code. The customs value is the basis on which taxes are calculated and must be consistent with your commercial invoice. The origin field determines whether preferential treatment applies, which is why a USMCA certification of origin matters so much: with it, qualifying US goods enter duty free, without it they pay the general rate. And the regime states whether the goods are entering permanently, temporarily, or under a special programme, which changes what obligations follow.

Why it matters to you in practice

Because most import problems are pedimento problems. Wrong classification, inconsistent value or missing origin documentation is what stops shipments, and fixing a filed declaration afterwards is a formal rectification with cost and delay attached.

Understanding the pedimento explains most of what goes wrong at the Mexican border, and almost none of it is about trucks. Shipments get held because a declared field does not match reality: the classification does not fit the product, the invoice value does not match the declaration, the description is too generic to identify what is inside, or the origin claim has no certification behind it. Each of these is a pedimento issue rather than a logistics issue, which is why the quality of your documentation predicts your transit time better than the distance does. There is also a cost consequence. Correcting a declared field after filing is a formal rectification with its own charge and its own delay, and if the discrepancy is significant it can escalate beyond a correction. Under Mexican rules, if the commercial description on the pedimento genuinely matches the physical goods, a wrong tariff classification is treated as an inexact data declaration with a bounded penalty rather than as something more serious, but if the description does not match, or if the wrong code sidesteps a permit or a standard, the position changes substantially. The practical takeaway is simple: the work that determines whether your import goes smoothly happens before the goods move, in getting the classification, the value, the description and the origin documentation right. BringGo Ship works with a licensed Mexican customs broker in house, which means that preparation happens as part of the shipment rather than as a separate problem you have to solve.

The pedimento at a glance

Definitions

• Pedimento: A pedimento is Mexico's official customs declaration that legalises the import or export of goods.
• Agente aduanal: An agente aduanal is the licensed Mexican customs broker, holding a patente, who is the only party able to file a pedimento.
• Fracción arancelaria: The fracción arancelaria is the first eight digits of the Mexican tariff code, followed by two NICO digits for a ten digit total.

Frequently asked questions

What is a pedimento in Mexican customs?

It is the official customs declaration that legalises the import or export of goods. It records what the goods are, their tariff classification, customs value, origin, the regime they enter under and the duties and taxes paid. Until it is filed and cleared, a commercial import has not legally happened.

Can I file a pedimento myself?

No. Only a licensed Mexican customs broker, an agente aduanal holding a patente, can present a pedimento. Your freight carrier cannot do it either. This is the most common surprise for companies entering Mexico: you can arrange everything else, but this step requires a licensed professional by law.

What does a pedimento contain?

The description of the goods, the tariff classification, the customs value on which taxes are calculated, the country of origin, the customs regime, the importer of record and the duties and taxes paid. Mexican tariff codes run to ten digits: eight for the fracción arancelaria plus two for the NICO.

What happens if something on the pedimento is wrong?

Correcting a declared field after filing is a formal rectification with its own cost and delay. If the commercial description genuinely matches the physical goods, a wrong classification is treated as inexact data with a bounded penalty. If the description does not match, or the wrong code sidesteps a permit or standard, the consequences are considerably more serious.

Why do shipments to Mexico get held?

Usually because of a pedimento issue rather than a transport issue. The classification does not fit the product, the invoice value does not match the declaration, the description is too generic, or an origin claim has no certification behind it. Documentation quality predicts transit time far better than distance does.

Let a licensed broker handle your pedimento: BringGo Ship

Sources

• SAT (Mexican tax administration) (sat.gob.mx)
• ANAM (Mexican customs agency) (anam.gob.mx)
• VUCEM (single window) (ventanillaunica.gob.mx)

Note: This content is for general information only and is not legal, tax or customs advice. Rates and rules can change often in 2026; verify the current details with an official source (SAT, DOF, CBP) or our licensed customs broker before acting.