Mexico Exit Taxes - a scam?

hast

Can anyboby comfirm if they have paid there exit tax of fmm form @ the bank in cancum as im off to cancum in june with family on pakage holiday booked through thomsons & already told wife im paying @ bank the sum of 294peso instead of 800peso & she is frightened i'll get then locked up abroad ! Please help as wife wants me just to pay @ airport so if you just back please update this entire post & help a lot of hard working familys save some spending money on there trip to mexico . P.S first person to confirm that they paid @ bank would be a saint ! Thanks

MrsE_2

hast wrote: »

Can anyboby comfirm if they have paid there exit tax of fmm form @ the bank in cancum as im off to cancum in june with family on pakage holiday booked through thomsons & already told wife im paying @ bank the sum of 294peso instead of 800peso & she is frightened i'll get then locked up abroad ! Please help as wife wants me just to pay @ airport so if you just back please update this entire post & help a lot of hard working familys save some spending money on there trip to mexico . P.S first person to confirm that they paid @ bank would be a saint ! Thanks

I came back last month. I thought about doing the bank thing, but thought I might have to pay twice, again at the airport I mean.

Wafu

Just booked to travel to Tulum in June with Thomas Cook, has anyone tried the HSBC payment mentioned in earlier posts yet?

smickersandbean

Tandonashish wrote: »

814man - Could you please confirm if you managed to get away with bank option by paying less amount. I'm cross with Thomas cook for not mentioning this prior to booking. It Would be good if you can confirm this and put me at ease :-). I will be going on package holiday in Jan with Thomas cook and do not wish to pay 800 pesos when I can get away with less than half of that.

Thanks in advance,
Ash

Hi Ash, I know it was a while ago but can you confirm which way you paid the exit tax when you were there in Jan please? I go in June & wouldn't mind knowing if the bank option worked out ok as it is a big difference. Many thanks in advance.
Dawn

dasubergeek

That 800 pesos is actually legitimate.

The 800 pesos is a combination of your tourist visa fee (295 pesos) and the airport tax (505 pesos). If you fly Virgin or BA, your airport tax is included in your ticket; if you fly Thomson or Thomas Cook it ain't. All flights to the US and Canada have this already paid within the price of the ticket so there's no need to pay.

As for how the Mexicans know you haven't paid, your charter flight flies out of a different terminal to the one regular airlines use; the cardboard box is only in the charter terminal, and only flights to and from the UK use it, which is why you've got to pay in sterling or pesos, not in US dollars. As for why they don't take cards, it may not be obvious if all you do is stay in the tourist areas, but Mexico is very much a cash economy. Cards are normally only taken in tourist-oriented or very wealthy areas, and even then you'll see they don't really use chip-and-PIN and will be confused when you try to do it.

Back to the exit tax... blame Thomas Cook for this one. If they included the fees in your package holiday instead of trying to make their prices look £50 cheaper, you wouldn't have to go through this nonsense.

If you choose to, you can take your passport and FMM form to any Banj!rcito or HSBC and ask to pay your FMM ("quisiera pagar mi FMM", with FMM as "effay-emmay-emmay"). You'll pay 295 pesos there (pesos only, no sterling allowed) and be given a "comprobante", a receipt, which you can then wave at the people with the cardboard boxes. It may work, though it isn't right, but it probably won't, because you'll be the only people among millions of sunburned Britons trying to get away with it. Technically they can hold you there until you pay the other 505 pesos. It's much more likely they'll just ask for the whole 800 pesos.

At the other end of the country, in Tijuana airport, there's a big booth where you pay your FMM, because you don't need an FMM to visit the northern border areas. Since there are no flights to other cities in the border area from TIJ, you have to either show ID (your IFE for citizens, or your FM2 or FM3 for landed immigrants) or pay your fee. There, if you've gone to get your FMM at the US border in San Diego, you just show your passport stamp and bank receipt and you're allowed past to the checkin desks.

Andy_Bee_1

I have travelled to Belize a few times, usually flying to Cancun. But have not been for about 5 yrs. I don't remember paying a tax when I crossed into Belize last time, ro when i flew back out of Cancun later on.


I am travelling to Belize again in March 2014 to volunteer for 4 weeks.
Usual Thomas Cook flight to Cancun, and stay a night, then perhaps a night in Playa del Carmen, heading for Belize the next day.


Should I expect to pay a tax when leaving Mexico at the border to Belize?
Should I expect to pay at the airport?

Will getting an FMM from the bank mean I don't have to pay again?


Thanks

imho

Think your be better asking questions on here.............
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ListForums-g150768-i6-Mexico.html

dasubergeek

Andy_Bee_1 wrote: »

I have travelled to Belize a few times, usually flying to Cancun. But have not been for about 5 yrs. I don't remember paying a tax when I crossed into Belize last time, ro when i flew back out of Cancun later on.


I am travelling to Belize again in March 2014 to volunteer for 4 weeks.
Usual Thomas Cook flight to Cancun, and stay a night, then perhaps a night in Playa del Carmen, heading for Belize the next day.


Should I expect to pay a tax when leaving Mexico at the border to Belize?
Should I expect to pay at the airport?

Will getting an FMM from the bank mean I don't have to pay again?


Thanks

The Belize border is a little weird. Yes, you will have to pay. In fact, you will have to pay twice, because an FMM is not a multiple-entry visa. Usually what happens is as you leave Mexico, they ask for your FMM card and they hold on to it. When you return from Corozal, you retrieve your FMM (they just hold on to it because otherwise the line up with people filling out that form would be ridiculous) and pay another 295 pesos.

In your case, they'd see it wasn't stamped, so you'd have to pay 295$ on the way out and 295$ on the way back in. Then you'd only have to pay 505$ on the way through the airport, which is the airport departure tax.

dasubergeek

Oh, except the price has gone up and it's now 306$ (£14) instead of 295$ (£13.50).

aaron90

All charter aircrafts charge an exit tax as this is not included in your package price. If you fly with Virgin / BA etc scheduled airlines it's included.