The Way to Make a Notice Regarding Money Laundering
The Federal Law for the Prevention and Identification of Transactions with Illegally Obtained Resources (FLPITIOR) was published on October 17th, 2012, in the Official Gazette of the Federation, which aims to protect the financial system and the national economy, setting measures and procedures to prevent and detect acts or operations that involve illegally obtained resources.
The aforementioned anti-laundering law came into force in July 2013, in which diverse financial activities were established and considered as vulnerable, such as gambling, contests, and raffles; the purchase and sale of real estate, vehicles (air, sea, and land), jewelry, works of art, prepaid cards; as well as operations carried out by intermediary agents (article 17 FLPITIOR). Therefore, those who were, given the case, gazed by the regulation are compelled to fulfill with certain obligations.
Those who carry out these vulnerable activities must complete the registration process before the Tax Administration Service, prior to the presentation of the first notice. In that sense, they must be registered in the Federal Registry of Tax Payers and have the current certificate of their electronic signature, to send the information for identification in terms of the General Rules described in the FLPITIOR.
Clients and users identification.
Among the obligations, is to identify its customers and users in the case of exceeding the threshold that identifies the operation in question, assuming that it exists, otherwise only with the operation completion.
The identity of the clients and users with whom the vulnerable activities are carried out should be verified based on credentials or official documents, as well as a copy of it. Likewise, information will be requested on whether it is aware on the existence of the beneficiary owner and, in the event, exhibit official documentation that allows identification, if it was in its possession; otherwise, it will declare that it does not have it.
Notices and reports to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)
Information on operations performed by customers or users of those carrying out vulnerable activities that exceed the threshold established for their activity (depending on the FLPITIOR article 17th) will be provided to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) no later than the 17th day of the immediately following month to the completion of the operation that started it.
These notices are electronic, using the formats established by the FIU, which will contain the following:
- general information about who carries out the vulnerable activity
- general data of the client or user or the beneficiary owner, if its the case, as well as the information about its main activity.
- general description of the vulnerable activity.
Identification or notice?
If those carrying out these activities have not carried out acts or operations that are subject to notice during the corresponding month, they must submit in the official form, a report in which only the fields related to the identification of who carries out the activity will be filled out, the corresponding period, and the statement that during that time there were no acts or operations subject to notice.
Additional obligations
In addition to the above, the responsible officers should be provided with all the necessary facilities for the completion of the verification visits. It will also have to guard, protect, and avoid the destruction or concealment of the information and documentation supporting the carrying out of the vulnerable activity, as well as the identification of its customers or users. The information must be kept physically or electronically for five years counted from the date on which the vulnerable activity was carried out, except if the laws of the federative entities have a different term.
Outsourcing, construction companies, and real estate developments
In recent times, subcontracting has become a recurring practice, which origin is that some parts of a business can be consummated more effectively by personnel other than the one from the corporation, along with the benefits and advantages that it represents. On the other hand, the construction industry is having a great boom in our country due to the great constructions that are carried out both in Mexico City and in certain points of the national territory that represent a commercial or tourist attraction.
That is why the authority has sought to have a strict control in these two areas. Since the issue of money laundering is so delicate and unleashes a lot of concern for individuals who carry out some of the considered vulnerable activities, the authority has used this, on one hand, to discourage subcontracting and, on the other, to control what these great real estate developments are doing.
In November 2016, the FIU published a statement on its website in which it tries to clarify the content of FLPITIOR section XI article 17th; in it, the obligation for the contractor is specified, referring to the contents of numeral 15-A of the Federal Labor Law. However, it does not indicate a temporality, and at a legal level, it is even questionable its obligatory nature.
In addition to that, last February the authority once again issued announcements, one to set the ways to present notices when issuing or marketing additional or supplementary cards, a second that seeks to assist in the filling of notices for those who provide outsourcing services, and third, including an administrative facility for the presentation of the first notice for real estate developers.
- – You must access the website https://sppld.sat.gob.mx/pld/index.html to the Menu located at the top you must select Vulnerable Activities and there select the option Professional Services. Subsequently, you must choose the Excel Template according to the type of activity performed; in this case, the reference to option 3 will be used. Administration and management of resources, securities, bank accounts, savings or securities, or any other asset. The XML file is downloaded and it is filled with the following information, that is, Taxpayer Registration Number; Period of the announcement with four digits for the year and two for the month; the Reference, in this case, is OUTSOURCING11; Type of alert, the Entity’s Taxpayer Registration Number along with the priority and if this is a modification notice.
Subsequently, the information of the person, whether natural, legal entity or trust, will be completed.
Once these fields are covered, we proceed to include that related to the address of the person subject to notice (national or international), as well as contact information (telephone number and email).
