Hello jungle tribe, how are you doing? This is Sebastian Papworth. I’m a real estate broker investor and developer in the Riviera Maya and today we have a very very special treat for you. We are with Stephanie de la Millar. How are you doing today Stephanie? Very good, yourself? Very good, above average and I’m very very happy to be able to talk with you and so that you can share all of your knowledge about real estate law, immigration, i mean you know so many things about real estate law here. So you’re the partner and co-founder of Sekuralaw, is this correct? Yes, partner. Okay perfect and how long have you been in Sekuralaw? I have been here eight years accounting. Awesome, eight years, wow that’s a long time. So do you know how many real estate transactions you’ve been a part of?

Tough questions. I will say, maybe already a thousand we can talk about.

Okay so just to give you an idea of how much knowledge she has. So our readers and our viewers asked us several questions so we’re going to shoot those legal questions, closing questions, questions about immigration, taxes and just overall the legal closing process in the Riviera Maya. So let’s start.

So now let’s talk about setting up a Mexican corporation. How to purchase a property through a Mexican corporation? How do we do this? Really good question. Obviously the most important part here is setting up a corporation here in Mexico takes time 

right now. Due to the IRS. Mexican IRS has also endorsed. The system that they have right now it’s a bit complicated that the older one. So it will require time. Basically what you need to set up a corporation is: three to five name options, have a valid identification, your password preferably and the process is submit the names to the authority’s approval and draft the environment of the corporation and you will need at least two persons to set up the corporation. It can be, that is really important, because most of the times investors are confused about this but it can be two foreigners. You don’t need a Mexican partner. But it has to be at least two people. It has to be two. If you wanna have a business partner you can contact me, I’m available.  

The most important part is getting the bylaws drafted and a also hiring an accountant so you can keep the corporation in good shape and have the books up to date. That will be really important in the future as a comply with the Mexican regulation, as to deduct taxes. Which is one of the good benefits of a corporation here in Mexico. The main content will be devalus. Who will run the corporation? There is two ways you can have solo administrator or a group of persons that will be the president and the vice president of the corporation, let’s say. Who will have the decisions inside of the corporation and will represent the corporation legally speaking. But also you have to appoint a power of attorney, for at least an accountant, to be able to make all the diligences and all the procedures at the IRS and be able to open a bank account. Because this is also really important. If you don’t have residency here in Mexico, you cannot act in front of a third parties as a legal representative of the corporation. So that’s why you will need an accountant. Okay. You have to have permanent residency or it could be… It can be any as long as this is residency, whether it’s temporary or permanent or a permit to work. That will be the three options but you have to have the resident card in order to be able to represent the corporation that you own. Otherwise there is an alternative that you hire an accountant. The fact that I like about that is that they have professional responsibility regarding to the manage of the corporation, so since you are paying to the accountant they have to make responsible of their well functioning of the corporation. That’s why we advise that once that you set up the corporation, at the same time you are hiring an accountant and giving the legal faculties and the responsibility to keep the corporation in shape. 

And let’s talk about costs. How much does it cost to open a Mexican corporation? Including from a to c regarding the corporation creation until the opening of the back account, because some of the times, okay you have your very nice deep about the corporation, but it’s worthless because you don’t have the bank account, the tax id so actually you cannot run the corporation itself. You know, it’s from a to c hiring the accountant and everything, it’s about $2 500. Okay. That includes the notary public fees and expenses, also and really important, get your corporation duly incorporated in the public registry of commerce system. That will be required for all the business and procedures that you want to do with your corporation. Okay, so around twenty five hundred dollars to set up a Mexican corporation. Exactly. And do you have to pay any annual fees? You just take accountant? You use maybe the accountant, of course the taxes. Basically, like in any part of the world, of course that you have to make your statements. Obviously the account will do it for you if you hire one. And at the end of the fiscal year it will depend about how the finance of the corporation it was, the IRS might return some of the expenses that you made at the end of the year but you have to keep all the books and all the records of the corporation, month by month in a super good shape. Got it! And are you able to hold several titles within one corporation? Several properties? Yes. The good thing about the corporation is you can buy whatever you want to buy, being any asset. Real estate, cars, you know, furniture, anything can be bought by the corporation. You have to have also the invoices of the every item that you buy with the corporation because that way is the way that you can prove to the IRS in Mexico, in the country and in the country where you live that you actually have these expense and this investment to be able in the future and accordingly to the law be deductible from taxes. Okay. And are there any key differences between an LLC in the U.S. and a Mexican corporation? It works very similarly.

Here in Mexico every shareholder responds only in the amount of the investment that they made to the corporation. That is the main statement of an LLC as is in the U.S. 

Awesome! What else? If you have any questions about if it’s better for you to get a Mexican corporation or any questions you want to ask to Stephanie, shoot us a comment in the video and we will make another video or respond in your same comment. From beginning to end, eight to seven, how long does it take to finally open the Mexican corporation and have the bank account and being able to hold the title in the corporation? The average of the entire process is three two five months. Three to five months. Yes. You have to bring one mind up if you want to buy a mexican corporation so you have enough time to set it up. So if you want to purchase a property through a mexican corporation the process to open that corporation from beginning to end might take up to, from three to five months, three to five months, three to five. Okay, so that you can keep that in mind.

Thank you so much Stephanie! You are a world of information. Thank you so much for all the valuable content, all the valuable information that you’ve shared with the audience. What if there is someone that wants to purchase a property or wants help with immigration or taxes? How can they contact you? We have our website. It’s sekuralaw.com and you can also find us in instagram, we upload content every day and useful content. It is sekuralaw_sc and also you will have my whatsapp number and my email address so you can feel free to reach me. Thank you so much for inviting me to chat. This has been really really really enjoyable. Thank you very much and thanks everyone for watching this content. Give it a like, subscribe to the channel; we will keep updating you with more information so that you can make a safe investment. Happy investing everyone!