ALERT! IMSS Campaign to Verify Payment of Contributions relating to Construction Industry along Coastal Zone
In mid-November, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, or IMSS) began a campaign to verify payment of Social Security contributions incurred due to the employment of construction workers on coastal zone properties.
We recommend you check with the contractors to verify proper payment of such contributions, at least from 2007 onwards, because if they are not paid, IMSS exercises its powers and authority to conduct an audit and collect missing contributions, adding a fine, surcharges and restatements or adjustments on the principal.
Our recommendation is to have the insurance records documenting the contribution payment handy. Should these payments not have been effected, we suggest you do so voluntarily, and in doing so you may be spared from paying the fine, which in some cases is as much as 100% of the contribution(s).
It has been our experience that IMSS is less aggressive if the employer or the property owner makes the correction on their own and voluntarily, rather than wait for the Institute to demand payment.