# Reverse Logistics

> Returns to foreign suppliers and re-exports from Mexico with the correct customs treatment: a complete file, traceability and duty recovery where allowed.

Source: https://www.freightspot.com/en/solutions/additional-services/logistica-inversa · Publisher: FreightSpot

Sending goods back out of Mexico has as many rules as bringing them in — and getting it wrong costs more. We manage the entire way back.

## What we do

The reverse flow is the part of logistics nobody plans until they need it: a defective lot the supplier agrees to take back, equipment that leaves for repair and must return, imported inventory with no local market left. Each case has a different customs treatment — return, re-export, regime change or supervised destruction — and choosing wrong means paying taxes that weren’t due, or losing the tax backing for the movement.

We manage the whole process: we determine the correct customs figure for the case, prepare the paperwork, coordinate the transport and close the file with the evidence your accounting and the authority require. Where the rules allow recovering duties paid on the original import, we file for it.

## When you need it

- Your foreign supplier accepted the return and nobody knows how to get the goods out of Mexico correctly
- You handle warranties or repairs that mean sending equipment abroad and bringing it back
- Defective or obsolete imported inventory piles up, taking up warehouse space with duties already paid
- You need to destroy goods, and the write-off has to hold up with tax and customs authorities

## Benefits

- The correct customs figure for each case: return, re-export or destruction — no improvising
- Import duty recovery where the rules allow it
- Full traceability: every movement documented end to end
- Warehouse space freed of dead inventory, with the legal backing for the write-off

## How it works

1. **We assess the case** — Reason for the return, the regime the goods entered under and applicable deadlines — that determines the correct customs figure and whether duty recovery applies.
2. **We prepare the file** — Commercial and customs paperwork for the reverse movement, aligned with the original import so the document cross-check comes out clean.
3. **We execute the movement** — We coordinate transport and clearance — or supervised destruction before the authority, when that’s the right path.
4. **We close with evidence** — You receive the complete file: customs entries, certificates and evidence that back the movement with the authority and in your books.

## What you get

The complete return file: customs entries, evidence of the movement and the documentation your accounting needs — with duty recovery filed where it applies.

## Frequently asked questions

### How long do I have to send defective imported goods back?

Not long. For goods imported permanently, Mexican customs law allows a return abroad when they turn out defective or not as specified — but only within a short window counted from clearance: roughly three months, or six for machinery and equipment. After that the options change and cost more. That is why the first thing we check is the date on the original customs entry.

### Can I get back the duties and taxes I paid at import?

It depends on the customs treatment. On an in-window return of defective goods, the duty paid can be recovered or applied to the replacement shipment. Import VAT follows its own tax rules and is worth reviewing with your accountant. What does not work is shipping the goods out first and asking afterward: without the right customs treatment there is no paper trail to recover anything against.

### How do I send equipment abroad for repair without paying duty twice?

With a temporary export: the equipment leaves on a customs entry showing it was already lawfully in Mexico and will return within a set period. When it comes back, duties are generally assessed on the repair and any added parts, not on the full value of the equipment. If it leaves as an ordinary courier parcel, it comes back as a brand-new import.

### Can I just scrap imported goods that are no longer usable?

You can, but without the procedure you will have nothing to support the write-off. For a destruction to count for tax and customs purposes, the authority has to be notified and the event recorded in a formal report. This matters most for goods imported temporarily, which the authority expects to see leave the country: if they simply vanish, the presumption is that they stayed without duties being paid.

---

Need to move cargo or sort out a filing? [Contact FreightSpot](https://www.freightspot.com/en/contact) · Tel. +52 55 5351-8362 · hello@freightspot.com