How to Fill Out the Mexican Customs Declaration Form

To fill out the Mexican customs declaration form, enter your passport and flight details at the top, answer the yes/no questions honestly about currency, food, animals, and goods above the duty-free limit, list any merchandise over your allowance with a value in USD, and sign at the bottom. You can complete it on the paper form handed out during your flight or online through Mexico’s SAT portal before you travel, which gives you a QR code to scan at the checkpoint.¹

What to Have in Front of You Before You Start

The form goes faster when you’re not digging through bags mid-flight. Have these ready:

Your passport, so the name, nationality, and number you write match it exactly.
Your boarding pass, for the airline name and flight number.
A count of your checked bags and carry-ons.
Receipts for anything you bought abroad that you’re bringing in. They make it much easier to establish values if an officer asks.
A rough total of any cash, checks, or money orders you’re carrying. Amounts of $10,000 USD or more, combined, must be declared.²

Families who share a home and are traveling together can submit a single form covering the whole household. List each person’s name on that one form rather than filling out separate copies.

Paper Form or Online QR Code

Most airlines distribute the paper form during the flight, and you complete it with a pen before landing. The alternative is to fill it out online through Mexico’s tax administration site at sat.gob.mx before you travel and receive a digital QR code to present at the checkpoint.¹ The digital version moves faster in the customs line because officers scan the code instead of reading handwriting. The questions and the level of detail expected are the same either way.

Personal and Flight Information

The top section asks for your full name, date of birth, nationality, and passport number. Write clearly and use the exact spelling from your passport. Then enter the airline, flight number, the country you’re arriving from, and the number of bags you’ll bring through customs. If you’re filing one form for the whole family, list every household member included on it.

The Yes/No Declaration Questions

The middle of the form is a series of checkboxes covering categories the government wants disclosed: live animals, plant or food products, currency of $10,000 USD or more, and merchandise beyond your duty-free allowance. Check “yes” for anything that applies. The box is about disclosure, not prohibition. A “yes” doesn’t mean the item gets taken; it routes you to the right inspection. A “no” that turns out to be wrong is what triggers penalties.

Goods Above the Duty-Free Allowance

Personal items like clothing, toiletries, and electronics for your own use don’t require declaration. Beyond personal effects, your duty-free allowance for additional goods is $500 USD if you arrive by air or sea, and $300 USD if you arrive by land.³ Family members traveling together can pool their individual allowances.

If your goods exceed the allowance but stay under $3,000 after subtracting the exemption, you check “yes” and pay a flat 16% on the excess. Above $3,000 per family member after the exemption, or for items subject to trade restrictions, you’ll need to hire a customs broker to handle the import formally.³

Alcohol and tobacco within personal limits sit outside the general duty-free allowance for travelers 18 and older: up to 10 packs of cigarettes, 25 cigars, or 200 grams of loose tobacco, and up to 3 liters of spirits or 6 liters of wine.⁴

Currency of $10,000 USD or More

If the combined total of cash, checks, money orders, and any other financial instruments you’re carrying reaches $10,000 USD or more, check “yes” on the currency question. The threshold applies to the total, not just cash alone.² This is the question travelers get into the most serious trouble on. Answer it honestly even if it means extra time at the checkpoint.

Food, Plants, and Animals

Fresh fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, seeds, and live animals are tightly controlled. Mexico’s agricultural inspection agency, SENASICA, maintains the list of products allowed for tourist importation, and pork from countries affected by African swine fever is banned outright.⁴ If you’re carrying anything in these categories, check “yes” and let the inspector decide.

Medications

A personal supply of prescription medication doesn’t need a special declaration, but keep the prescriptions with you, with generic drug names listed, and pack pills in their original labeled containers. For psychotropic substances the prescription is essential, because officers may ask to verify it.

One Category You Can’t Declare Your Way Through

Mexico bans the import of electronic cigarettes, vapes, and similar devices under a decree amending the country’s import tariff law. Checking a box won’t get them through. Bringing them in risks confiscation, substantial fines, and potentially criminal charges, so leave them at home.

Listing Merchandise Values

If you checked “yes” for additional merchandise, the next section gives you space to describe each item, its quantity, and its estimated value in USD. Be specific. “Two bottles of perfume, $120” beats “gifts.” Match your descriptions to any receipts you have with you. Round up rather than down when you’re unsure. Once every field is filled, sign and date the form at the bottom. Your signature certifies that what you’ve written is accurate.

What Happens After You Hand It In

After you collect your luggage, you take your signed form or QR code to the customs area. An officer reviews your declaration. What comes next is handled by an automated system called the fiscal semaphore, which you trigger by pressing a button:

Green light: you’re cleared to exit without inspection.
Red light: your bags go through an X-ray scanner or a manual search so officers can compare what you’re carrying against what you declared.

Selection is random. A red light doesn’t mean the officer suspects anything. If your declaration matches your bags, the inspection typically takes only a few minutes.

If you owe import duty on goods above your allowance, you pay in the customs area before leaving. Cash and bank cards are both accepted. Keep the receipt in case anyone questions the items later in your trip.

Penalties for Getting It Wrong

Officers compare what you wrote against what they find. Undeclared merchandise can be confiscated on the spot, with fines based on its value. Undeclared currency of $10,000 to $30,000 draws a fine of 20% to 40% of the excess. Undeclared amounts of $30,000 or more can result in six months to six years of imprisonment, and if you can’t prove the money’s lawful origin, five to fifteen years.²

The most common mistake at the form isn’t smuggling. It’s forgetting to count a laptop bought abroad, rounding the value of gifts down, or not noticing that pooled family purchases crossed the threshold. When in doubt, check “yes” and list the item. Paying 16% on an honest declaration is a smaller problem than losing the item and paying a penalty on top of it.⁵

1
ANAM – Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México. Declaración de Mercancía – Ing
2
Consulado General de México en Montreal. What Objects Can I Bring in My Luggage to Mexico?
3
Consulado de México en el Reino Unido. Customs and Immigration Information
4
Embajada de México en Finlandia. Customs Information
5
Travel.State.Gov. Mexico Travel Advisory