Overview
- Mexico’s Supreme Court has reaffirmed the legality of the 2021 ceiling on PTU, capping each worker’s payout at three months’ salary or the average of the past three years, whichever is higher.
- Companies must pay PTU within 60 days of filing their annual tax return, and the labor law sets fines of about 29,000 to 586,550 pesos for failing to pay.
- PTU equals 10% of fiscal profit and is split into two equal pools, one based on days worked and one proportional to salary, using the IMSS wage base and counting paid maternity leave and work injuries as days worked.
- Only the Finance Ministry and the tax authority can change the profit figures that drive PTU, and a review can be sought by the contract‑holding union or a majority of workers.
- Higher input costs and tariff pressures are squeezing export margins this spring, prompting some employers to add minimum PTU guarantees in contracts as secret‑ballot rules raise the risk of disputes.