Written for Mexico. This analysis applies to Mexican federal tax law — ISR (income tax), IVA (VAT) and SAT rules — and cites Mexican statutes. Amounts are in Mexican pesos (MXN).
They look like synonyms and they are economic opposites: in both cases you charge no VAT to your customer, but at the 0% rate the tax authority refunds the VAT on all your expenses, and under exemption you swallow it as a cost. That difference — crediting or not crediting — redefines entire margins, and mixing the two up is one of the costliest classification mistakes in the system. Here is the whole map of both lists.
The mechanics first: why 0% ≠ exempt
VAT works by offset: you charge VAT (output) and subtract the VAT you paid (creditable). At the 0% rate you remain a full VAT taxpayer — you charge 0 but credit everything, which generates credit balances you can recover through a refund. Under exemption you are outside the system for that activity: you charge nothing and credit nothing — the VAT on your inputs, rent, equipment and services becomes a definitive cost (partially deductible for ISR, which recovers at most a third of the blow). A 0% business with margins identical to an exempt one is structurally more profitable — by the 16% across its entire expense chain.
The 0%-rate catalog (art. 2-A LIVA)
- Food intended for human consumption — the flagship list, with its litigated boundaries (processed food, supplements and food prepared for on-site consumption go to 16%); non-industrialized animals and vegetables.
- Patent medicines and agricultural products: fertilizers, pesticides, greenhouses, tractors and farm machinery.
- Non-carbonated water (in certain cases), ice, books, newspapers and magazines published by the taxpayers themselves, gold with a minimum content of 80% (not retail).
- Exports (art. 29) — goods and certain services used abroad: the 0% that underpins maquiladoras (export manufacturing plants), agro-exporters and service exporters.
The catalog of exemptions
Exempt sales (art. 9): land; buildings intended for residential housing; books and newspapers; used movable goods sold by individuals (that's why your used car triggers no VAT); lottery tickets; coins and gold/silver pieces; equity interests and credit instruments.
Exempt services (art. 15): medical services rendered by individuals (and hospital services in certain cases); education with REVOE (official study recognition); public ground transport of persons (urban and suburban); interest across a broad list (residential mortgages, from the financial system in certain cases); life and agricultural insurance; public performances (on the ticket price); free-of-charge services; and those rendered by associations to their members for membership dues.
Exempt use or enjoyment (art. 20): the rental of real estate used as unfurnished housing — the exemption with the most fine print in the catalog, which deserves its own article —, agricultural or livestock properties, and books.
Is your activity correctly classified — and correctly structured?
The VAT classification of your products and services defines whether the 16% on your expenses is recoverable or dead cost. Strategium audits the classification line by line, structures mixed activities to maximize proportional crediting, and manages refunds when 0% generates credit balances. The diagnostic frequently finds money that was already yours.
The three strategic corollaries
One: if your activity is 0%, credit balances are yours by right — not pursuing them is giving away cash flow (the refund has its technique and its timing, but it is a right, not a favor). Two: if your activity is exempt, your cost structure must internalize the non-creditable VAT — and purchasing decisions (lease vs. buy, taxed vs. exempt inputs, individual vs. corporate suppliers) look different under that lens. Three: in mixed activities (taxed + exempt) crediting is proportional — the architecture of which entity each activity lives in is real planning: mixing the exempt line with the taxed one in a single company contaminates the crediting proportion of everything. Separating them well can be worth whole points of margin.
Frequently asked questions
I sell prepared food — am I at the 0% rate?
Almost certainly not: food prepared for on-site consumption or takeout is taxed at 16% — it is the classic 2-A boundary. The grocery store selling those same ingredients unprepared is indeed at 0%. The business model, not the product, defines the rate.
I'm a doctor and I also rent out a commercial space — how does VAT treat me?
Your medical fees as an individual are exempt (with no crediting of your office expenses); the rent on the commercial space is taxed at 16% with its own crediting. You are a mixed taxpayer: each activity with its own regime and the VAT on shared expenses credited in proportion. It is exactly the profile that benefits from a structure review.
Can I 'choose' to be at 0% instead of exempt?
No — the rate is defined by law according to the activity, not by the taxpayer. What you do design is the structure: which activities you carry out, how you package them, and in which entity each one lives. The line between an exempt service and a taxed one sometimes depends on how the offering is built — and there planning is legitimate when substance follows form.
Let's talk about your case
The first step is always the same: an honest diagnostic of where you stand. Write to us on WhatsApp or call — a reply the same business day.