The question we hear most before a first import into Mexico is not about routes or transit times. It is this: how much will I pay at customs? The honest answer was always “it depends on the tariff code, the origin and the agreement”, followed by a spreadsheet we built by hand for each client.
That spreadsheet is now public. Today we are opening the import tax calculator on tradeway.mx: free, no sign-up, official data. The interface is in English; the tariff descriptions, agreement names and annex wording stay in the official Spanish, because that is the text your customs entry will carry.
What it calculates
Enter the eight-digit tariff code (fracción arancelaria), the origin country, the trade agreement and the value of the shipment with its additions. The calculator returns the estimated customs entry line by line:
- Customs value (valor en aduana): goods value plus freight, insurance and other additions, minus deductions, converted to pesos.
- IGI: the general import duty from the tariff, or the preferential rate of the agreement you selected, depending on whether you hold a certificate of origin.
- DTA: the customs processing fee at 0.8 percent with its minimum, or exempt or a fixed fee when the agreement allows it.
- PRV: the electronic prevalidation fee of the entry.
- VAT: charged on the customs value plus all the contributions above, which is where most people are surprised.
- Effective tax burden: what the contributions represent over the customs value.
It also compares the same shipment with and without a certificate of origin, so you can see in pesos what a clean origin file is worth.
An example
Uninterruptible power supplies under code 8504.40.16, origin United States, goods value of 10,000 dollars, freight of 1,000 and insurance of 100, exchange rate 18.50.
| Scenario | IGI | DTA | Total customs entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| With USMCA certificate | $0 | Exempt | MXN 33,262 |
| Without certificate | MXN 30,803 | MXN 1,643 | MXN 70,899 |
The difference is 37,637 pesos, more than half of the entry. The certificate of origin is not one more paper in the file. It is the line that weighs most in the cost.
Where the data comes from
This is what we cared most about getting right. The calculator does not run on a commercial database or a third-party copy. Every layer comes from an official publication, and the page links each source:
- Tariff (codes, descriptions, general IGI): the official tariff-code spreadsheet published by the Ministry of Economy in the LIGIE legal library, with the later amending decrees applied on top, including the one that raised duties on 1,463 codes from January 2026 and the April 2026 decree.
- Preferential rates: the agreements “announcing the applicable IGI rate” for each trade agreement, published in the Official Gazette (DOF) with their amendments. That is 15 agreements and 63 agreement-country combinations, from USMCA to CPTPP, including the United Kingdom’s accession.
- Regulations and programs: the regulations column the consolidated LIGIE itself publishes per code (NOMs, prior permits, antidumping duties, PROSEC, IMMEX, among others) and Annex 10 of the General Foreign Trade Rules for the sector-specific importer registry.
- VAT, DTA and prevalidation: the VAT Law, the Federal Duties Law and the General Foreign Trade Rules.
The verification date is shown on the page. When the tariff changes, we regenerate the data and the date changes with it.
How to use it
- Type your eight-digit tariff code. If you do not know it, use Find a tariff code and type a word from the product description — descriptions are the official Spanish text.
- Pick the country of origin. The calculator suggests the agreements available for that country.
- Tick the box if you hold a certificate or certification of origin.
- Enter value, freight and insurance in the invoice currency and the exchange rate.
The result updates instantly. You can save the operation in your browser, reopen it later and print it or save it as PDF for a meeting.
What else it does
- Compare origins. The same goods at the same value, bought in several countries: for each one it picks the most favourable agreement and shows how the customs entry changes. The quick answer to “what if I buy in Vietnam instead of China?”.
- PROSEC. If you hold a sectoral programme, tick the box and pick your sector: the calculator applies the article 5 rate whenever it beats both the general rate and the treaty rate.
- NICO. It lists the commercial identification numbers published for the code, which also sharpen the search by description.
- FIX exchange rate. It pulls the FIX rate published by Banxico with one click, instead of looking it up elsewhere.
- Share the calculation. The link carries your inputs, so it opens already calculated on the other end. It also copies a plain-text summary or sends it over WhatsApp.
At the foot of the page there is a FAQ: why VAT comes out higher than expected, what each status means, when the DTA is waived.
What it does not do
Worth saying plainly. It is a support estimate: it does not replace tariff classification by a specialist, the review of the rule of origin or your customs broker’s validation.
It does not compute antidumping duties or the IEPS excise tax, although it does warn you when the tariff flags an antidumping duty for the code. And when the agreement makes the preference conditional on a quota, a product modality or a season, the calculator does not make up a number. It flags Revisar (review) and tells you why.
If the status says Revisar, that is exactly the point where a second opinion pays off before you close the purchase.
Why we opened it
Because the friction of importing starts before the shipment, in not knowing what it costs. An importer who can estimate the customs entry in five minutes negotiates better with the supplier, quotes better to the customer and decides with numbers.
We keep doing the rest: classifying the tariff code, reviewing the certificate of origin, running customs clearance and, if you have no importer registry, importing as importer of record and invoicing you as a domestic purchase.
When the calculator gives you the number, tell us what you need to move.
