On April 23rd, 2021, the Outsourcing Amendment was published in the Federal Official Gazette. The most important aspects of the amendment are the following:

• Outsourcing of personnel is forbidden. For such purposes, outsourcing of personnel refers to an individual or legal entity providing or making available its own employees for the benefit of someone else.
• Specialized services or the execution of specialized work (“Specialized Services”) may be retained, provided that they are not comprised in the corporate purpose or economic activity of the beneficiary, and that the contractor is registered before the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (“STPS”).
• Complementary or shared services or works rendered among entities of the same corporate group shall be considered as Specialized Services, provided that they are not comprised neither in the corporate purpose, nor in the main activity, of the company receiving them.
• Anyone outsourcing with a contractor that breaches its labor or social security obligations, as well as regarding the contributions generated on behalf of the employees, will be jointly and severally liable.
• The overall limit of the profit sharing amount will be the higher between an amount of 3 months’ salary or the average participation received in the last 3 years.
• Anyone rendering Specialized Services shall provide, every 4 months, information on the agreements executed during such 4-month term.
• Payments carried out for the concept of personnel outsourcing will not have a deduction or credit tax effect. The payments for Specialized Services may be deducted or credited provided that the contractor has the corresponding register and authorization from the STPS.
• The contracting party shall verify that the contractor is registered before the STPS, and it shall secure a copy of the tax receipts evidencing payment of salaries to employees, evidence of the payment of the contributions withheld to the employees, the payment of the social security fees to the Mexican Institute of Social Security and the contributions to the National Fund Institute for Workers’ Housing, as well as evidence of the VAT tax return submission and the acknowledgement of the VAT payment receipt.
• Anyone outsourcing personnel or rendering outsourcing services will be sanctioned with a fine of up to approximately MXN $4’346,000.00.

Within the following 90 calendar days, the companies shall transfer their employees under the employer substitution regime, the companies rendering Specialized Services shall be registered with the STPS and the new tax and social security obligations shall start to be met.