CAD
Underwater Photography in Mexico can be a ‘Taxing’ Experience
Terence Myckatyn, MD
Ambassador, Mozaik Underwater Photography
Professor, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
I am more of an enthusiastic than skilled scuba diver or photographer. Of course, the only way to get better is to practice. Landlocked in Saint Louis with a full-time career and busy family life, though, finding opportunities can be a challenge.
So, I try to make the most of my time underwater.
Recently, I booked a live aboard trip to the Revillagigedo Islands – commonly referred to as the Socorro Islands. Along with the Galapagos and Cocos Islands, this archipelago stretching from ~250 to 500 miles southwest of Cabo San Lucas, is known for close encounters with pelagics including multiple species of sharks, bait balls, occasional humpback whales in the spring, and both chevron and giant pacific black mantas.
My Socorro diving and photography experience was fantastic and my scuba photography (and diving) incrementally improved.
The downside of my trip to the Revillagigedo Islands
But, my experience scuba diving on the west coast of Mexico did leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. The animals I saw and crew I dove with were fantastic. Incidentally, I was on the Socorro Vortex – an amazing boat and crew – that unfortunately ran aground and is now out of commission just 1 or 2 trips later.
My issue occurred before I ever boarded the Vortex, namely a punitive and inexplicable tax leveraged by Mexican customs when I arrived at Los Cabos airport.
I had no idea, when I signed up for this trip, that such a tax existed. It was only by chance, 2 days before my trip when I was doing some online research about camera settings in Socorro that I learned that this, in fact, could be an issue.
When I dug around a little bit online, some of the dive operators and message boards made mention of a punitive tax with suggestions on how to possibly circumvent this.
Unfortunately, though, the consensus was that being charged this tax was a possibility, and that usually there was no way out of it. When I asked the live aboard booking company and dive operator about this directly, they conceded that this had come up in the past.
They told me that the Mexican government would charge a 16% tax on camera housing, dome ports, and possibly other dive equipment.
They recommended bringing my camera receipts because otherwise the customs agents would “google” the camera housing and dome port brands and assign the values as retail cost published online.
The live aboard companies referred to a list, published on the Mexican immigration website, of what I could bring into the country without a tax being leveraged (ie. 2 cameras, a certain number of CDs, and a long list of seemingly arbitrary and outdated items – I believe walkmans and portable CD players were on it).
To circumvent this tax, several strategies were suggested online. These included putting your gear in soft cases mixed up with other belongings, deliberately distressing or adding stickers to your luggage to make it look older and more worn, or flying into Mexico City or driving across the border from the USA into Mexico.
It was suggested that the customs officers at the Los Cabos airport were on the lookout for hard Pelican cases, but that other ports of entry were less likely to be aware of this taxation practice. Notably, I also read online that this tax was occasionally leveraged in Cozumel – along the Caribbean coast of Mexico as well.
Personally, I added some Star Wars stickers to my Pelican cases (along with locks and Apple AirTags) but it didn’t help.
At Los Cabos I went through customs, retrieved my luggage, and then passed through a second line where they saw my 2 pelican cases sporting R2D2 and Chewbacca stickers, and directed me to an x-ray conveyer. They asked me what was in the cases. I told them.
They asked me if I had any housings. I had x2 – Nauticam housings for a Sony A1 and an Atomos Ninja V, a fisheye glass dome port, and a macro port. I explained that the Ninja housing wasn’t for a camera – because its not, technically. They wanted to also learn the value of my strobes and video light. They ignored the GoPro camera and housing.
Ultimately, they decided that the Sony A1 and Ninja housings were subject to taxation – rather than a 16% tax (which was what I was told it might be), they stated it was a 19% tax.
They started to google the equipment but I spoke up and said I had the sales receipts with me – which I think they were surprised by. I stated (and showed them) that the equipment was purchased more than half a year before. They took 10% off the purchase price.
Ultimately, though, they charged me an $891 tax.
The customs agent asked me if I could pay them with cash. Since I didn’t have that amount of cash on me, I said “no, I only have $400”. They then indicated they wanted me to give them the $400. I asked “if I give you $400 cash now, is that the extent of the tax I need to pay?”. They said “no – you will need to go to the customs office and pay the remainder by credit card”. I found this to be a particularly curious practice – a substantial amount of cash to an agent, and then the remainder to the customs office.
So, I declined to pay the cash to the officer and just paid the entire $891 to the customs office by credit card. I was then able to gather my things and move on with my trip. Somewhat relieved that I at least knew that this was a possibility on the one hand, but angry that this non-sensical practice that seems arbitrary and ill-defined and not justifiable (I own this stuff, am not buying or selling it, and its not like I get the money back if I still have it when I leave the country).
It seems like an extremely punitive practice that targets underwater photographers that are contributing to the Mexican economy with their trip already. I am unaware of this practice occurring elsewhere (but maybe I am wrong). It deters me from going to dive in Mexico again.
Ironically, and I had never read about this online, but when I was checking my luggage at the Southwest Airlines ticketing desk when flying out from Los Cabos and back to the United State, the agent asked me if I had been charged a tax on my dive cameras as I was loading my Pelican cases on the conveyer. I explained I had already paid a tax and produced the form. That ended that part of the conversation. It remains unclear to me what the agent was thinking with that question.
So, before you consider bringing camera scuba housings to Mexico, and particularly Los Cabos, consider the possibility of having to pay this tax.
It may influence things like point of entry, how you pack your gear, remembering to bring sales receipts, potentially bringing older or less equipment or just a GoPro.
At the end of the day, I loved my Socorro experience. But this is predatory behavior against amateur underwater photographers and there are many options for incredible diving experiences.
- Strobes or video lights? A head-to-head comparison for the underwater photographer – October 23, 2023
- Shooting Video AND Stills on the Same Dive [Guide] – April 6, 2023
- New cameras on the block! A roundup of our favorite recent releases – November 14, 2022
12 comments
Outrageous….where is the official notice on this from the Mexican Govt?
I went through customs in Cabo in June without a problem. I put my housings and ports in the original cases they came in and packed them surrounded by clothes in a soft sided duffle. I had been warned by my liveaboard company (Nautilus) that customs could be a problem. They provided me a letter in spanish saying my housings were “camera accessories” since they were non-functionable without the camera attached. Under mexican law you can bring in 2 cameras plus accessories duty free. Turned out i did not need the letter as my “camoflauge” worked. Here is a link to the letter: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tf44gcv84s9kmy/2019-Carta%20Aduanas-CustomsLetterForCameraHousings.pdf?dl=0
I was in Socorro more than 25 years ago and one of the people who was meant to board abandoned the trip as the Cabo customs confiscated his camera equipment. I believe he was able to recover it when he left the country–maybe not. This has been an ongoing rip off shakedown for decades.
I will never visit Mexico again with this policy of robbery/bribery. I can only hope the diving tourism in Mexico is crippled. Pretty sad policy.
Ouch! WTH? What is their reasoning? Lately I’ve only been shooting my GoPro, but I’m glad for the heads up. Cozumel is my typical go too, but I’ve done La Paz and that area.
The easiest way to avoid all of this hassle is to not fly direct to Cabo. Fly to Mexico City first; then fly to Cabo. You come in as a domestic flight and miss all of this robbery. Basically this is another way for the Mexican government to make $$$ off gringos. Don’t play the game. Don’t get me wrong. I love Mexico. I tip generously. I spend a lot of cash on trips and food and lodging. But paying this tax is not OK. It doesn’t benefit the resources or the people who deserve it. No bueno.
I too am an avid diver and photographer and I lived in Cancun for 4 years, returning to the US less than 3 years ago. What you experienced was the Gringo Tax. It is unwritten and subject to the whims of the customs inspector. It is all a form of payoff and people pay because the “tax” is less than the value of the goods. I had an underwater photography business (legit) in Mexico and even showing them my business credentials often did not alleviate the situation although knowing that this was a fluid tax I would simply refuse to pay and ask to speak with a supervisor. They wanted money–not a gringo sitting around in their offices for hours. I even had them try this same trick on me once when leaving. They claimed that a crystal sculpture I had was a “blunt object” and I couldn’t take it on the plane but my strobes, camera housings, video lights, etc. were fine. And that folks is why we left Mexico. Everyone is corrupt and everyone wants pay-offs.
I had a similar experience in March of 2021. For some reason those agents focused on my drones. They ignored my underwater housing, strobes, and camera. I ended up paying $450 as i had two drones (one I was bringing for a local photographer friend). I have no idea why they ignored all my other gear, which was considerably more expensive. They also coached me into estimating the cost of the drones and how long i had them to help reduce the cost. I too paid by credit card in the customs office. They told me that after paying the tax, I could now fly my drones anywhere in Mexico for a year. Just weird.
Yes – sadly this has happened to me twice going through Cabo. A sad example of what appears to be a predatory tax just in Cabo. When I asked about they said it was for additional cameras. When I explained a housing was not a camera the agent became annoyed and asked if I was trying to explain his country’s tax system. However, like you, cash was a way to solve it. Not sure if you saw the in the customs office the big sign not give cash! The last time I went through they also taxed my rebreather. While I love diving in that area – I think I will pass until this is resolved. I don’t think it will be resolved until they see the lack of tourists and the dollars associated with it.
I had a similar experience entering at Cabo a few years ago. As I had a few hours before my transfer to La Paz I decided to contest their demand to pay. I had two compact Fantasea housings a fisheye wet lens and they wanted me to pay $500 customs tax. I asked to see the supervisor and eventually did get to see him in his office. I said I was prepared to put down a security payment to guarantee I was not selling the gear but insisted it would be returned upon my departure the following week. They balked at that. Then I went into a whole rant about being a photojournalist traveling and reporting on diving destinations and I would be sure to warn uw photographer’s to avoid Cabo as much as possible etc. etc. finally when they realized I had all the time in the world and that I actually was the owner of the company which manufactured my gear, they relented and wished me a nice holiday diving in Mexico. I managed to beat the extortion but it left me with a very bad taste. I think the operator’s need to be more forthcoming about this problem and pressure be put on the customs authorities to change their practices.
Something similar happened to me two years ago when I flew into Cabo San Lucas to go to Socorro. A man at customs saw my pelican case and started yelling and getting upset. He was yelling in Spanish, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he was talking to another customs agent who then confronted me about my underwater camera. The agent that was yelling, walked off and appeared to be very angry! I assured the customs agent that confronted me that my camera system was very old and not worth very much (not completely true). He was very nice and let me go. This so called “import tax” is NOT meant for equipment brought into the country for personal use. It is meant for new equipment being brought in for sale. The customs agents know this, but they are being told by their bosses to shake down the tourist for money! The Mexican department of tourism has been fighting them on this practice. Last year when I went to Cabo, I had no problems. It seems to be hit or miss! I believe next time I go to Cabo; I’ll have to put my underwater camera in a regular carry on instead of the pelican case. They seem to home in on pelican cases! I can’t afford to pay $900.00 in taxes just to visit Cabo. I’ve never had this problem in Cozumel.
Thank you all for your valuable insights. Jason, re: the letter from Nautilus, I did have this as well. I did produce this (I did not dive with them, but its publicly accessible) but it didn’t help. I am glad it did for you, and I have read that some others have had success with this (while others have not). Curious to know if any one you have had this experience elsewhere. I am traveling to Galapagos in April and wondering if Ecuador has a similar practice (but have not found that from some cursory google searches).