Complemento de pago: Mexico's CFDI payment receipt

Why Mexico separates the invoice from the payment

In many countries an invoice is a commercial document and payment is tracked only in your ledger. In Mexico, both the invoice and, in many cases, the payment are reported to the SAT in real time through the CFDI system. If CFDI is new to you, read CFDI basics for foreign finance teams first.

The reason is tax timing. VAT (IVA) in Mexico is generally due when the money is actually received, not when the invoice is issued. An invoice issued today and paid next month needs a second document that tells the SAT when, and how much, was collected. That document is the complemento de pago.

Which invoices trigger a payment receipt

The trigger is the payment method code on the original invoice:

Invoice payment method	Meaning	Payment receipt needed?
PUE	Paid in a single instalment at or near issue	No
PPD	Paid in instalments or deferred	Yes, for each payment received

A PPD invoice that is paid in three instalments needs three receipts. The choice between the two codes is covered in PUE vs PPD explained.

What a complemento de pago contains

A payment receipt records the payment once, then lists each invoice it applies to. The key data, in plain terms:

• Payment date and payment form (for example, transfer or cash).
• Amount and currency received, with exchange rate where relevant.
• Bank details such as the payer's and payee's accounts, when available.
• For each related invoice: its UUID (the folio fiscal, the invoice's unique ID), the instalment number, the previous balance, the amount paid and the remaining balance (saldo insoluto).

The SAT publishes the technical standard. Your invoicing provider or ERP fills most of it from the payment you record.

A worked example with one transfer and two invoices

Illustrative figures. A customer, Industrias Delta, owes on two PPD invoices:

Invoice	Total (MXN)	Paid before	Balance
A-201	100,000	0	100,000
A-207	60,000	20,000	40,000

On 12 November they send one SPEI transfer of 120,000. Your AR team decides to settle A-207 in full and put the rest on A-201. The receipt dated 12 November shows:

Invoice	Instalment	Previous balance	Paid	Remaining
A-201	1	100,000	80,000	20,000
A-207	2	40,000	40,000	0

The total, 120,000, equals the deposit. If those two numbers differ, either the allocation is wrong or a second deposit exists.

Deadlines and corrections at a high level

Current rules set a deadline for issuing the receipt, generally early in the month after the payment is received. Rules change, so confirm the exact date with your Mexican accountant each year. Late or incorrect receipts can be cancelled and replaced, but each correction creates work for both you and your customer, who also reconciles them.

Where foreign AR teams usually go wrong

• Issuing receipts from the ERP's payment run, not the bank. The receipt must reflect money actually received. Apply payments from the statement, then issue.
• Lumping unrelated deposits. Two transfers on the same day are two payments, even from the same customer.
• Forgetting partial payments. A short payment still needs a receipt with the remaining balance.
• Dates in the wrong time zone. Use the date the money landed in Mexico, as shown on the Mexican statement.

Matching deposits before issuing receipts with Meses

The hard part is deciding which deposit pays which invoice. Meses (meses.ai) helps with that step. Meses is the AI platform for collections reconciliation in Latin America: it matches bank-statement deposits to what customers owe (dues, tuition, rent, instalments or invoices) and updates your records in minutes. AI proposes and people decide: nothing is written to your sheet until your team reviews and approves the changes. Your invoicing provider or ERP still issues the receipt itself.