Potentially Good News For Sellers, re: RFC Requirements.

Good news for our sellers, although not "the final word."

Several local notaries are now taking the view that they can close deals with no RFC or CURP from the sellers, yet still take standard deductions for those sellers against any cap gains.This elevates the risk of a Hacienda audit of the sale, but assuming everything was handled legally, which of course it would be, there would ultimately be nothing lost, except the hassle of dealing with the possible audit, with deductions for things like major improvements scrutinized.

We have another notary that has now also changed from the strict interpretation to a much less cumbersome one, but on a different basis; that is, specifically, that they can generate automatically a generic RFC for sellers, which will technically satisfy SAT Hacienda and allow the notary to close.

However, other attorneys dispute the legality and efficacy of this generic RFC approach outright. They say it makes more sense to just close without an RFC at all for the sellers. 

So it's obvious there is still widespread disagreement among notaries and attorneys, with some still adhering to the original, strict interpretation. (Which, to recap in brief, is that unless both buyer and seller have full RFC and CURP from Hacienda, the new buyer will have zero deductible cost basis when he or she sells someday, and would then at that future date incur a huge, and clearly unfair, cap gain tax.)

Caveat:

Until more time passes and we arrive at a broader consensus, there is a real chance that your buyer might be advised by his attorney or notary that regardless of what the more flexible notaries now say, the buyer should avoid any and all risk of losing his or her cost basis, and therefore should insist, as a condition of his or her offer, on you obtaining the full temporary residency, CURP, and RFC from SAT, etc. just to be on the safe side.

In other words, just because we have some notaries now taking the more lenient position, that doesn't guarantee your buyer will go along with it. 

But, I am guardedly optimistic. My sense is that the consensus will gather momentum; more and more attorneys and notaries will come around to these more flexible positions. The more strict interpretation is just too draconian and damaging to the market.

Robert