In recent days the Department of Incorporation and Collection of the Mexican Social Security Institute ("IMSS" for its acronym in Spanish) released two normative criteria for the correct integration of the base salary for contribution purposes, namely:

Normative Criteria 03/2014, which establishes that the payments made to workers by way of "indemnity for occupational hazards" that did not occur, shall integrate the base salary for contribution purposes in terms of the first paragraph of Article 27 of the Social Security Law, since said payments are actually delivered to workers as a result of their work.

Normative Criteria 04/2014, which states that the amount of money paid directly to workers for the concept of "contributions to pension funds or plans", either in cash or by electronic transfer to their bank accounts, shall integrate the base salary for contribution purposes in terms of the first paragraph of Article 27 of the Social Security Law.

The above mentioned since only the contributions to pension funds or plans that meet the requirements established by the National Commission for Retirement Savings' System ("CONSAR" for its acronym in Spanish) will be excluded from the base salary for contribution purposes, requirements among which we can find that workers do not receive any direct benefit derived from pension funds, either in cash or in kind, until they meet the requirements set forth in said pension plans, such as reaching a certain age and/or length of service with the company.

The above regulatory criteria is available at the following Internet link:
http://www.imss.gob.mx/patrones/criterios-normativos

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