What Is the Complemento Carta Porte?
The Complemento Carta Porte (Carta Porte Complement) is a mandatory electronic annex attached to a Mexican digital tax invoice (CFDI) to certify the legal possession of goods being transported within Mexican territory. It was established by Mexico's Tax Administration Service (SAT) as part of the regulatory framework governing commercial freight movement across the country.
The complement was introduced to give SAT and customs authorities real-time visibility into the supply chain. When attached to a CFDI, it allows federal enforcement agencies to verify at checkpoints that goods moving along Mexico's federal highways, rail lines, air corridors, and coastal shipping routes are backed by valid fiscal documentation.
To understand where the Carta Porte Complement fits, it helps to first be clear on what a CFDI is. If you are new to the concept, we recommend reading What is a CFDI? before continuing.
When Did the Carta Porte Take Effect?
The rollout was gradual, with several extensions that caused widespread confusion. The key timeline:
- June 1, 2021: optional use of the Carta Porte Complement begins, following its publication by SAT in May of that year.
- January 1, 2022: the complement becomes mandatory for federal freight transport across all modes.
- 2022 – December 2023: transition period (extended through several successive SAT deadline extensions) during which issuing the complement with errors was not penalized, as long as it was issued.
- January 1, 2024: after SAT's final extension (which pushed the deadline to December 31, 2023), circulating without a valid Carta Porte becomes sanctionable and can even qualify as smuggling in certain scenarios.
- 2024: version 3.1 of the complement takes effect — the version currently in force and the one invoicing systems must stamp today.
Because Mexico's miscellaneous tax rules are updated every year, always confirm the current version of the complement on the SAT portal or with your authorized certification provider (PAC) before building or updating an integration.
Who Is Required to Issue It?
The obligation to include the Carta Porte Complement falls on anyone who provides federal freight transport services and on owners or holders of goods who move them using their own vehicles, whenever federal roads or routes are used. The affected transport modes are:
- Federal road freight transport (the most common scenario)
- Rail freight transport
- Domestic air cargo
- Domestic coastal maritime shipping
Carriers operating exclusively on local roads or entirely within a single state, without using federal highways, are generally outside this requirement. That said, the precise boundaries of the obligation are defined in SAT's Resolución Miscelánea Fiscal (miscellaneous tax rules) and related guidelines, which are updated periodically. Businesses should verify applicability with a qualified tax advisor or monitor official SAT publications.
What Data Does It Carry?
The Carta Porte Complement is one of the most data-intensive supplements in the entire CFDI ecosystem. Its required fields are organized into several logical groups:
Carrier Identity and SICT Permit
- Carrier's RFC (Mexican tax ID) of the transport provider
- Federal operating permit number issued by the Secretariat of Infrastructure, Communications and Transport (SICT, formerly SCT), confirming the carrier is legally authorized for federal freight operations
- Vehicle configuration (body type, number of axles)
- License plate number and vehicle identification number (NIV)
Operator Information
- Name and RFC of the driver or pilot
- Federal driver's license number where applicable
Origin and Destination
- Origin address: street, number, neighborhood, municipality, state, zip code, and country
- Destination address: same fields
- Estimated departure and arrival date and time
Goods Being Transported
For each product or commodity:
- SAT product/service key from the official catalog (c_ClaveProdServCP)
- Description, quantity, and unit of measure
- Weight in kilograms
- For hazardous materials: UN number, hazard description, and packaging type (see what is hazmat for a refresher on how these materials are classified)
Transport Figures
Structured information about every party involved in the shipment: the operator, the vehicle owner, the lessor (if the vehicle is leased), and, when relevant, a notified party or consignee.
Transfer CFDI vs. Income CFDI: Which One Applies?
This distinction is frequently misunderstood and can lead to compliance errors:
Transfer CFDI (CFDI de Traslado) with Carta Porte Complement
This document is used when the goods owner moves cargo using their own or leased vehicles without a third-party commercial sale occurring in that movement. A manufacturing company shipping finished inventory from its factory to its own warehouse in another city, for example, issues a transfer CFDI with the complement. The monetary value on the CFDI is for reference purposes; it does not constitute taxable revenue from the transport itself.
Income CFDI (CFDI de Ingreso) with Carta Porte Complement
This is issued when a transport company provides freight services to a paying customer. The income CFDI records the carrier's revenue from the service, and the Carta Porte Complement is attached to document the trip's physical details. This is the standard scenario for a logistics company or an independent trucker billing a client for a delivery.
In both cases, the complement carries the same technical trip data. The difference lies in the type of CFDI it is attached to and the fiscal treatment of the document.
Consequences of Non-Compliance
Operating without a valid Carta Porte Complement — or with one that contains errors — carries both operational and tax consequences:
- Vehicle detention at federal checkpoints. The National Guard and federal transport authorities are empowered to stop units that cannot present a valid, current carta porte, causing delivery delays and unexpected logistical costs.
- Tax penalties for failing to meet electronic invoicing obligations as an issuer.
- Permit suspension or cancellation in serious or repeat cases.
- Loss of deductibility: the recipient of the goods may have the freight expense disallowed as a deduction if the carrier failed to issue a correctly structured CFDI.
- Audit exposure: in certain circumstances, parties receiving goods transported without proper fiscal documentation can be drawn into SAT audits.
Beyond outright non-issuance, technical errors are equally problematic. An incorrect SAT product key, a wrong vehicle configuration code, or an expired SICT permit number will render the complement technically invalid even if the document was stamped and issued.
Automating the Carta Porte Complement in Enterprise Invoicing
Given the volume and precision of data the complement requires, manual entry is error-prone and impossible to scale for companies with significant freight volumes. Organizations that operate their own fleets or manage subcontracted carriers routinely integrate Carta Porte generation directly into their Transportation Management Systems (TMS) or ERP platforms.
A well-engineered integration typically:
- Pulls trip data (origin, destination, operator, vehicle) from the TMS the moment a transport order is confirmed
- Validates SAT catalogs (product keys, vehicle configurations) against the latest official lookup tables automatically
- Checks SICT permit validity and driver license status before generating the XML payload
- Stamps the CFDI through an authorized certification provider (PAC) with no manual intervention
- Distributes the PDF and XML to the customer, the driver, and internal records systems
- Handles cancellations and substitutions when last-minute route or vehicle changes occur
Automation eliminates data-entry errors, compresses issuance time from minutes to seconds, and ensures every shipment is documented consistently. This kind of integration is usually part of a broader process automation strategy, especially when the stamping trigger lives inside an ERP that already centralizes sales orders, inventory, and logistics.
For companies scaling freight operations across Mexico, the Carta Porte Complement stops being a compliance checkbox and becomes a data asset: every structured trip record is machine-readable evidence of supply chain activity that can feed analytics, carrier performance tracking, and audit defense.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the Carta Porte replace the invoice for the goods themselves?
No. The Carta Porte Complement does not replace the CFDI covering the sale; it is attached to a transfer or income CFDI to document the transport. If a sale is also involved, that transaction is invoiced separately.
What happens if I issue a Carta Porte with a minor error, like an incorrect weight?
Outside the transition window that ended on December 31, 2023, an error in the data can invalidate the complement even if the CFDI was successfully stamped, exposing the shipment to fines and detention at a checkpoint. That's why validating SAT catalogs before stamping matters.
Do I need a Carta Porte if I only move goods within my own city?
In most cases, no, as long as the route avoids federally regulated roads or corridors. The requirement applies when shipments travel over federal highways, rail lines, or air and coastal routes; for purely local routes, confirm with your PAC, since the miscellaneous tax rules can define exceptions.
How long do I need to keep the Carta Porte XML on file?
The complement is part of the CFDI, so the same recordkeeping requirements that apply to fiscal invoices in Mexico apply here: documentation must remain available for review by the tax authority for the retention period set by current fiscal regulations, not just for the duration of the trip.
What if a subcontracted carrier doesn't hand over the Carta Porte XML?
If your company owns the goods and relies on a third party for transport, require contractually that the carrier deliver the XML and stamping acknowledgment each trip. Without it, both carrier and company are exposed if the shipment is inspected on the road.
Does your company manage freight transport and need to integrate the Carta Porte Complement into your invoicing workflow? AISDC builds custom CFDI integrations — including full Carta Porte support — for ERPs, TMS platforms, and proprietary systems. Learn more on our CFDI invoicing and SAT integration services page.