Question Carnet Needed for Cabo?

[cr92]

I am headed through Cabo enroute to a Socorro liveaboard at the end of March, beginning of April 2025. I have a Canon R5 and Nauticam housing (plus all the ports, accessories, etc for it) which I plan to take with me. It is a personal use camera and housing, not engaged in any business or professional activity of photography and videography. I think we've all read the horror stories of being held up by customs in Cabo regarding underwater camera housing taxation. I have heard it is a good idea to have a packet of receipts for equipment on hand to argue down the value of your equipment for tax purposes.

A carnet seems like it will be cheaper than whatever they want to charge me in Cabo without a carnet. My question is, if I have a carnet for my equipment, will Cabo honor the carnet as they are supposed to?

Does anyone have recent experience here or any other advice for me?

 

[wunderhorn]

I'm also going to Socorro in March - will be there on the 9th. I'm getting a carnet and will let you know how it goes.

 

[Nemrod]

If crooked agents are holding people up for money on cameras would a carnet even be useful? They do not seem to follow their national law, why would they follow or care about this one?

Has anyone ever had their money returned in Cabo when they left with their "imported" items back home?

 

[TostitoBandito]

The Carnets don't seem a whole lot cheaper than the actual shakedowns. You just prepay for the convenience of getting through the airport without unexpected drama.

My solution is just don't go on dive trips to Mexico.

 

[Marie13]

I’ve done carnets during my work as a customs broker. PITA and expensive.

 

[wunderhorn]

The Carnets don't seem a whole lot cheaper than the actual shakedowns. You just prepay for the convenience of getting through the airport without unexpected drama.

My solution is just don't go on dive trips to Mexico.

A carnet is quite a bit cheaper- and worth it for those of us who do care to go.

 

[Nemrod]

A carnet is quite a bit cheaper- and worth it for those of us who do care to go.

How did you determine that as we do not know what the standard Mexican shake down fee is or how they decide to value the equipment. Do they have a shakedown guidebook that specifies the amount of the shakedown? We would need to know that in order to determine the value of a carnet.

The value of UW cameras. There is nothing more worthless than an old computer and old photo gear. Even nearly new Nauticams retain little of their value after a couple of years of use. About 1/3 or less of original value and possible near zero in some cases.

 

[wunderhorn]

How did you determine that as we do not know what the standard Mexican shake down fee is or how they decide to value the equipment. Do they have a shakedown guidebook that specifies the amount of the shakedown? We would need to know that in order to determine the value of a carnet.

The value of UW cameras. There is nothing more worthless than an old computer and old photo gear. Even nearly new Nauticams retain little of their value after a couple of years of use. About 1/3 or less of original value and possible near zero in some cases.

My understanding is that they look up how much you paid for your equipment and then charge 10%. If someone has better intel, please chime in. If 10% is the ‘guesstimate’ (I’m sure they don’t look at used prices and I don’t have used documentation), the math is very much in my favor doing the carnet.

 

[TostitoBandito]

I think the actual tax rate (theoretically) assessed on whatever they choose to tax is 16% (based on what I've read). So let's assume a standard pro level UW mirrorless/DSLR rig with macro/dome ports could easily run you in the neighborhood of $1000 USD, assuming they don't come after your strobes or camera/lenses (which could easily double that amount). Which they reportedly do sometimes.

I looked at a different Carnet provider with different pricing, so they seem to vary quite a bit. As low as $250ish to $500+ depending on the dollar amount and provider. If you get a Carnet I'd also strongly suggest putting all your camera gear on it and not just the housings, cause there's way too much uncertainty with what the customs people seem to be doing.

This kind of stuff blows my mind though. Like, at some point someone who manages tourism in the government has to figure out that this isn't a good look? Diving is a pretty big tourism segment there, and a lot of those people have cameras. Even "normal" vacation goers just bringing gopro or cell phone housings could still be shaken down, albeit for much smaller amounts. Still a terrible experience for them I'm sure, since they likely had no idea and nobody likes spending an extra hour in customs dealing with searches and whatnot. Reminds me of some of the stories you'd hear from places like Egypt with cameras being confiscated and gear being held hostage for $ due to some BS "spying" regulations a while back.