A Border Economy on the Tax Return
El Paso and Ciudad Juárez form one of the largest cross-border metro areas in the world, and much of El Paso's business activity exists because of the border. Warehouses on the east side store parts for factories in Juárez, customs brokers and freight forwarders move goods across the bridges, and retailers downtown sell to shoppers who live in Mexico. Fort Bliss adds a large base of federal contracting, and New Mexico begins a few minutes from the west side. Texas has no corporate income tax, so the federal return and the franchise tax report are the main filings, but a border business often has a third or fourth country or state involved. BOMCAS prepares returns for El Paso businesses remotely.
Franchise tax methods and deadlines are explained on our Texas business tax page. Here we apply them to El Paso's border businesses.
Suppliers to Maquiladoras
Many El Paso companies support manufacturing plants in Juárez that operate under Mexico's IMMEX programme. Some are the U.S. arm of the same group, buying materials, holding inventory and invoicing the final customer, while others provide logistics, engineering or maintenance. The U.S. entity's return depends on how the group divides functions and profits between the two countries. Intercompany prices for parts, services and assembly need support under U.S. transfer pricing rules, and a U.S. company that owns a Mexican subsidiary files Form 5471 each year.
Customs Brokers, Forwarders and Carriers
Brokers and forwarders collect duties, fees and freight on behalf of clients and pay them on, which can make reported revenue look far larger than their real income. Recording these pass-through amounts correctly matters for the federal return and for the franchise tax, where certain flow-through payments can be excluded from total revenue. Cross-border trucking companies also deal with equipment registered in both countries, drivers on each side and fuel bought in Mexico.
Fort Bliss Contractors
Fort Bliss is one of the Army's largest installations, with more than 41,000 direct employees in the Comptroller's 2025 study and a large training area that extends into New Mexico. Construction, maintenance, logistics and training contractors serving the post deal with federal contract accounting and, when work is performed on the New Mexico side, New Mexico gross receipts tax and income tax filings. We separate Texas and New Mexico activity in the records from the start of each contract.
Retailers and Wholesalers
Stores near the bridges and in the malls sell heavily to visitors from Mexico. Inventory turns, credit card fees, currency handling and, for wholesalers, sales to Mexican resellers all show up on the return. Businesses that accept dollars and pesos need consistent rules for converting cash and recording foreign exchange gains or losses.
New Mexico Activity
A company based in El Paso that has employees, customers or projects in Las Cruces, Santa Teresa or Sunland Park can owe New Mexico corporate income tax or file as a pass-through entity there, and it may owe gross receipts tax on services performed in New Mexico. We track where work is done so the New Mexico returns can be filed accurately.
What We Review
- Group structure, intercompany pricing and Form 5471.
- Pass-through duties, freight and fees.
- Contract accounting for Fort Bliss work.
- Activity and payroll in New Mexico.
- Peso transactions and exchange differences.
- Franchise tax method and revenue exclusions.
Getting Started
Send the accounting file or trial balance, intercompany agreements and invoices, prior federal, Texas and New Mexico returns, fixed asset schedules and contract summaries. We review them, send one list of questions and go through the drafts with you before filing.
El Paso Business Tax Preparation Questions
Does an El Paso company that owns a Juárez plant file anything special?
Yes. A U.S. owner of a Mexican company generally files Form 5471, and intercompany prices need transfer pricing support.
Are duties a customs broker collects counted as revenue?
They should be recorded as pass-through amounts, and some flow-through payments can be excluded from franchise tax revenue.
Do El Paso businesses working in New Mexico file there?
Often yes, for New Mexico income tax and gross receipts tax on work performed there.
Do you prepare Mexican business returns?
No. We prepare the U.S. and Texas side and work with the client's Mexican accountant.
Talk to BOMCAS About Business Tax Preparation in El Paso
Our work on the return draws on peso and intercompany bookkeeping, payroll across the border and the state line and current export and sales tax records. Owners carry K-1s to their personal returns, group changes need planning first, stopped filings go to catch-up work, and Mexican or Canadian owners should read cross-border tax. Our state pages on individual returns, sales tax, bookkeeping, payroll, planning, catching up and international filings explain the Texas rules away from the border, and the Texas overview summarises them.
Tell BOMCAS about your El Paso company or household and we will explain what we would do first and which papers would let us quote. Reach us through the contact page or the form below, call 780-667-5250 or email info@bomcas.ca. Every El Paso service is on the El Paso overview. This page offers general information only, not advice for your case.