Mexico's sales-tax refunds could prove taxing for U.S. tourists

Mexico is now offering sales-tax refunds for goods bought by foreign visitors in five popular tourist haunts — Mexico City, Cancun, Guadalajara, Los Cabos and Puerto Vallarta. But collecting the cash will require digesting lots of fine print as the program gets off the ground.

The refunds are for value-added tax paid on retail goods, and exclude hotel and restaurant tabs. The items must be purchased in stores that have registered with the rebate program — only about 5% of total retailers at present, though the government is "aggressively" marketing the program to others.