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Explainer
What are RFC and CURP?
CURP and RFC are two different Mexican official identifiers. CURP is the population-register key; RFC is the taxpayer number issued by SAT. Banks, payroll and invoicing may ask for both. One does not replace the other.
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Reviewed 14 October 2026
What is a CURP?
The Mexican government publishes CURP procedures on gob.mx. The Interior Ministry describes the Clave Única de Registro de Población as the instrument that registers, one by one, inhabitants of Mexico — nationals and foreigners — and Mexicans who live abroad.
SEGOB’s FAQ states that the key has 18 characters: 16 taken from the identity document (birth record, naturalisation letter, migration document or Mexican nationality certificate) and two assigned by the Registro Nacional de Población. This page does not reproduce a generator and does not offer an unofficial “CURP builder”.
What is an RFC?
RFC means Registro Federal de Contribuyentes, the federal taxpayer register run by SAT (Servicio de Administración Tributaria). It identifies individuals (persona física) and legal entities (persona moral). SAT cites article 27 of the Federal Tax Code and publishes RFC lookup by CURP and individual RFC registration.
SAT says adults with a valid CURP can finish individual registration on the SAT portal and obtain the Cédula de Identificación Fiscal that contains the RFC. Deadlines follow SAT’s current text. This page does not state a character length or check-digit formula that those pages do not publish.
How are they related, and how do they differ?
CURP identifies a person in the population register. RFC identifies a taxpayer before SAT. SAT lets you retrieve a registered RFC with a CURP, and individual enrolment often requires a valid CURP. Holding a CURP does not by itself mean you are on the RFC. Holding an RFC does not replace CURP for population-register procedures.
A bank or employer may ask for both; that is the institution’s own rule, not a merger of the two numbers. SPEI and CLABE identify payment accounts at Banco de México, not a person’s CURP or RFC.
How do you check them officially?
Use the CURP entry on gob.mx and the SAT portal for RFC. Do not paste identifiers into an unrelated “validator”. This page does not look up or store CURP or RFC values.
paytools.dev is not SAT, SEGOB or a Mexican bank. Fees, appointments and office lists follow the official page of the day.
Questions and answers
- Is a CURP enough to open a company account?
- Unknown. Bank onboarding and SAT rules differ. A company as a legal entity usually needs its own RFC. The bank and SAT decide.
- Can a foreigner have a CURP or an RFC?
- SEGOB says CURP also registers foreigners in Mexico. SAT’s individual enrolment accepts a valid migration document in place of some papers. Eligibility follows the official text.
- Can this site generate an RFC?
- No. SAT assigns the RFC. This page only points back to official consultation. It does not generate or guess numbers.
Official pages to verify
Sources and review
Facts follow gob.mx CURP pages, SEGOB’s CURP description, and SAT’s RFC-by-CURP and individual-registration pages. SAT cites Federal Tax Code article 27. Reviewed 14 October 2026.