After the agreement for the automatic exchange of financial information sealed between Argentina and the United States at the beginning of last December -which entered into force on January 1st- the Ministry of Economy is preparing to send its laundering project to extraordinary sessions, as confirmed.
“We have already sent to the Presidency, for the turn to Congress, the externalization bill that arises from the commitment by Fatca. The idea is that it be turned over to Congress and included in the agenda of extraordinary ones”, They counted on the fifth floor of the Palacio de Hacienda where the office of the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, is located.
Specialized tax specialists and lawyers reeled off the fine print of the project to which he agreed THE NATION and they found some “pearls” that those taxpayers who are interested in the official proposal should be aware of.
1) “The rates are truly attractive, taking into account that the gap lowers the effective rates practically in half”, affirmed the tax official César Litvin. The applicable rates for the externalization of assets from the country and abroad when there is repatriation will be 2.5%, from the entry into force until March 31, 2023; 5%, from April 1, 2023 to June 30, 2023 and 7.5%, from July 1, 2023 to September 30 of 2023. The rates for foreign assets are doubled when there is no repatriation.
“The contingency for the detection of an undeclared asset, between taxes, interest and fines, ranges from 45% to 65% of the original capital expressed in foreign currency depending on the dates of the capital increases, returns and condition against VAT” , Litvin says. “The rates are low. There is no other way to make it attractive in the context of extremely high tax legal uncertainty in the country, if one takes into account that the collection of taxes is calculated taking the price of the goods in the official dollar. As in the other launderings approved in this Government, better rates are given for those who repatriate the assets, ”said Diego Fraga, a lawyer specializing in taxes.
2) Another novelty is that it is allowed to externalize assets listed in the name of the spouse or cohabitant or their ascendants or descendants in the first or second degree of consanguinity or affinity. “This is important because sometimes the true source of income for an asset purchase doesn’t match the person on record,” Litvin says. “It’s not as wide as the [blanqueo de 2017] of Macri that allowed honesty on behalf of any third party. This had allowed all kinds of patrimonial engineering”, estimates Fraga.
3) A simplified regime is created for small taxpayers, basically aiming at those who provide services abroad and to avoid entering the currencies at the official exchange rate, they do not report that profit. It is limited to up to US$50,000 and must not be a wealth taxpayer.
4) Taxpayers or companies that engage in money laundering must previously renounce the promotion of any contentious-administrative or judicial litigation to claim the application of the tax inflation adjustment. If he had promoted them, he must desist. “This requirement plays against the decision to launder taking into account the harmful effects of inflation on tax results, which affect the principle of taxable capacity and make income tax confiscatory,” qualifies Litvin.
5) A broad list of officials (according to article 13) as well as their spouses, cohabitants, parents and children are excluded from money laundering. “However, the indicated subjects who are shareholders or partners of companies that enter the Externalization Regime are not excluded,” specifies the tax officer.
6) “One of the points that generates the most controversy is that it does not release the Wealth Tax”, says Fraga. Litvin notes: “The release of the taxes that have not been paid is not complete. The Solidarity and Extraordinary Contribution (ASE) is not released. Although the AFIP will not be able to demand additional information from the subjects that enter the regime to that contained in the declaration, it is not clear in those cases in which the information of the ‘previous film’ to the photo of the declaration is already in the hands of the AFIP and the ASE not forgiven by this project can be calculated”.
7) The project raises a prize for taxpayers who comply. The same is delegated in the regulation. It will be some benefit for achievers. In the 2017 tax disclosure, an award was given to the compliant taxpayer: for three years he did not pay Personal Assets. “It is more attached to the principle of legality that the prize is expressly indicated in the law. In addition, that it is substantial ”, questions Litvin.
8) Fraga explains that laundering must be total, because if after the process is finished any undeclared property is found, the benefits are lost. “This can complicate those subjects who do not have their assets very organized or who lose track of what they have,” says Fraga, who recalls that for the fiscal disclosure of Together for Change, a percentage of “deviation” had been established with respect to the assets declared for this possibility.
9) In addition, laundering suspends the prescription of taxes for one year. “Although it is quite common, it is shameful that it is done in general, for those who enter laundering, but also for the rest of the taxpayers. The limitation periods are already too long and with grounds for suspension and interruption that reduce legal certainty and reward the inefficiency of AFIP officials, who wait until a debt is about to prescribe to claim it ”, says Fraga, who also believes that assets should be valued according to the Personal Property Law and not Profits.
10) For the first time in a laundering, crypto assets enter, although it delegates almost everything to the regulations. In addition, the controversial figure of the collaborator is created. “It will be a festival of extortions”, dice Litvin.