On May 16, a new bill was announced referring to the "Externalization of Argentine Savings", a "laundering" of capital promoted by the Ministry of Economy.
This is version 2.0 of the laundering promoted by Minister Sergio Massa at the end of last year. The differences are minor with that one and – for the most part – they take away its attractiveness.
It is a broad laundering, for all types of subjects resident in the country (individuals, undivided successions and companies, whether sole proprietorships or companies) and for all types of assets, with the exception of financial assets located in high-risk or non-cooperative countries, according to the identification of the FATF (Financial Action Task Force).
The proposed duration of the scheme is 360 days, whereas the previous draft provided for a shorter period (270 days).
The date of "cut-off", called the date of pre-existence of assets, will depend on the type of subject that adheres to the regime:
- Human Persons and Undivided Successions: assets prior to the date of entry into force.
- Sociedades of the country or sole proprietorships: assets prior to the close of the last fiscal year ended prior to the date of entry into force.
In terms of aliquots, the main attraction of version 1.0, there is an increase:
The previous scheme was 2.5%, 5% and 7.5% for assets in the country and abroad with repatriation, the increase operated every 90 days. In the absence of repatriation, the assets abroad had a rate 50% higher than those mentioned above (5%, 10% and 15%, respectively).
With regard to "repatriation", there are two important developments that make it less attractive. The Executive Power is delegated to fix the percentage of repatriation, based on a minimum of 10% of the total assets abroad that are laundered, without providing for a maximum.
In addition, it is expected that the repatriated funds will be deposited in a special account or assigned to certain destinations – which are not mentioned – according to the AFIP regulations, for a period of one (1) to five (5) years, as established by said agency.
There are no changes in terms of benefits, remembering that they consist of:
- Do not apply the figure of the capital increase not justified by the assets that are declared.
- Release from all civil, commercial, tax criminal, foreign exchange, customs criminal and administrative sanctions.
- Exemption from the payment of the following taxes:
-Profits, Undocumented outputs, ITI, IDCB.
-Internal taxes and VAT
-Personal Property and Capital of Cooperatives.
As in the previous project, the release of the Solidarity and Extraordinary Contribution (ASE) of Law 27,605 is not foreseen, which also removes attractiveness.
It is insisted that the declaration must be complete. Otherwise, the subject will be deprived of the benefits of the regime. No margin of error has been considered.
No prescription
The declarant may not have the limitation period in his favour. That is, you must declare the goods not externalized and pay the special tax, even if you had acquired them in prescribed periods.
The "simplified regime" of money-laundering is maintained, intended for individuals and only for holdings of national and/or foreign currency, in cash, in the country, which must be deposited in a special account.
The previous limits are maintained at the equivalent of 35% per year of the average annual income of the last 3 years declared to the AFIP or US$ 50,000, whichever is lower. Those who did not have declared income in the last 3 years must take the aforementioned amount as a limit. The rate of excise duty shall be 1.5%. The subjects reached by the Solidarity and Extraordinary Contribution (ASE) of Law 27,605 are exempt from this regime.
As for the adjustment for inflation, the subjects that take advantage of the regime must previously renounce the promotion of any judicial or administrative procedure to claim for tax purposes the application of updating procedures of any nature. If they have already promoted them, they must desist.
The AFIP will not file complaints under the Criminal Tax Law, the BCRA or the Criminal Exchange Law, etc.
With regard to the "Collaboration Agreement", which consists of the creation of the figure of the "buchón pago", which was taken from another proposal by Senator Parrilli, the most relevant – and positive– novelty is that it is limited in this project to the term that the externalization regime lasts, that is, 360 days.
On the other hand, the unoriginal idea of suspending the prescription for one year of the actions to determine or demand the payment of taxes by the AFIP and to apply fines in relation to them is maintained.
In our opinion, there is no doubt that the current economic and tax situation merits a capital externalization regime. However, the proposal lacks very important elements.
The first of all is to address the cause that generated the informality that is now intended to "whitewash". Undoubtedly, the phenomenon of evasion (consequence) is multicausal (economic, financial, exchange aspects, etc.) but in tax matters, the high tax burden cannot be ignored as it is done here. That is, remedying the consequence and neglecting the cause is not an effective plan.
Another issue is the purpose: since tax policy is part of economic policy, there is no element in this project aimed at mobilizing the real economy.
Martín R. Caranta (@mrcaranta) is a partner at Lisicki Litvin y Asoc.
NE
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