20% Surcharge For Travel

[Sleuth]

There seems to be a lot of confusion with this law. Maybe we can all start a thread to clarify it... This is my understanding.

Argentine resident/citizen: 20% (up from 15%) is added to any purchase made with your Argentine credit card outside of the country. This includes Internet purchases. Travel packages that are outside of the country have a 20% surcharge added on to them no matter how you make payment (cash, credit, etc). This 20% can be claimed when you file taxes at the end of the year.

Non-residents: Non-residents are no longer able to buy travel packages for abroad in Argentina. This is due to the fact that there was a 55% difference in the blue market rate to official rate and they were exploiting this to pay much less for travel. The first article mentions Chileans and Uruguans taking advantage of this loophole. i assume "travel packages" refers to any mode of travel - tours, bus, airline tickets, etc.

 

[Sleuth]

I think you don't understand the law, the 20% tax is preferable than paying in dollars, you are better of paying a 20% refundable tax than paying in dollars and getting debs in dollars that will cost you 55% more to get as you will have to use the blue dollar. The worst idea ever is to pay with a foreign credit card.

lamarque is right on with this. Here's a good example:

- Someone with a US credit card buys a ticket from EZE to NYC. The cost is U$S 1200. There is no extra fee. You owe U$S 1200.

- Someone with an Argentine credit card wants to buy the same ticket in Argentina. The cost is U$S 1200 plus the new 20% fee = U$S 1440. That is converted at the official rate of ARS $5.10 to U$S 1 and you're billed ARS $7272 on your credit card statement. However, you actually have dollars that you're able to convert to pesos at the blue rate of ARS $8.00 to U$S 1, which means you only paid U$S 909 for your ticket, and 20% of that comes back to you when you file your taxes. (Of course, this is less than 20% as the peso continue to devalue before you can claim the refund.) You just saved well over U$S 300.

Also, AFIP also has a record of your spending and may come calling if your declared income and spending do not match up.

 

[nlaruccia]

Why buy an airplane ticket here or from Despegar? Can't you use a foreign credit card and buy tickets from Travelocity or Expedia online and just print the tickets and avoid the 20% surcharge?

 

[Sleuth]

Why buy an airplane ticket here or from Despegar? Can't you use a foreign credit card and buy tickets from Travelocity or Expedia online and just print the tickets and avoid the 20% surcharge?

It's still cheaper to buy a ticket here if you can get the dolar blue rate, even with the 20% fee. I just posted an example above.

 

[Rich One]

There seems to be a lot of confusion with this law. Maybe we can all start a thread to clarify it... This is my understanding.

Argentine resident/citizen: 20% (up from 15%) is added to any purchase made with your Argentine credit card outside of the country. This includes Internet purchases. Travel packages that are outside of the country have a 20% surcharge added on to them no matter how you make payment (cash, credit, etc). This 20% can be claimed when you file taxes at the end of the year.

Non-residents: Non-residents are no longer able to buy travel packages for abroad in Argentina. This is due to the fact that there was a 55% difference in the blue market rate to official rate and they were exploiting this to pay much less for travel. The first article mentions Chileans and Uruguans taking advantage of this loophole. i assume "travel packages" refers to any mode of travel - tours, bus, airline tickets, etc.

So non-residents are stranded here forever, if have no CC...?

 

[ajoknoblauch]

lamarque is right on with this. Here's a good example:

- Someone with a US credit card buys a ticket from EZE to NYC. The cost is U$S 1200. There is no extra fee. You owe U$S 1200.

- Someone with an Argentine credit card wants to buy the same ticket in Argentina. The cost is U$S 1200 plus the new 20% fee = U$S 1440. That is converted at the official rate of ARS $5.10 to U$S 1 and you're billed ARS $7272 on your credit card statement. However, you actually have dollars that you're able to convert to pesos at the blue rate of ARS $8.00 to U$S 1, which means you only paid U$S 909 for your ticket, and 20% of that comes back to you when you file your taxes. (Of course, this is less than 20% as the peso continue to devalue before you can claim the refund.) You just saved well over U$S 300.

Also, AFIP also has a record of your spending and may come calling if your declared income and spending do not match up.

Presumably a non-resident foreigner can still pay with cash pesos? That would be the best bargain, if you're changing at the blue rate.

 

[dennisr]

Non-residents: Non-residents are no longer able to buy travel packages for abroad in Argentina. This is due to the fact that there was a 55% difference in the blue market rate to official rate and they were exploiting this to pay much less for travel. The first article mentions Chileans and Uruguans taking advantage of this loophole. i assume "travel packages" refers to any mode of travel - tours, bus, airline tickets, etc.

Going to be interesting to see how this nonresident thing plays out. Just cannot imagine some Brazilian tourist being told they cannot purchase an airline ticket home with pesos because he/she is not a resident. War will be declared by Brazil. Maybe they will be exempt because of the Mercosur thing.

 

[Rich One]

Presumably a non-resident foreigner can still pay with cash pesos? That would be the best bargain, if you're changing at the blue rate.

Booked today a RT to LA payable cash in pesos at the agency.????

 

[Sleuth]

Going to be interesting to see how this nonresident thing plays out. Just cannot imagine some Brazilian tourist being told they cannot purchase an airline ticket home with pesos because he/she is not a resident. War will be declared by Brazil. Maybe they will be exempt because of the Mercosur thing.

Yeah, I'm not sure how well this has been thought out. Maybe non-resident foreigners will only be able to pay with their foreign credit card? That would eliminate the benefit of getting the blue rate. It will be interesting to see...

 

[citygirl]

I've read and am *still* confused if a non-resident can pay in pesos. It would seem that there isn't really any way to prevent that?

Also, 20% surcharge for residents is still only applicable on Arg credit card purchases correct?