Hey all, I earn in the US and have been sending myself money via western union from my US bank account to my argentinean bank account for years, but I received a notice this week from my bank that things have changed with AFIP and if I do not have any earnings declared with AFIP, I can only receive any sort of deposits into my account that total 4x the minimum salary here (which I believe would be around $800k pesos per month). I reallly, really, really do not want to go back to being on a 100% cash economy, so Ive been trying to find a way to declare some income but to still facturar in dollars because otherwise I would have to facturar to someone in Argentina from what I understand, because I would really like to be able to continue using my bank account and especially my debit card here and not be carrying around a giant wad of cash all the time. I also would like to start declaring some income here so that I can get a local credit card.
The accountant said he believes there is something where I can facturar in dollars and transfer up to US$12,000 per year to a bank account here but that he hasnt done it personally or with any clients. So I wanted to ask if anyone is using this sort of set up or what other sorts of setups people have been using to earn money in the US but declare it here and ideally get it into a local bank account ??
Thanks
Not a lawyer/accountant as always:
So, this is exactly the scenario I've been warning people on here about happening, not judging, but you need to sort this out ASAP before you get the UIF on you, they can blacklist you from ever having any bank accounts or digital wallets, close all your accounts, seize your digital assets, and refer you to AFIP for prosecution. This doesn't appear to be the case
yet, it's just your bank knowing you've been bullshitting them and evading taxes, so take advantage of this to at the very least be in gris.
Some things to keep in mind are as follows:
- You need to register as a Monotributista
- You need to get a pre-paid medicine plan if you don't have one, it's a requirement if you're a Monotributista
- You need to register with AGIP or ARBA if you're in CABA/PBA to pay the provincial taxes
- You can get up to 12K USD a year in SWIFT payments, the rest will be pesified, and the rate has been 80% at the BCRA rate, and 20% at the CCL rate
- You need to work with an accountant that is familiar with the forms to complete; the pesification requirement occurs AFTER the 12K limit
- Each SWIFT payment is expensive (min $80), and you have to triple check the forms so the transfer isn't pesified or blocked
- You have 5 business days to enter the cash in to the country after receiving payment
- The limit you can currently bill as a Monotributista is about 12,000,000 pesos/year
- Your 12K USD counts against this, and any pesos over it. Once you surpass this amount (or whatever it is in June once updated) you must enter the simplified/general regime and charge VAT (21%) and make retirement contributions for yourself
All this being said, the above is how you do things 100% en blanco, now, nobody does this, and AFIP knows that, but, and I'm just guessing here, you've been doing things 100% en negro, and that's why you've got caught, you bill nothing, you're in your prime working years, and you get hundreds of thousands or millions of pesos each month in your bank account. You can simply chose to live en negro, up to the amount the bank will let you have (I don't recommend this) or you work with an accountant to be en blanco or gris. In the in term, the less you do that is trackable (i.e. more WU transfers) the better until you rectify your tax situation. Use your debit card, and accept the reduced exchange rate as a cost associated with having flaunted the tax rules. (Again, not judging, just saying)
The good news is due to the deal with the IMF, the peso is expected to float in June/July so it's possible the requirement to enter all funds via the MULC could disappear like during the Macri years, but we'll have to see. Milei also wants to return the Monotributista regime back to where it was in the 90s where the upper limit was around 50K USD a year instead of the under 20K it is now (it's been greatly decreasing each year).
This advice is for everyone doing the same: PAY SOMETHING; being 100% en negro is what always causes issues for people here. We can debate what is fair in terms of taxes (and yes, pesifying at the BCRA rate is a tax IMO) but you are putting yourself in a position of creating a paper trail of tax evasion when you don't pay anything, make monthly transfers to a bank account, spend money with debit/credit/digital wallets/etc.
