Best way to stay in Argentina?

[HansvK]

Apart from the different methods of legalizing one's situation when one's tourist visum has overrun, what are the possible problems at Eizeiza when one flies back to the US with an overstayed tourist visum. Is it just a matter of paying the fine or can one expect more trouble, like deportation, not being able to get back in?

 

[Davidglen77]

Apart from the different methods of legalizing one's situation when one's tourist visum has overrun, what are the possible problems at Eizeiza when one flies back to the US with an overstayed tourist visum. Is it just a matter of paying the fine or can one expect more trouble, like deportation, not being able to get back in?

It's simply a matter of paying the fine. Nothing else. You will not be denied entry to Argentina ever unless you are an international fugitive wanted by Interpol. Read about the specifics on paying the fine though, it may delay you at the airport since it has to be paid at a special window and I believe only in cash. There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant in Argentina so don't worry about that.

 

[lucha54]

Reading back through this thread that was from more than a year ago, I saw that someone mentioned that if you are earning money through a US company, you will have to pay taxes on the income. My understanding is that as long as you are outside the US for 330 days or more/ year, and you earn less than $90K, you get to claim Foreign Earned Income tax exclusion. Even if you are working for an American company here, either in their Argentine branch or remotely like working online from home. (The only caveat is that if you don't pay income tax you can't make a contribution to a Roth IRA or retirement fund.) Can any tax specialists concur?

Also, a knowledgeable friend told me that Arg will not prosecute for tax evasion up to 400K pesos in any one tax category. So it's pretty easy to legally evade double taxation as well if you live her 6+ months of the year, as long as you don't earn more than that amount. Can anyone chime in on this???

 

[ElQueso]

It's simply a matter of paying the fine. Nothing else. You will not be denied entry to Argentina ever unless you are an international fugitive wanted by Interpol. Read about the specifics on paying the fine though, it may delay you at the airport since it has to be paid at a special window and I believe only in cash. There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant in Argentina so don't worry about that.

There is only one time when someone can be an illegal immigrant to Argentina - once the courts have issued a letter to you that you must regularize your status within 30 days and you fail to do so. As bajo_cero has mentioned previously over the last couple of years, your biggest probability of getting this letter sent to you (not necessarily delivered to you if they don't know where you actually live) is by making the 90-day tourist run to Colonia (or other places).

That's the thing to remember, you who are looking at doing this. An immigration agent could conceivably flag you on one of your re-entrances while doing the run if they see you have a passport full of these trips and you would never know it until you received the notice from the court (and you'll only receive the notice if you gave them the correct address where you're staying, and if that address remains constant until you receive the letter), or when you are trying to cross back in again after making the 90 run and they don't let you in because your 30 grace period expired.

There is ALWAYS a little bit of risk of being caught out in this way, whether you do the 90 run or simply don't do the run and pay the fine every time you leave. I know of two people in the past (it's been a year or two since I've heard of it) who have been denied reentry (well, one was denied reentry, the other was given ten days to collect her things and get out of the country) due to making the Colonia run. I know a number of people who stay in the country without doing the "run", one of whom has lived in Argentina longer than I have (I think he's going on 10 years now) and has only left the country a couple of times paying the fine.

You won't be able to take advantage of things like getting legal work (not that there's much of high earnings available) or opening a bank account, but many don't need that.

I agree with what Davidglen77 said, with the exception of the word "ever" - you never know for sure here, but the chances are very minimal of running into any trouble unless you do something bad here, as long as you are are not declared "illegal".

 

[Jaredberryman]

Reading back through this thread that was from more than a year ago, I saw that someone mentioned that if you are earning money through a US company, you will have to pay taxes on the income. My understanding is that as long as you are outside the US for 330 days or more/ year, and you earn less than $90K, you get to claim Foreign Earned Income tax exclusion. Even if you are working for an American company here, either in their Argentine branch or remotely like working online from home. (The only caveat is that if you don't pay income tax you can't make a contribution to a Roth IRA or retirement fund.) Can any tax specialists concur?

Also, a knowledgeable friend told me that Arg will not prosecute for tax evasion up to 400K pesos in any one tax category. So it's pretty easy to legally evade double taxation as well if you live her 6+ months of the year, as long as you don't earn more than that amount. Can anyone chime in on this???

I consulted a knowledgeable tax accountant based on a recommendation of o friend of mine who is an accountant. If you have a dependent work relationship with a U.S. company that does business in the U.S. and not here (including if you are a contractor), you do NOT have to pay Argentine taxes at all, even if you are a resident here. So no worries there.

Your other information is absolutely correct. You are exempt from income tax up to 90,000 if you are outside of the U.S. for 330 plus days of the year. You can claim the foreign income exemption on your tax return. However, note that you will still have to pay social security. You may also claim this exemption if you are a bona-fide resident. If you have permanent residency here and can prove it to the IRS, then you can also claim the exemption, even if you are here for less than 330 days.

This means that if you are a contractor or have a U.S. based corporation, you do not have to pay income tax in Argentina or the U.S. if you make less than 90,000 USD per year.

From what I understand, you can do a regular IRA, but not Roth IRA. But since you won't have to pay income tax, you shouldn't need the Roth IRA. I'm not 100 percent certain on that, so you might need to ask an international accountant.

If you are working in an Argentine company here, you will have to pay Argentine taxes either through a monotributo or ganancias.

 

[irina]

Reading back through this thread that was from more than a year ago, I saw that someone mentioned that if you are earning money through a US company, you will have to pay taxes on the income. My understanding is that as long as you are outside the US for 330 days or more/ year, and you earn less than $90K, you get to claim Foreign Earned Income tax exclusion. Even if you are working for an American company here, either in their Argentine branch or remotely like working online from home. (The only caveat is that if you don't pay income tax you can't make a contribution to a Roth IRA or retirement fund.) Can any tax specialists concur?

Also, a knowledgeable friend told me that Arg will not prosecute for tax evasion up to 400K pesos in any one tax category. So it's pretty easy to legally evade double taxation as well if you live her 6+ months of the year, as long as you don't earn more than that amount. Can anyone chime in on this???

Re: foreign earned income tax exclusion
http://www.irs.gov/I...ncome-Exclusion

However, while employed here I was employed by a US company but as an independent contractor, aka self employed. You DO have to pay the self employment tax, they WILL find out, and they WILL charge you a whopping late fee as I didn't know about it and got whopped with 2 years of this (at least now I'm no longer an independent contractor..)
http://www.irs.gov/B...Businesses-Abro

Effect of Foreign Earned Income Exclusion
You must take all of your self-employment income into account in figuring your net earnings from self-employment, even income that is exempt from income tax because of the foreign earned income exclusion.

Example:​

You are in business abroad as a consultant and qualify for the foreign earned income exclusion. Your foreign earned income is $95,000, your business deductions total $27,000, and your net profit is $68,000. You must pay self-employment tax on all of your net profit, including the amount you can exclude from income.

 

[lucha54]

I consulted a knowledgeable tax accountant based on a recommendation of o friend of mine who is an accountant. If you have a dependent work relationship with a U.S. company that does business in the U.S. and not here (including if you are a contractor), you do NOT have to pay Argentine taxes at all, even if you are a resident here. So no worries there.

Your other information is absolutely correct. You are exempt from income tax up to 90,000 if you are outside of the U.S. for 330 plus days of the year. You can claim the foreign income exemption on your tax return. However, note that you will still have to pay social security. You may also claim this exemption if you are a bona-fide resident. If you have permanent residency here and can prove it to the IRS, then you can also claim the exemption, even if you are here for less than 330 days.

This means that if you are a contractor or have a U.S. based corporation, you do not have to pay income tax in Argentina or the U.S. if you make less than 90,000 USD per year.

From what I understand, you can do a regular IRA, but not Roth IRA. But since you won't have to pay income tax, you shouldn't need the Roth IRA. I'm not 100 percent certain on that, so you might need to ask an international accountant.

If you are working in an Argentine company here, you will have to pay Argentine taxes either through a monotributo or ganancias.

Thanks for the knowledge!!! Just to clarify, I still pay 15% self-employment tax as I work freelance; that is unavoidable. Is that what you (Tex) mean by social security?
And I already have a Roth IRA, which I can't make deposits into unless I want to pay income tax. :/

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Thank you, Doctor. Can you clarify? Do you believe that 1) I am not eligible for a visa rentista based on the type of income I have, and 2) that it would invite more problems than it solves?

Yes.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Thanks, David.

I'm curious, however, about this mysterious permanent residency that everyone keeps mentioning. It seems to be somehow decoupled from the pathways for temporary residency visas. Does one become eligible for unqualified (i.e. not falling into the usual migraciones categories of student, rentista, inversionista, guest worker, etc.) residency after having been in Argentina a certain amount of time? How does that work?

No. If you don t belong to Mercosur you have to full fit one of those visa categories. The Congress forgot to enact the article about residency, and they use the visa requirements for residency, it is a mistake. I just appealed today using that argument.

P.S. Are those of you pursuing citizenship at all concerned that at some point Argentina may institute compulsory military service for the younger of you, and that as Argentine citizens on Argentine soil, you would be forced to comply?

New citizens have no army duties for 10 years.However, conscription is abolished. You get the right to use arms, if you like, to defend the democracy, that´s it.

It's simply a matter of paying the fine. Nothing else. You will not be denied entry to Argentina ever unless you are an international fugitive wanted by Interpol. Read about the specifics on paying the fine though, it may delay you at the airport since it has to be paid at a special window and I believe only in cash. There is no such thing as an illegal immigrant in Argentina so don't worry about that.

Or if you confess to be working here.

Yep, good advice. I have no intention of depositing my earnings into an Argentine bank. I am fine with the US taxing it. What I don't want is for the Argentines to attempt to tax it. I don't expect to have any Argentine clients, though that would be neat.

Sounds like permatourism is the way.

Depends.
Rentista has also the issue that they expect that you send a money transfer to Argentina and you get pesos at the official rate.

Unless you are Russian, citizenship is probably the best option. I understand that Russia doesn t accept dual citizenship.

Regards

 

[Bajo_cero2]

I mean guns/armas no arms/brazos.