Once we become a tax resident in Argentina (in simplified terms, after completing 12 months as a temporary resident on the program run by
Migraciones), our overseas pensions are taxable as
ganancias if they are above the
minimo no imponible (still around 3,500,000 pesos per month after the Senate rejected the government's proposed change on Wednesday), or 1,800,000 pesos a month (if the government eventually gets its way). To think otherwise is wishful thinking. It's very clear in the legislation: the authoritative source is Article 119 of the LEY DE IMPUESTO A LAS GANANCIAS
https://www.argentina.gob.ar/normativa/nacional/decreto-649-1997-44911/actualizacion.
On the positive side, the same legislation allows for any tax paid in the home country on that pension to be deductible. It is also worth knowing that anyone passing through the
Migraciones residency process can keep themselves free of becoming a tax resident by spending 90 days of each 12 months of their temporary residency outside Argentina.
The same rules apply to people on a
Rentista temporary residency.
The issue about bringing in one's pension only applies to those currently seeking (
Migraciones pensionista) residency. Since June last year, those in that process have been required by
Migraciones to deposit an amount equal to 5
sueldos minimos each month into an Argentine bank account (
https://www.boletinoficial.gob.ar/detalleAviso/primera/297452/20231031). Nobody who has already passed through
Migrations residency and reached permanent residency needs to bring their pension into the Argentine financial system at all (but even so, is still liable to declare their pension over and above the
minimo no imponible and pay tax on it, thus like any other Argentine resident).
The change
Migraciones brought in June last year makes it much harder for those who had hoped to complete the
pensionista route to permanent (
Migraciones) residency without coming to AFIP's attention. After the 12 months of their first temporary
(Migraciones pensionista) residency, they become tax residents going forward, already have 12 months of traceable deposits in the financial system, and face another two years of that compulsory monthly depositing if their goal is permanent residency. A problem.
What an expat pensioner (either long since a permanent resident or currently at least 12 months into the temporary residency process en route to permanent residency) actually does about their tax liability is another matter. Each person has to make their own judgment about whether to ignore the problem or deal with it. Everybody's circumstances and risk profile (and risk appetite) will be different. This matter has been often discussed in threads on this board over the last four years. The best (probably only) way to make a judgment is to talk to a tax accountant here to understand what risk you may be running by not declaring your pension (and other) income (and assets in your home country) once you hit the 12-month mark in your residency process, or by suddenly starting to declare your income now a considerable time after having been liable to start doing so.
(People on US Social Security may have some kind of special exemption from all the above. In the various threads here on tax matters over the last four years, some have suggested this is the case, but no authoritative source has been presented.)