Customs rules for electronics and furniture

[Ries]

Ah, have the new rules come in? If so, can anyone chuck me a suitable link detailing what the new regulations are? Thanking you in advance.

as far as I can tell, the only "new rule" that is actually going to happen, is, by December, the PAIS duty on imports will drop from 17.5% to 7.5%. This has not happened yet. This duty is mainly for wholesale quantities of product shipped thru ports.
This is NOT the duty charged on personal items at the airport- its a completely different tax.
I can find no info online suggesting Milei has done anything to change the old rules for personal belongings, which was up to $300 duty free, and 50% duty on anything over that.
Thats the law- which is almost never enforced, but they could if they want to.
Usually the reality is if you are travelling on a non-argentine passport, and its "personal use" quantities, as opposed to obvious wholesale quantities, the customs guys let you thru.
And unless they ask you specifically, the customs officers running the scanning machine do not see your passport or nationality.

so, theoretically, you could be charged 50% of the "value" of your goods, and they determine the value, although having a receipt cant hurt, if you have more than $300 worth.
That said, I personally, along with a couple dozen people I know, have on multiple occasions brought two laptops, along with e-readers, two phones, and various other goods without ever being questioned.

most likely, if you are not speaking fluent argentine spanish, you will have no issues.
But like most things, the rules have not changed.

 

[Reversegate]

as far as I can tell, the only "new rule" that is actually going to happen, is, by December, the PAIS duty on imports will drop from 17.5% to 7.5%. This has not happened yet. This duty is mainly for wholesale quantities of product shipped thru ports.
This is NOT the duty charged on personal items at the airport- its a completely different tax.
I can find no info online suggesting Milei has done anything to change the old rules for personal belongings, which was up to $300 duty free, and 50% duty on anything over that.
Thats the law- which is almost never enforced, but they could if they want to.

Thank you for that. I was working on $500 for entry:

Viajeros | AFIP

Información necesaria para quienes viajen hacia o desde la República

www.afip.gob.ar

I had dim memories of the omnibus bill at the begining talking of scrapping limits on what people could bring but hadn't heard anything changing.

 

[jlynch]

the value is 500 USD for airports as I was told in customs and can be seen here... 300 USD at land/river crossings

Viajes al exterior - Equipaje

Las personas que regresan al país luego de un viaje al exterior deben completar un formulario para informar si adquirieron bienes en el extranjero y el valor de esos bienes.

www.argentina.gob.ar

Also note for electronics the above page says "Podés ingresar un celular, una computadora portátil o una tablet sin pagar aranceles porque se consideran artículos de uso personal."

On foreign passport I had a used bike and used coffee machine in my luggage, and got interrogated in customs for 20 minutes. I have heard agents they get commission based on how much they collect. On arriving at the queue to the scanner, not even a greeting, I was asked how much the bike cost, so had to open everything up and prove it was used. Then the coffee machine got the attention, open everything up, they went looking it up on mercadolibre trying to find the model number.... and would only let me through when I told them they were both going back with me on my return flight.

 

[elhombresinnombre]

The USD300 limit was upped a few years back to USD500 brought in plus up to a further USD500 purchased in the duty free shop on arrival. I might have to dig a little deeper to find you an attribution for that, though.

 

[Ries]

I am sure you are right its now nominally five hundred dollars.

 

[Ceviche]

I suggest never to arrive at AEP airport with goods which may be be taxed. EZE is easier to go "un-noticed"

 

[jlynch]

The USD300 limit was upped a few years back to USD500 brought in plus up to a further USD500 purchased in the duty free shop on arrival. I might have to dig a little deeper to find you an attribution for that, though.

To save you the digging, The original is Resolución 3751/1994 Administración Nacional de Aduanas and the last updates were in 17-Dic-2018

Argentina.gob.ar

Portal oficial del Estado argentino. Conocé cómo hacer trámites en organismos públicos, tramitalos en línea y recibí servicios digitales y beneficios.

www.argentina.gob.ar

 

[Ries]

In 2018 you could buy a new iphone for $500. Now its not uncommon for people to spend triple that. Outside of Argentina. New Iphone 15s on Mercado Libre can easily run between $2 million and $3 million pesos.
So what you could legally bring in has essentially lost about 2/3 in value, due to inflation, its new supercharged version, Mileinflation, and the complete disinterest in any of the last 3 governments in updating laws and regulations.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.