Do I need a special permit to work remotely for my US-based company?

[steveinbsas]

Art. 55 and following of the immigration law and the 12.000 usd fine for the company plus arts. 117 and following that states it is a Federal crime to hire you with tourist visa.

How could this possibly apply to a company who was neither registered or located in Argentina and (except for one off their employees working on line with clients who are not in Argentina) not doing business in Argentina?

 

[Fiscal]

I believe you will get the precaria when you have your first face to face meeting with migraciones and all of your paperwork is in order.

Once I have all my paperwork in order, any idea how long it takes to get the first face to face?

 

[steveinbsas]

Online work is a legal gray area. Technically you are not allowed to work as a tourist - at all. But if the work is not being done for a local entity, does that prohibition cover it? Logically, it shouldn’t; you aren’t competing with locals for that job, after all. And in practice, enforcement is all but non-existent - in any jurisdiction.

Although Fiscal may be in Argentina now with a "tourist visa" (that may have expired) it is safe to assume that he will soon have permanent residency, so that won't be an issue

Taxes, as nikad notes, is another story. Technically, again, you are working here and should be paying taxes here. But you almost certainly won’t be paying taxes here, at least not until you have a DNI. So for all intents and purposes just assume that your tax situation will be exactly as if you were still in the US.

Yes, technically, he will be working here and will be paid in the USA, but (as I recently wrote in a reply to one of your posts), if he stays out of the USA for 335 days of the year, the first $108K (USD) of his income will be exempt from federal income tax), so his tax situation will be radically different rather than exactly the same.

Once you have a DNI, you’ll have to decide whether you want to go the route of paying taxes here and seeking to reduce your US taxes as a result, or just continue as before.

Based on what Fiscal wrote about the concerns of the HR dept of his company, I don't think that is up to him.

The unanswered question now (which must be answered to appease the HR dept of his company in order for him to keep his job) is whether or not he can "legally" work on line for a US company that is not registered to do business in Argentina and (I am assuming) does not have clients who are located in Argentina. I seroiusly doubt any foreign corporation who does not have clients in Argentina would want to register in Argentina for the sake of one employee who wants to work remotely form Argentina.

If all of his clients are outside of Argentina and his company does not want to be registered in Argentina just so Fiscal can work remotely, I am assuming that the only option for him is to register with AFIP and pay income taxes in Argentina It will be the only way for him to keep his job and continue to work remotely...and only if AFIP says it's OK.

I suggest he contact an Argentine accountant for further information. I also suggest that until he knows for sure what will works and what won't that he stays as far away from AFIP as possible.

 

[steveinbsas]

Once I have all my paperwork in order, any idea how long it takes to get the first face to face?

Hopefully, someone who has been through the process recently can answer this question. I haven't been to the office of migraciones in Retiro in almost ten years...and the new system of submitting the paperwork in advance on line was only implemented recently.

 

[sts7049]

i think it was only a few days after my appointment at migraciones for the precaria to arrive.

however, i am still waiting for my visa renewal to be processed...going on close to two months now.

 

[sts7049]

also fiscal, i can't understand how you didn't resolve this with your company before coming here. did you just sneak away and reappear down here and are now trying to continue working with them?

 

[steveinbsas]

Yes, technically, he will be working here and will be paid in the USA, but if he stays out of the USA for 335 days of the year, the first $108K (USD) of his income will be exempt from federal income tax), so his tax situation will be radically different rather than exactly the same.

And if he is paying social security taxes in Argentina he may not have to pay FICA (social security taxes) in the USA, but I would not opt out of that if I was him.

I suggest he contact an Argentine accountant for further information. I also suggest that until he knows for sure what will works and what won't that he stays as far away from AFIP as possible.

Of course "what will works" should be "what will work."

 

[Fiscal]

also fiscal, i can't understand how you didn't resolve this with your company before coming here. did you just sneak away and reappear down here and are now trying to continue working with them?

No my boss and the head of my LA office approved me and told me to go. Everything was going smoothly. Then HR decided to get involved and is asking me to provide evidence I am allowed to work remotely from Argentina.

 

[steveinbsas]

No my boss and the head of my LA office approved me and told me to go. Everything was going smoothly. Then HR decided to get involved and is asking me to provide evidence I am allowed to work remotely from Argentina.

Here's what you might consider doing, but it's just a idea I might include in a fictional screenplay I am writing about expats living in Argentina. It is not actually something I am advising you to do:

You might try to find an Argentine accountant who is willing to write a letter stating that as long as you are not dealing with clients in Argentina or being paid in Argentina that there would be no problem with you working remotely and being paid in the USA.

You would then probably want to make sure that letter was "certified" by the Argentine "college of accountants" and have it translated into English by a licensed translator in BA. Most likely you would also ask to have the translation "legalized" by the "college of translators" and would probably submit the accountant's letter with the translation to the HR dept of your company.

If they accepted it you could continue doing what you are doing and you could also claim the foreign earned income tax exemption of the first $108K USD of your income. However, if you didn't deal with AFIP and pay taxes on they would undoubtedly consider your "foreign" income, sooner or later you might have a problem, especially if you have permanent residency and have been transferring enough money from the USA to live on in in Argentina.

PS: I'm not sure if (or how soon) you would attract AFIP's attention if you didn't have an Argentine bank account and only used ATMs to access your funds.

 

[semigoodlookin]

I believe you will get the precaria when you have your first face to face meeting with migraciones and all of your paperwork is in order.

In my case, even without all my paperwork. I have a precaria but have still not presented my police report from the UK.

Edit to expand on the details. I applied for residency last year (June) believing a family member could sort out my police report in the UK and send it to me. They couldn't do that so I would have to return to the UK to sort it out myself. Yes, I know there are services that do this for me, but as I was under no pressure I decided to just wait for the next time I go to the UK.

In Imigraciones, they gave me the precaria and told me I must update it every three months (I think it is monthly under normal circumstances?) and the Prorroga too that shows I am eventually going to get my police report. When I went though the process last year I was just honest and said I was unlikely going to present my police report until December 2018 so they dated my prorroga until then. I could go to Europe in December so went again and extended it, this time they give me threee months. I returned in March and extended it again. Each time I have gone to renew the precaria and/or prorroga (unfortunately not on the same days) I have not received a single question about my situation. In fact, when I tried to talk about my situation to one person in the office, they seemed utterly bothered by it and just give me the prorroga form to fill in again.

I have done this 3 times (I think more times for the precarria because it was monthly renewal the first 3 months). Renewing the precaria is time consuming (a couple of hours in Retiro), the prorroga is in and out at the front desk, 10 minutes. I am going to Europe in May and will get my report.