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

[steveinbsas]

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

Did you get the precaria before or after the new system of submitting the paperwork on line was implemented?

 

[Fiscal]

Thanks

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.

Thank you. Should it be an accountant, and not an immigration lawyer?

 

[semigoodlookin]

Did you get the precaria before or after the new system of submitting the paperwork on line was implemented?

Sorry, check my post as I expend on the details. I think it was before but don't know when the online system was created. When I renewed in February, I did it online.

That said, I did miss the date for renewing my precaria in November (by a day, stupid calendar oversight on my part) and basically had to pay for it again. Obviously I didn't have to re-do the paperwork presented already and received no-one said anything about what was happening with my papers.

 

[ben]

Wrong. If you live over 180 days per year in Argentina, you must pay income tax here.

I don't think you read what I said. At all.

Yes, technically he must pay taxes, as I wrote. But as a tourist, he almost certainly won't be paying taxes here, as you well know. Not only is there no enforcement, on the contrary AFAIK no mechanism exists for a foreigner without a CUIL to pay taxes. If he goes to AFIP to ask how to pay taxes on income he earned abroad while a here as a tourist, they'll laugh in his face. Or worse - you are normally the first to warn that he could end up referred to DNM and face deportation for working here illegally.

A fine against a US company for allowing me to work remotely? How would they even levy a fine against a US company?

Never mind, few things outside of applying Argentine law (in any context, reasonable or not) exist for the author of that comment.

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?

Even with that employee, the employer is under no obligation whatsoever to know neither to care that their employee resides in Argentina. They began employing him as a US resident, paying to a US account, have no reason to know his actual location, and his physical location is his business not theirs. To apply Arg law to the company is sheer idiocy.

Look for the usual doubling down, with red herrings like civil law being different from common law or whatever else, but really: the US company has no reason even to know that their employee is outside the US. They are required to make sure their US employees are allowed to work in the US, not outside it. And their obligations under Argentine law are zero.

You are allowed to work because you are working FROM Argentina and not IN Argentina.

No such concept exists. If you are physically present here, and you are working and being compensated for that work, then you are working here, full stop.

Enforcement is a different matter, as I wrote before.
The comparatively small volume of truly remote work and the difficulty of enforcing anything related to it, mean that for all practical purposes it is usually ignored.

Once the OP is a legal resident and has a CUIL, all that changes of course.

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

Unless the system has changed in the last years [UPDATE: yes it has, see next paragraph], you make an appointment online, it’s a matter of a few days. You present the paperwork, pay the fees, and exit the building with a precaria in hand. And a few weeks later the DNI arrives at your address via courier.

To the extent the new online system works, that would further simplify an already pretty simple process.

Should it be an accountant, and not an immigration lawyer?

The immigration lawyer is only to deal with your legal residency here, once you have the DNI in hand you are a completely legal resident here. To work here - for any employer - is also completely legal as far as Argentine law is concerned, the question is only one of taxation wrt your income from outside the country.

As to the details of living here and invoicing abroad, you may want to consult the experience of someone who just set it all up. Bear in mind that you are under no obligation at all to bring the funds here, but if you wish to you can do so completely legally. Also note that he emphasizes that if you do wire the money here, you are under NO obligation to convert the funds to pesos, despite efforts on the part of your bank to convince you that you must do so.

 

[steveinbsas]

Should it be an accountant, and not an immigration lawyer?

As far as I know, an "immigration lawyer" has no standing with AFIP, and not really very much with migraciones, either, especially now that any "blip" on someone's foreign criminal record is grounds for denying residency, and in some cases, even entry into the country on a tourist visa (think Mike Tyson). In the past a minor crime might be excused "with the "help" of an "immigration" lawyer.

You are getting permanent residency based on being married to an Argentine and/or the parent of an Argentine child. You will not have a "work contract" that is approved by migraciones.

All that being said, a slick lawyer might be able to pull if off. I don't know how a letter from a lawyer could be certified the same way letter from an account could. A notary (escribano) can verify the signature, but that's all I can think of.

It all depends on what your HR department will accept.

Just hope (IMO) they don't ask for an official document from Argentine migraciones.

 

[steveinbsas]

Even with that...the employer is under no obligation whatsoever to know neither to care that their employee resides in Argentina. They began employing him as a US resident, paying to a US account, have no reason to know his actual location, and his physical location is his business not theirs. To apply Arg law to the company is sheer idiocy: the US company has no reason even to know that their employee is outside the US. They are required to make sure their US employees are allowed to work in the US, not outside it. And their obligations under Argentine law are zero.

I hope you don't mind that I condensed your post to the above "summary" as it is really the heart of the matter. I agree 100% with what you wrote, but Fiscal's problem is getting the HR department of his company to agree with it.

If he can't and he is planning on declaring his "foreign income" and paying taxes on it in Argentina, who would be "better" than an Argentine accountant to says it's OK for him to continue working remotely?

I remember asking my Argentine accountant if AFIP would accept the documentation I had for the source of the funds I used to buy my first apartment in Recoleta. His answer as. "I am AFIP."

PS: Even if it does work and his HR dept is happy how are they going to know if he is actually declaring the income and paying taxes in Argentina...

....unless they ask him to prove it?

PS2: ...which, as you correctly point out, is none of their business.

 

[sts7049]

I don't think you read what I said. At all.

Even with that employee, the employer is under no obligation whatsoever to know neither to care that their employee resides in Argentina. They began employing him as a US resident, paying to a US account, have no reason to know his actual location, and his physical location is his business not theirs. To apply Arg law to the company is sheer idiocy.
.

i feel like once his boss (the employer) granted him the ability to work in another country, this went out the window. by doing so they now have exposed themselves to whatever rules and laws apply by having an employee working here. which i suspect is why HR is now asking him questions.

 

[Idois]

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.

Since he will have a permanent residence in Argentina he will exclude his US income as foreign-earned not on the basis of the physical presence but rather as a bona fide resident of Argentina. In practice this means that if he excludes the foreign earned income as a bona fide resident of another country he is not bound to being outside of the US 335 days. Other factors determine how much time he could spend in the US and still qualify for the exclusion (a rule of thumb is no more than 3-4 months/year in most cases).

 

[Bajo_cero2]

A fine against a US company for allowing me to work remotely? How would they even levy a fine against a US company?

They cannot. But you asked about what the law says so.
If you tell the company that there is a fine an a crime but that’s Ok because they do not have a branch office here, I don’t think they are going to like it.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

Well he is granted perm residency being the spouse of an Argentine.

It does not makes any difference and he didn’t even apply for it.