Domestic Help How Much Is Right?

[2GuysInPM]

FWIW... My understanding is that the going rate in Puerto Madero is now around $70 ~ $80 per hour. Thought this varies by neighborhood, so it can be lower elsewhere.

One savvy mucama once told me that she based her hourly rate on the price of a kilo of milanesa. As in "with one hour's work, I should be able to buy one kilo". At our local Jumbo, the kilo is around $70 now so, that rate seems to be in line.

BTW, For full time en-blanco (16 hrs+/week), the aportes are $135/mo; $100 of which are deducted from the declared monthly salary of the worker and $35 the responsibility of the employer who pays the full amount to AFIP.

 

[citygirl]

It's deducted? My understanding (and what I've always done) is pay the $135 in full. I had no idea.

 

[Bajo_cero2]

No. You can deduct it from impuesto a las ganancias but you have to pay 135.
http://m.cronista.com/Mobile/nota.html?URI=/contenidos/2013/05/03/noticia_0089.html

 

[Irelander]

The cost of 'empleo domestico' is deductible from the 'impuesto a las ganancias'. Give your 'contador' or whoever does your taxes all the F102B forms (posted earlier in this thread) signed by you and your employee and he/she will make the deduction. Last year the maximum amount that could be deducted was 15,552 pesos (1,296 per month) - expect it to rise to around 18,000 for the tax year just ended. So if you have someone working one day a week, the entire cost would be covered.

Apart from paying the 135 pesos (or less if the employee works less than 16 hours - see the form), under the new law that came in last June, you have to have 'ART' insurance - i.e. a policy against accidents at work. Obviously as the risk is extremely low, the price of the policy is too; a year's cover can be had for 250-300 pesos. A benefit for the employee is that the policies usually cover their journey to and from work - so if they get injured on the public transport system (sadly not entirely unthinkable), they can claim.

You also have to register the employment with the AFIP by logging into the system (using your 'clave personal AFIP' - ask your 'contador' if you don't know what yours is) and following the links to 'empleo domestico' there. You need to fill in your employee's address, phone etc. If he/she has an obra social, the system will recognise it automatically.

Having someone 'en blanco' means you have to pay holiday pay (including paying your employee if the day that they work is a 'feriado'), which initially is two weeks per year, and the 'Sueldo Annual Complimentario' (SAC), commonly known as the 'aguinaldo' - half of your employee's highest earnings in the preceding six months, payable in June and December.

 

[2GuysInPM]

It's deducted? My understanding (and what I've always done) is pay the $135 in full. I had no idea.

No. You can deduct it from impuesto a las ganancias but you have to pay 135.
http://m.cronista.co...ticia_0089.html

Yes, the employer always pays makes the $135 payment to AFIP. I wasn't referring to deductions from impuesto a las ganancias, etc. What I was referring to, is how this is declared on the F.102/B form and receipts (i.e., the breakdown of that $135).

A portion of that $135 is deducted from the basic (gross) salary, as her “aporte” to “sistema nacional del seguro de salud” (SNSS). The F.102/B form has been updated for 2014 and includes a new “Remuneracion” section for this breakdown.

At the moment, for a full-time (16 hrs+/wk) mucama, her aporte is $100 (since may 2013). So if her basic (gross) salary is say $5100/mo, she gets $5000 (take-home net) and $100 is held by the employer. The employer then adds his contribution ($35) and is responsible to pay as the total ($135) to AFIP.

(aporte = employee / contribución = employer)

2011 Resolución General 3035: Aporte $60 + Contribución $35 = $95
http://www.ignacioon...aportes-al.html

2013 Updated via Resoluciones 299/2013 y 110/2013: Aporte $100 + Contribucion $35 = $135
http://radioalgoenco...ir-de-mayo.html

To cover her part (aportes), take your agreed-to monthly salary and pad it by $100 pesos and that way after the deduction, she takes home what you both agreed to as net.

 

[citygirl]

ahhh - got it. I've always just paid both parts and never bothered deducting anything after the fact. Thanks all.

 

[John.St]

Are you fully aware of the obligations, which follows from this?

I advise you to stay with 'for hours'.

135 pesos cost to have a mucama en blanco while 50.000 cost the afip fine for having her en negro.

Can you please elaborate on this. Are only Africans allowed to work per hour, or what?

'The obligations, which follows' are that the OP will have to pay 13 months a year, and if she steals from him, he will have to pay her 6-12 months of salary to get rid of her.

 

[John.St]

FWIW... My understanding is that the going rate in Puerto Madero is now around $70 ~ $80 per hour.

Almost 13,000 AR$ a month? (173 x 75)

About the same as licensed engineer with 5 years of experience or a doctor at a hospital gets. Sounds slightly overrated, given that the rates in the link Bajo_cero2 gave ( http://m-elsalario.c...sonal-domestico ) says from AR$ 25 per hour to AR$ 34 for a supervisor.

 

[French jurist]

I'm paying mine 40 pesos/hour + aguinaldo now. Wondering if that's in the norm?

 

[2GuysInPM]

Almost 13,000 AR$ a month? (173 x 75)

About the same as licensed engineer with 5 years of experience or a doctor at a hospital gets. Sounds slightly overrated, given that the rates in the link Bajo_cero2 gave ( http://m-elsalario.c...sonal-domestico ) says from AR$ 25 per hour to AR$ 34 for a supervisor.

That's for hourly (part time) workers... the ones who that might do 10 ~ 20 hours a week, if booked. Remember many housekeepers are not full-time salaried, working for a single family. Many work multiple households doing a few hours here and there, and never reach anything close to 173 hours per month. So in the end, they may take $3k ~ $5k/mo home, and that's why they ask for a higher per hour rate. And yes, the minimum salary set last september is now $3220/mo ($25/hr @ 30hrs/wk) for a full-time salaried mucama, but that is still not of a livable wage IMHO.