Help: Need Advice On How To Get My Salary

[jnoyaquintana]

Hi all-

I am hoping that an expat here might have some expertise in this area. I am an expat from the U.S. who is hired by an international non-profit out of the U.S. I am currently the only employee on the ground here in Argentina, and my non-profit up until now has been paying me through a third-party employer here in Argentina, whom they wire my salary to each month.

The issue is that up until now, I have been paying full taxes here in Argentina, but my non-profit has only be wiring a portion of my salary to Argentina - so that I can use some of my salary to pay bills in the U.S., contribute to my savings, etc. Recently, though, the third-party employer here in Argentina who legally pays my salary is saying that I can't withhold money and keep it in the States - that my non-profit organization that I work for has to deposit my entire salary here in Argentina.

As an expat, this seems ludricrous to me because most expats have taxes, retirement, expenses in their home country that they have to continue to pay even while living in Argentina. If I am paying full Argentine taxes on my entire salary, I don't understand the problem with keeping some of that money in the States instead of bringing it here.

So, my question for all of you is - Does anyone work for a US-based company and receive a US salary? If you do, are you able to receive some of your salary in the States and some of your salary in Argentina? If you do, can you please tell me how your company goes about doing that?

I appreciate anyone who has any insight on this issue. I really am quite concerned about this and my ability to continue paying my expenses/retirement in the U.S.

Thanks!

 

[Davidglen77]

Tell them forget it, they only pay you what is legally required here, there is no way to make them pay you more than they want to here in Argentina. Just ignore them, your salary that is being paid here is your salary in Argentina, if you get paid part of your salary in the US and pay taxes on it there so be it. The salary you receive in Argentina IS your only salary as far as they need to know. Anything paid outside of here has nothing to do with them and don't let them for one minute think anything else. People here are always experts at messing with other peoples money and if you listen the only one that will be at a huge disadvantage will be you.

 

[ajoknoblauch]

Hi all-

I am hoping that an expat here might have some expertise in this area. I am an expat from the U.S. who is hired by an international non-profit out of the U.S. I am currently the only employee on the ground here in Argentina, and my non-profit up until now has been paying me through a third-party employer here in Argentina, whom they wire my salary to each month.

The issue is that up until now, I have been paying full taxes here in Argentina, but my non-profit has only be wiring a portion of my salary to Argentina - so that I can use some of my salary to pay bills in the U.S., contribute to my savings, etc. Recently, though, the third-party employer here in Argentina who legally pays my salary is saying that I can't withhold money and keep it in the States - that my non-profit organization that I work for has to deposit my entire salary here in Argentina.

As an expat, this seems ludricrous to me because most expats have taxes, retirement, expenses in their home country that they have to continue to pay even while living in Argentina. If I am paying full Argentine taxes on my entire salary, I don't understand the problem with keeping some of that money in the States instead of bringing it here.

So, my question for all of you is - Does anyone work for a US-based company and receive a US salary? If you do, are you able to receive some of your salary in the States and some of your salary in Argentina? If you do, can you please tell me how your company goes about doing that?

I appreciate anyone who has any insight on this issue. I really am quite concerned about this and my ability to continue paying my expenses/retirement in the U.S.

Thanks!

My understanding is that any taxes paid in Argentina (or another country) are directly deductible from your US taxes, but I can't recall the details. I am not an accountant nor a tax preparer nor a lawyer.

 

[Inferno.]

There isn't much information on your thread to give you a response. What's the relationship between the non-profit organization that is paying you and the third party employer here? How was the work contract arranged between them? Are you getting paid here in "blanco"? This means, the company that is paying you here in argentina, declared to AFIP your monthly salary? Or they are only receiving the usd dollars and paying you in pesos doing some sort of rate?

The thing is, I'm not seeing any sort of legal excuse for them to ask you to get paid here the full amount. There isn't one. You are getting hired in Argentina by them, period. They are the ones legally responsible to pay you each month, not US. When a company in argentina hires you, they have to tell AFIP how much they are going to pay you, this is called in arg "dado de alta en la AFIP", or "alta temprana". The money for your salary comes from them. If they are getting paid for you 1000 USD each month, or 3,000, it doesn't matter. It's their business how they are doing money with you.

Why I believe may be happening here is this. They are receiving a monthly fee in USD for you (god knows where this is getting wired or what rate are they giving you) and they are giving you a part of that in pesos. They want more dollars to increase their profit because is worth a lot.

What I would do in your case:
- Ask them what law are they checking in the first place (I'm sure there isn't one because Arg. doesn't have that sort of contracts with other countries). Tell them you want to check this with your lawyer first. They will backoff if their intentions are to screw you because they want to receive more dollars. If not, they will comply because there is nothing to hide.
- Why are they involved here in the first place? I think is better if you just get your USD salary here through xoom or bank account in uruguay (in usd).

I don't know, but I think they only want to screw you in some way. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was the reason.

Regards

 

[Crema Americana]

That doesn't seem right. It is very common for foreign employers to pay their employees in their home country.

What might not be legal, is for an Argentine company to pay an employee outside the country. If the money isn't coming from them, it doesn't matter.

Your other obligation might be to declare all income to AFIP, but that has nothing to do with them either.

I would skip the middle man if possible or find another group to work with. Sounds like they just want more money.

 

[tangueraintrepida]

Request that your employer pay your entire salary to your U.S. account in dollars. Open a Xoom account so that you can access your money at a better rate than you are probably currently getting.

This third-party situation sounds fishy to me. The third-party is probably wanting the entire amount to be paid to them because somehow they are trading your dollars elsewhere and making money off of you. Get them out of the picture. No need for them to be involved at all if your employer is already able to pay you to your U.S. account.

Also, depending on how long you will be living out of the U.S. (more than 330 days of the year), you might be able to get exemption from U.S. taxes. Check out the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/International-Taxpayers/Foreign-Earned-Income-Exclusion---Can-I-Claim-the-Exclusion-or-Deduction%3F

I am not an accountant, but did this research earlier this year for my own tax preparation. Good luck.

 

[citygirl]

I am utterly confused after reading your post.

You are paying taxes on your full salary in Argentina but not receiving it here? To whit - let's say you have an annual salary of 50K. You are paying the full amount of taxes here in Argentina on a 50K salary but you are only receiving a portion of it here let's say 25K? The other 25K is staying in the US. Is that an accurate description?

Or are you getting 25K here and paying taxes on it and stating that is your Argentine income and then just getting paid the other 25K in the US?

If it's the latter, no it's not legal since technically you are avoiding taxes here in Argentina. That was straight from my Argentine accountant. (NB - plenty of expats do it but again, it is technically tax avoidance). If it's the former.. I'm not sure how this 3rd party could do the paperwork to withhold the taxes when you don't have that full amount of income here. I also assume if it's the former, you are declaring all your overseas bank accounts, etc to AFIP? Braver than I would be for sure.

Do you have a work visa here? What does your contract state as your salary?

 

[Davidglen77]

If you're not a permanent resident than there is no reason to declare anything but your Argentine salary, that is being paid in Argentina to AFIP. Your income and assets outside of the country are not taken into account here for tax purposes if you're not a citizen or permanent resident. If you are here on a work authorization from migraciones than your salary must be paid in pesos, but only what the legal minimum for your position is. Nothing else. Migraciones won't give a work authorization if you are not being paid a salary here in pesos. There is no specific amount as to what that is, as long as it's the minimum legal salary, here called "sueldo mínimo vital y móvil" which is now about $2500 pesos per month, and it's corresponding social security taxes. Of course if you are the CEO of a company and say report you are making minimum wage it might raise suspicion, just use common sense.

 

[jnoyaquintana]

Hi all-

Thank you everyone for your responses and for trying to help me. Let me provide additional clarity to my post:

• I am hired by a U.S. organization who has hired a third-party vendor to pay my salary here in Argentina, since the U.S. organization does not have a legal entity here in Argentina. The U.S. organization essentially deposits my salary in the third-party vendor's account each month, and then this third-party vendor pays me.
• I pay Argentines taxes and declare my full salary to AFIP.
• The arrangement up until now is that my U.S. organization would only send a portion of my salary to the third-party vendor to pay me here in Argentina, and would send the rest to my U.S. account in the States (as well as send some of the money to my retirement account, etc.). So, a portion of my salary never ever enters Argentina, though it is declared to the AFIP that I am being paid that full amount.
• The third-party vendor is now saying that my U.S. organization cannot do that - that they have to send my full salary to Argentina and that I have to receive my full payment in pesos.

What doesn't make sense to me is that any expatriate naturally has expenses that they have to continue to pay in their home-country while working abroad. So, I don't understand how this third-party vendor can say that the AFIP can prevent me from keeping a part of my salary in the U.S. to pay my expenses - when that is where my salary originates from anyway. I am not trying to skirt paying taxes in any way. I simply need to keep some of that money in the U.S.

All of your responses have been very helpful. Can anyone confirm if what the third-party vendor is telling me is true? Do I HAVE to receive my full salary here in Argentina? Or if this third-party vendor has an account in the U.S. anyway, couldn't they just deposit part of my salary in my account in the U.S?

Thanks again!

 

[citygirl]

That is oh so very confusing. If you don't have a work visa in Argentina, which you couldn't since the company doesn't have a legal entity here, how are you even paying taxes on income earned from working since you can't legally work here for your company. Or are you a resident through another method? In which case you can work here but I'm still unclear in that case why you are even getting paid anything here since your employer is overseas.

I don't think the 3rd party is incorrect but I have never heard of any company doing it the way yours has chosen to do it (ie, not having an Argentine entity company). It is a quilombo that is for sure.

I would ask the question - since your employer has no legal entity here - why are you even getting paid anything in Argentina?