Is 35% Afip Refundable On International Airfare??

[Alicia karr]

Ok, get ready to go nuts Dennisr...yesterday my son booked a DELTA flight for me, EZE-ATL-EZE for the holidays. The ticket is in my name. He booked it online using a site called "travel buddy" . He is in Atlanta and used an American CC. Total cost inc. All taxes and fees $1400US. And this is for the Christmas holidays. He was NOT charged the extra 35%. Just to be safe we called Delta to make sure the ticket had indeed been issued and it was. I'm not really sure what this means other than try using that website in the future, at least if using a US credit card,
BTW, technically you CAN ask for a refund of that tax as long as you have registered with AFIP. But most expats that I know prefer to keep very low AFIP Profiles. Asking for refunds is akin to them with asking for AFIP to come snooping.

 

[dennisr]

Nuts I am for sure. Indeed, the work around is not to use Delta web site to book a flight out of EZE. I got even a long time ago when you could pay for tickets in pesos. It is a wash.

 

[citygirl]

If you are a tourist and you book here, the tax will be added and you will NOT get it reimbursed. Simply no mechanism unless you are registered with AFIP and pay taxes which tourists aren't/can't. The work around is to book from a non Arg site with a non Arg credit card. They shouldn't charge it. Typically however there are 2 different price structures so it is important to do the price comparison, esp if you will be changing dollars at the blue rate to pay for a ticket issued here. IE, the int'l site won't charge the 35% but typically the price is higher so you need to compare. I recommend using matrix to check the prices - one put sales city/residence as Buenos Aires and the second put your birth country and city in your birth country assuming you have an int'l cc from there. It will give you the total fare & breakdown for each tix price.

 

[nikad]

I've been searching, but not with much success. Any chance of pointing me in the right direction? Por favor ;-)
Do you know of any posts that deal with this specifically? (i.e. getting the 35% refunded, foreign credit card, flight, etc. )


Thanks

Lots of useful info here http://baexpats.org/topic/30156-no-hiding-and-no-running-with-delta/

 

[Gringoboy]

My brother booked a flight for me to the UK a couple of weeks ago using his card for this very reason.

 

[wongjoh]

To even out things, Despegar right now has 12 cuotas sin interes on all their trips if you book with an Argie card. So, the 35% thing evens out a little (probably gets reduced to about half of that) given that inflation is so high.

I just ran a quick analysis (net present value for those interested) and it works out to about a reduction of 22% (effective 13% tax rate).
In other words, for a $10K pesos ticket + 35% = $13.5K pesos face value, but with 12 no-interest installments, it works out to about $11.3K pesos in today's value (assuming a 40% annual inflation). So that's going from 35% to 13% effective rate, a 22% reduction off tax.

Furthermore, if you work en Blanco, you could claim that 35% at the end of the year (let's say you buy in January and get back the tax in December), and get back about 71% off that tax (the rest is lost in inflation).

So, if you add up (1) effect from 0-interest cuotas + (2) refund end of year of 35% tax, you actually save about 12% from the original ticket price. In other words, for a $10K pesos ticket, you actually ended up paying $8.8K pesos in today's money terms. Of course, this requires you to have an Argie card and to work in blanco (and have everything straight not to be afraid of AFIP).

Feel free to PM if there are any specific questions or if I can help

 

[lucha54]

I knew of a girl who married an Argentine but hadn't gotten her DNI yet. She booked a ticket home to Texas. Because she went in person to the airline's office and showed her passport with valid tourist entry stamp, they waived the 35% fee! Not sure why or how, and this was a long time ago (sometime last year). Anyway, just to add to the fray.