Is It Finally Possible To Be A Legal Freelancer?

[fcoulombe]

I know an accountant/lawyer is what I'm really after but it's also in my advantage to figure most of this myself.
Let's say that I am currently a tourist and I happen to have a fairly good opportunity to earn a living by receiving honest dollars working for a company in tha US.

Is there a way for me to obtain my residency without creating a corporation, obtaining a renure and going through a tramite that is clearly not aimed to a freelancer?

Let's say that I obtain my residency and open some kind of business registered with afip...is there a way for me to be paid in dollars within a bank account in dollars? (It doesn't really make sense to convert from dollars to pesos and the back to dollars so that your pesos don't lose their values...)

How do you go about invoicing? I guess it needs to be in Spanish but the US wants it in English?

Most argentine told me in the past to just "shut your mouth" but one day or another, im gonna need some clean money. The weird part is that everyone keeps on telling me to "just be illegal"... I know it's a broken country but I dunno... The new gov seems to be interested in seeing outside money flow in. You can't really claim that and then have your doors closed when the money is ready to come in.

 

[bdk1]

Although it's true that the new government is interested in seeing outside money flow in, things don't change that fast. The only way for you to be paid in dollars and get dollars is by getting paid abroad. If you get paid in a bank account in Argentina, your bank will convert it to pesos (even if you have a US dollar account). You can, however, convert them back to USD now.

Invoicing: if you don't want to incorporate as an SA or an SRL and you don't want to be Responsable Inscripto (for which you would need to collect VAT), you need to be a monotributista. You can just create monotributo invoices in Spanish and then create another "unofficial" invoice in English for the US company. They are not necessarily related, as foreign companies don't want or require a monotributo invoice.

In short, financially it still makes more sense to keep your money out of Argentina (and it's also less of a headache in terms of paperwork, etc.). I would look at other ways of obtaining residency, the easiest of which is, I believe, being a student for 3 years and then applying for permanent residency. You don't need to study something that's very demanding or time-consuming... I met some people who were studying History of Tango once a week at a "university" and did that for 3 years just to have their DNI (I'm no immigration expert, but I believe it's very important for your 3 years to be uninterrupted, i.e. you would need to have had 3 back-to-back one-year DNIs to apply for permanent residency).

 

[ElQueso]

Problem is you can't be a monotributista as a tourist. You can't have a CUIT or CUIL to get a job and work. You can't open a bank account.

You can start a business as a foreigner without residency, I believe, but it has to have an Argentine on the corporate officers list as well - don't remember the particulars. You aren't allowed to take a salary, I believe, but the company can pay dividends to investors - again, not sure how it all works and it's been nearly a decade since I first looked into it. I don't think that this will lead to residency unless the company can somehow get permission to sponsor foreigners for work permits and is allowed to sponsor one of its officers/investors.

If you've been here long enough and don't have a way to qualify for residency, go for citizenship instead. At that point, you could always declare money from abroad to be completely legal, though you'd have to pay taxes here and work out the two tax systems of here and your home country. you could become a monotributista at that point, though billing an entity from the outside the country to be paid to you here may be complex and hard to get set up for (though being a monostributista for local work is relatively simple, though still a bit complicated). Whether you bill as a monotributista or a local company or a local sole proprietorship, I believe billing outside the country may still be a bit complex but doable.

 

[Gringoboy]

If you get paid in a bank account in Argentina, your bank will convert it to pesos (even if you have a US dollar account). You can, however, convert them back to USD now.

The new post-cepo rules don't automatically convert dollars to pesos according to this article, unless I've misread it.
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1871444-el-cepo-se-levanto-pero-continuan-las-trabas-para-varias-operaciones

 

[r2d2]

I know an accountant/lawyer is what I'm really after but it's also in my advantage to figure most of this myself.
Let's say that I am currently a tourist and I happen to have a fairly good opportunity to earn a living by receiving honest dollars working for a company in tha US.

Is there a way for me to obtain my residency without creating a corporation, obtaining a renure and going through a tramite that is clearly not aimed to a freelancer?

In my early days in Argentina I was in the same position. I was told that one option with this kind of scenario (steady income from US client) would be to set up a corporation abroad and have that business make monthly payments (dividends etc.) to me that fulfill the rentista visa requirements. Of course this probably would have required lots of documentation about the foreign corporation, payments etc. all apostilled, legalized etc. - so I never pursued that option. We were planning to get married eventually so I just stayed on my tourist visa a little longer ...

Let's say that I obtain my residency and open some kind of business registered with afip...is there a way for me to be paid in dollars within a bank account in dollars? (It doesn't really make sense to convert from dollars to pesos and the back to dollars so that your pesos don't lose their values...)

How do you go about invoicing? I guess it needs to be in Spanish but the US wants it in English?

You could register a "monotributo" which is fairly easy to do. With that business you create your Argentinian invoices on the AFIP website in Spanish and pesos. Kind of your "official" invoices as far as the AFIP is concerned. Then you create a second invoice in English and dollars that you send to your clients. If you have a bank account in the US then you could have your clients deposit directly into that account. Or if they send checks - use some check depositing service. This way you keep your dollars in your US account and only withdraw the pesos you need at the ATM here (or alternatively you send what you need here to your Argentinian bank account via Xoom, Ria or wire).

Most argentine told me in the past to just "shut your mouth" but one day or another, im gonna need some clean money. The weird part is that everyone keeps on telling me to "just be illegal"... I know it's a broken country but I dunno... The new gov seems to be interested in seeing outside money flow in. You can't really claim that and then have your doors closed when the money is ready to come in.

Right. One day you might run into trouble if you are a resident, make a bigger purchase (real estate, travel package etc.) and have no way to explain where the money came from. There were several cases here not too long ago where people bought travel packages to Chile to see Copa America football games and had no (or little) declared income.
Also the monotributo papers come in handy if you want to finance something (house, car etc.) or want to get a store credit card / local bank credit card to take advantage of the various discounts.

 

[Girino]

Anybody knows if to get money from abroad you still have to go in person at your bank branch with the paper invoice you issued to your client?

I was told it worked like this under the K's.

 

[Irelander]

Anybody knows if to get money from abroad you still have to go in person at your bank branch with the paper invoice you issued to your client?

I was told it worked like this under the K's.

Yes, in order to get paid, you have to fill out a "Solicitud de Liquidacion" (in the category "servicios tecnicos y professionales") As of February last year, you also need a 'factura electronica', i.e. when you issue an invoice to your client, you have to generate the corresponding 'factura electronica' on the Afip website. When the payment arrives, you go to the bank with the solicitud de liquidacion, a copy of the invoice, and a copy of the factura electronica. If all the boxes are ticked in the right place, they'll let you have your money.

I don't think this is a "K" thing, I have no doubt it will continue under Macri...

 

[steveinbsas]

Anybody knows if to get money from abroad you still have to go in person at your bank branch with the paper invoice you issued to your client?

I was told it worked like this under the K's.

If BaKaZoo doesn't have temporary residency (and a DNI and a CUIT) there will be no bank account. If there is no bank account there will be no branch to go to to get money from abroad.

It will still be possible to make transfers to Argentina by XOOM, RIA, and Western Union and pick up the money in person...at least as long as he has a valid 90 day visa (and perhaps after that if an expired visa is not an issue).

A declaration jurada will probably be required before the funds are released (even before the "annual threshold" of $40,000 pesos is reached) and that may entail providing documentation of the origin of the funds (including invoices and/or foreign bank statements).

PS: I know from experience that XOOM and RIA can ask for documentation for any transfer, even if the amount is less than $5000 pesos per month.

 

[steveinbsas]

Yes, in order to get paid, you have to fill out a "Solicitud de Liquidacion" (in the category "servicios tecnicos y professionales") As of February last year, you also need a 'factura electronica', i.e. when you issue an invoice to your client, you have to generate the corresponding 'factura electronica' on the Afip website. When the payment arrives, you go to the bank with the solicitud de liquidacion, a copy of the invoice, and a copy of the factura electronica. If all the boxes are ticked in the right place, they'll let you have your money.

While this would apply to clients billed in Argentina if he "open(ed) some kind of business registered with afip" would any of this apply to BaKaZoo's income from abroad (the actual source of his income)?

 

[r2d2]

I think this is in response to the "Let's say that I obtain my residency and open some kind of business registered with afip ...". So the assumption is he has residency, can open monotributo, would not have to charge IVA. And of course this would then apply to clients billed outside Argentina as well. The electronic invoice feature on the AFIP site allows you to specify clients abroad.