Money Import Questions

I am in the process of trying to get myself set up to be able to issue invoices outside the country via the monotributo system. My accountant assures me we can do it, though I am not so sure that it is going to be as easy as he is thinking - or even possible in the end. According to him I will be able to have an account in dollars here and will be able to "import" my full monthly reported earnings directly into my bank account, in dollars, straight from the US - instead of bringing in the money in "gray" and depositing the amount I claim every month in pesos into my account. Right now, the limit on monotributo is 450K pesos a year, or 37.5K a month (close to $2,500 USD a month). My accountant says that they are working on raising the monotributo limit to 600K per year (50K pesos, $3,200 USD per month).

It would be so cool to be able to bring any dollars into the country legally, straight into a bank account. I'm going through some tramites to enable all of this - I'll let you all know if it actually works, and if it works, how well; though I wouldn't expect an answer for a month or two at least :)

As far as bribery moving more smoothly here since the advent of Macri, I'd have to agree with Noesdeayer and disagree with Ben. I know a person who was in the business of being a facilitator (a gestora), but not in the legal sense of just getting you through the legal paperwork. She has made a good amount of money in the last 10 or so years by having some seriously good connections at all levels of government, unions, etc, and by knowing with whom, and for how much, to apply the grease to get things done (she's an ex-cop, PFA. The story of how she became a cop to begin with is interesting in and of itself...but that was a couple of decades ago). And I'm not talking about just making things easier - I'm talking getting things done in days, with no paperwork, that take people a month or more of tramites to get completed - most usually without the required items that everyone else has to present.

This person has found herself pretty much out of work since Macri has taken over as president. She can no longer make deals with anyone that can help her - they are very worried about doing something that will get them caught. There is a real push to make things legitimate in this country, I've seen it through her and some of the business dealings that friends of mine have, over the last 6-8 months or so, as far as how things have changed. The problem I see (and here, Ben is correct) is that things are actually more difficult to get done, in some cases, because you actually can't pay your way out of the delay any more. I'd hope that Macri and his administration also streamline things, and not like the post office's door-to-door policy, which is a disaster and worth laughing over - if you're not involved directly, in which case it merely brings tears of frustration.

And look at the Uber decision the other day. Granted this wasn't something that completely frees Uber to operate in Argentina now, but to me it's a pretty big deal that a judge found that there was no criminality in their actions. Would this have happened under Cristina?

Last year, before Cristina was officially out and Macri in, we were all talking about how difficult things were going to be this first year at least, maybe more. I see written here (and hear in person a lot more) how bad things are now that Macri has taken over. It surprises me how quickly people forget and in turn are willing to think that the terrible corruption of the previous administration, especially with the amount it seems that they were robbing the country, is preferable to what's happening today. Forgetting that it was this corruption and incompetence that lead to the problems we are now experiencing.

Macri is not a king. He's not a person connected to a father figure of legend like Cristina is, with a wealth of idiots who believe that the end justifies the means (for those of Cristina's ilk who were true believers and made things move at the grass roots) He can't just sign a piece of paper and make everything the way he would have it. He has to deal with a congress that is still with a majority of votes against him in many big things. He has to deal with a population who doesn't think like we do, the majority of whom really think that the State should be taking care of them. He has to deal with a bureaucracy that is partially made up of people from the previous administration's, and of the one before that, appointees; even with the ones that have been thrown out, as ñoquis or duplicate positions, etc, there are still those that perhaps don't have great sympathy toward Macri and his policies. As far as why the door-to-door service is so bad, well, even then this isn't one of the biggest issues Macri is facing and it could well be that this will be fixed in the near future when it becomes apparent that it doesn't work.

Give the poor guy a break already!
 
The bottom line reason for the regulations pertaining to bringing money into banks here is the attempt to capture tax dollars due Argentina. Tax evasion has been rampant forever here.
 
From the very beginning I (and most of us) advocated a wait-and-see policy. I fully sympathize with the difficulties of setting this place straight and sincerely hope Macri sincerely wants to make the place more normal.

But there have been a bunch of undisputable missteps here, which are unfortunately so very Argentine. That's the problem with the door to door thing: irregardless of whether it affects a huge percentage of the population (it doesn't), it's emblematic of the way things (continue to) work here. A clear and defined problem, with a fairly clear solution, gets completely bogged down by a system - by a culture - whose people bleed regulations and bureaucracy and for whom common sense is simply not a virtue.

Under such conditions, does anyone truly doubt that it is merely a question of time before the parallel market "straightens itself out"?

And as I wrote in the other thread, there's a ton of stuff they had better do to induce people to want to work in blanco. As bobsnowpuppy says, tax evasion has been rampant forever here - but the government's reaction has essentially been to give up on fixing that, and just tightening the screws wherever it can. Having 21% VAT all but acknowledges the evasion and says to (everybody?) "We know you're cheating us, so screw you - we can nail you with the VAT, so we will". Same with the taxes on ingresos brutos. Doubly so for a banking system that taxes any movement of funds (Really?!).

Either Macri himself or his people have not figured out that it is worth it to pass up some amount of customs revenue in favor of a smoother system which incentivizes people to do things in blanco - or at least doesn't actively push them to go negro wherever possible.

Everybody wants to give the poor guy a break - up to a point.

UPDATE: Yes, some fixers are having problems. But I can attest that some are most definitely still in business. And this is not a problem that can be contained forever, or for any real length of time, without fixing the fundamentals. That's what makes the door to door thing scary - it indicates that people still don't get it.
 
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1950706-el-gobierno-quiere-un-acuerdo-de-libre-comercio-entre-el-mercosur-y-los-estados-unidos
 
And you have to look at what he has to do deal with, which tugs right at the base of Peronist psychology:

http://www.lanacion....-diez-mil-pesos

Even while Stolbizer and Massa chastise the judiciary for dragging its feet on CFK et al investigations:

http://www.lanacion....s-de-corrupcion

Which shows to me that the very presence of Macri in the presidency is helping the country deal with corruption, now that the president is not only not interfering with these cases, the judges, the investigators, etc, he is actively encouraging people to go after them.

I don't understand how anyone can think he isn't trying and at least having an effect. "Wait and see" doesn't mean you sit back and criticize everything that is not done, and everything that is screwed up, but take it as a whole and judge the results by its own societal standards, not someone else's, and how much of a change is being brought about in that regard. I see changes. I don't see good results yet economically (although recently I saw an article that talked about looking like things were hitting bottom as far as shrinkage of the economy is concerned, and did slightly better than expected), but I don't remember anyone saying that things were going to be hunky-dory any time soon and I don't see things being too different from what was forecasted and/or what I knew was most likely able to happen.

He's got an awful lot of inertia to work against and he may not be an FDR, but he seems to me to be fairly sincere and is trying. I certainly haven't seen evidence of anyone better suited to replace him.
 
Please post your experience here as I am interested too...

Well, I called Commercio al Exterior HSBC, they said as far as transferring savings to buy a house, just wire the money then call the same office within 48 hours. No f-ing way. I'm waiting to speak to a notary for advice in that regards.

[background=rgb(252, 252, 252)]I am in the process of trying to get myself set up to be able to issue invoices outside the country via the monotributo system. My accountant assures me we can do it, though I am not so sure that it is going to be as easy as he is thinking - or even possible in the end. [/background]

Comercio al Exterior HSBC seemed to agree that charging for overseas clients as monotributista was simple. Although the same guy gave me the answer above. I have spoken with HSBC 5 times and each time I get a different answer. The 5th and final time I was told that without permanent residence they can't give ma a full account (but maybe another bank can).

Maybe it is that easy once you know the way, but in my experience at least, noone knows what to do - which doesnt stop them telling you how to do it. One accountant tells me to use Factura E, the other Factura C .... So ElQueso I'd appreciate any feedback you have especially if you already have a bank which is prepared to do this.

I have been told HIpotecaria can't help because they have no Comercio al Exterior division.
HSBC have Comercio al Exterior, but they can't seem to agree if I can have an account without full residence.
 
Maybe it is that easy once you know the way, but in my experience at least, noone knows what to do - which doesnt stop them telling you how to do it. One accountant tells me to use Factura E, the other Factura C .... So ElQueso I'd appreciate any feedback you have especially if you already have a bank which is prepared to do this.

I have been told HIpotecaria can't help because they have no Comercio al Exterior division.
HSBC have Comercio al Exterior, but they can't seem to agree if I can have an account without full residence.


I'm currently billing my overseas clients without any issues.

I'm Monotributista "F" (changing to "I" soon), and I just basically re-categorise as needed every three months.

I issue Facturas E in English and USD, directly from the AFIP portal, and I use Banco Galicia to receive payments. In my experience, they have a really good COMEX division, and their Galicia Office web portal is quite good.

All I have to do is upload the Facturas E when a payment arrives, plus a "Boleto de Compra" form if I want the money in my pesos account or a "Boleto de Venta" if I want USD.
Anyway, you can call them and they help you if there are any issues or questions. In any case, as long as you have a DNI you should be able to open an account anywhere. I have colleagues that use ICBC for the same thing and they are happy too.

The only potential issue I will have will be when / if I exceed the Monotributo limit and start declaring and paying Ganancias, just because it's more paperwork and it will involve accountants.

In terms of bringing savings, we manage it in a similar way, except that the forms are different AND you have to have justify the source of the income. How you do it is up to your specific circumstances, of course. By default they will ask you for the last "Declaracion Jurada de Bienes personales and Ganancias" which of course you won't have, so again based on your circumstances you might have to supply other documentation.

PM if you need more details.

Juan Pablo
 
I issue Facturas E in English and USD, directly from the AFIP portal, and I use Banco Galicia to receive payments. In my experience, they have a really good COMEX division, and their Galicia Office web portal is quite good.

All I have to do is upload the Facturas E when a payment arrives, plus a "Boleto de Compra" form if I want the money in my pesos account or a "Boleto de Venta" if I want USD.
Anyway, you can call them and they help you if there are any issues or questions. In any case, as long as you have a DNI you should be able to open an account anywhere. I have colleagues that use ICBC for the same thing and they are happy too.

Juan, thanks for sharing, it's good to know someone who has gone through the whole process. Although, I think I'd be more worried about the ganancias than the paperwork if I went over the limit hehe. I'll try Galicia and ICBC later this week.
 
Back
Top