Question re. PAIS & other taxes for Bank Wires

[GeorgeAnderson]

Hello, I will need to wire myself money to maintain temporary residency as a rentista. I am told there is no getting around this requirement and am aware of Western Union, Inivu, &c. I will need to know how many pesos I will receive for budgeting purposes and to determine whether I should proceed. How do I calculate this?

I saw a receipt in a reply on Twitter which suggests that PAIS tax and income tax withholding are deducted from bank wires abroad.

I had calculated from the "buy rate" for the bank I intend to use on BlueDollar.net ( https://bluedollar.net/all-bank-rates/banco-galicia/ ) but this may not be the whole story.

Thank you for your help.

 

[julia_en_ruta]

You have to wire it to yourself in dollars, not in pesos. You can keep it in dollars once they arrive. We send ours through a SWIFT transfer. Last month's bank combined commission and IVA for our SWIFT for a rentista visa, not including the fee charged by our bank in the US, was AR$3990. That's all I saw deducted from the transfer.

 

[Ries]

Nothing in Argentina is permanent or predictable. The amount you need to wire can change every month. Or stay the same for a while. The government can, and has, changed the rules whenever it feels like it, and not tell anyone. They changed the policy in May of last year, but didnt post it on their website til july, for example. Immigration lawyers here can often get the government to accept payments or info that an individual cannot. There are, right now, several different “ realities “ of how it works, simultaneously.
You have to accept that you cannot predict cost, or method, or rules, and just go with the flow.
Welcome to Argentina, where spreadsheets mysteriously do not align with today’s reality.

Celano, the immigration lawyers, usually post this month’s required amount on their instagram account. You can follow them, and see. Other than that, only personal relationships with migraciones officials and weekly hours spent at Antardida will be better, because thats what they do.

 

[srpez]

You have to wire it to yourself in dollars, not in pesos. You can keep it in dollars once they arrive. We send ours through a SWIFT transfer. Last month's bank combined commission and IVA for our SWIFT for a rentista visa, not including the fee charged by our bank in the US, was AR$3990. That's all I saw deducted from the transfer.

That sounds like a pretty good rate! What bank did you use here in AR to recieve the SWIFT transfer?

 

[Ries]

most people on rentista or pensionista have found Santander is the easiest to get an account with. We use Galicia, which has required some time pestering the branch manager until everything works. Many banks will just turn you down because they dont want to bother with the paperwork.

 

[julia_en_ruta]

That sounds like a pretty good rate! What bank did you use here in AR to recieve the SWIFT transfer?

Santander.

 

[GeorgeAnderson]

You have to wire it to yourself in dollars, not in pesos. You can keep it in dollars once they arrive. We send ours through a SWIFT transfer. Last month's bank combined commission and IVA for our SWIFT for a rentista visa, not including the fee charged by our bank in the US, was AR$3990. That's all I saw deducted from the transfer.

I appreciate the clarification. It is much better to be out the opportunity cost of capital and let it sit in a bank until the cepo goes than to change it in to pesos.

Nothing in Argentina is permanent or predictable. The amount you need to wire can change every month. Or stay the same for a while. The government can, and has, changed the rules whenever it feels like it, and not tell anyone. They changed the policy in May of last year, but didnt post it on their website til july, for example. Immigration lawyers here can often get the government to accept payments or info that an individual cannot. There are, right now, several different “ realities “ of how it works, simultaneously.
You have to accept that you cannot predict cost, or method, or rules, and just go with the flow.
Welcome to Argentina, where spreadsheets mysteriously do not align with today’s reality.

Celano, the immigration lawyers, usually post this month’s required amount on their instagram account. You can follow them, and see. Other than that, only personal relationships with migraciones officials and weekly hours spent at Antardida will be better, because thats what they do.

That is an excellent point. I saw where Celano posts the numbers. I have no issue wiring more than necessesary, but if I have to lose $430/mo to the cepo, then temporary residency as a rentista would fail a cost-benefit analysis.

 

[MarshallE]

You have to wire it to yourself in dollars, not in pesos. You can keep it in dollars once they arrive. We send ours through a SWIFT transfer. Last month's bank combined commission and IVA for our SWIFT for a rentista visa, not including the fee charged by our bank in the US, was AR$3990. That's all I saw deducted from the transfer.

You just keep it in dollars? Do you end up withdrawing dollars cash from the bank branch? It's not required to pesify your foreign dollars for the Rentista visa? I assumed it would get converted to pesos at the official rate and you'd lose a significant amount each month

 

[julia_en_ruta]

You just keep it in dollars? Do you end up withdrawing dollars cash from the bank branch? It's not required to pesify your foreign dollars for the Rentista visa? I assumed it would get converted to pesos at the official rate and you'd lose a significant amount each month

Yes, our bank account has a USD account in addition to the peso account and we extract it in USD at the bank branch. So far no one has expressed any requirement that it be pesified, only that it come in to the bank in USD. But of course, Migraciones may change their mind tomorrow, you never know.

 

[GeorgeAnderson]

Yes, our bank account has a USD account in addition to the peso account and we extract it in USD at the bank branch. So far no one has expressed any requirement that it be pesified, only that it come in to the bank in USD. But of course, Migraciones may change their mind tomorrow, you never know.

I was not aware that was possible to maintain a visa much less possible at all. Is this a recent development? Has your temporary residency as a rentista been renewed, having not pesified?