Realistic to Move to Argentina and Live Off Investments?

[on the brink]

I would be a resident by a temporary one. So, I would have a 1 year visa.

Not familiar with that category. According to my accountant, on a tourist visa six months is the maximum allowed. Best of luck in your search....

 

[oddDistribution]

Not familiar with that category. According to my accountant, on a tourist visa six months is the maximum allowed. Best of luck in your search....

It's the Rentisa visa.

 

[on the brink]

It's the Rentisa visa.

Thanks for the information. Sounds like a good option - I'll ask my accountant to look into it.

 

[Alby]

Don't be led off track by options like permatourism.


Thanks for your post. This is pretty much the process I'm working my way through right now. I actually met with an immigration lawyer this afternoon who seemed quite good, but was a bit pricey. It sounds like there may be a way for me to avoid becoming a tax resident if I never gain permanent residency and always spend at least 90 days a year outside of the country. That way I can avoid dealing with Argentinian taxes entirely.

That precisely why you need a different specialist. The tax issues are complicated. And they move around. The immigration guys have a general knowledge but no real incentive to go deeper, or to keep up with the changes.

You've said you want to live here "long term". How long is that? Forever? Maybe you can keep renewing your temporary residency every year, year in year out, without ever applying for that to become permanent residency. But even if that were possible, I doubt it would get you out of tax obligations other than under a very simplistic reading of the legislation (although perhaps a temporary resident can keep their nose clean by being sure to leave for 3 months of each 12). But endlessly renewing a Rentista-based temporary residency would be an expensive annual bureaucratic nightmare (and, like the tax business, subject to jolts in the form of rule changes). You'd have a very long term relationship with your immigration lawyer.

I guess your first step is actually to clarify exactly what you want, and why. If "long term" is say "5 years", the solutions are different to those if it is "forever"

 

[steveinbsas]

Are you suggesting doing border runs as an alternative? I also heard that you can keep renewing 1 year visas.

You can extend (not renew) the 90 ay tourist visa once at migraciones. After that, border runs t get a new 90 day visa are not a good idea, epecially because they cannot be extended at migraciones.

As you want to stay for more than one year, you will need temporary residency. It can be renewed several times and can become permanent residency on the third renewal. Based on the experience of a friend of mine, migraciones will require that you change to permanent residency at the fourth renewal.

In order to renew each year, you will have to stay in the country for more than 180 days (perhaps 183) and after the first year you will become a tax resident. Whether or not you must pay taxes on your world wide assets as a temporary resident is THE question for your Argentine accountant.

 

[steveinbsas]

Your thinking is good. You want to put roots down....In the case of Argentina, that means finding a residency category. You have done this: rentista. The only problem you have is that becoming a migrant in Argentine carries particular taxation issues for you as a rentista. So this is the next thing you need to discover. To do this, you need to engage a taxation lawyer to help you decide if it's feasible.

This thread shoud provide more information,

Do I need to pay taxes with a Rentista Visa​

I agree with Alby (as I indicated in post six) about the need to consult with an Argentine accountant if necessary.

I applied for temporay residency in 2006 and for permanent residency in 2009. Fortunately, I have never had to pay any taxes on the "foreign asset" or the passive foreign income it generates in the seveneen years I have lived in Argentina.

The only tmes I paid the wealth tax was for my aartment in Recoleta was for the years 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Then the "floor" for the wealth tax was increased and I haven't been above (or even close to) it since.

 

[mageesa]

This thread shoud provide more information,

Do I need to pay taxes with a Rentista Visa​

I agree with Alby (as I indicated in post six) about the need to consult with an Argentine accountant if necessary.

I applied for temporay residency in 2006 and for permanent residency in 2009. Fortunately, I have never had to pay any taxes on the "foreign asset" or the passive foreign income it generates in the seveneen years I have lived in Argentina.

The only tmes I paid the wealth tax was for my aartment in Recoleta was for the years 2006, 2007, and 2008.

Then the "floor" for the wealth tax was increased and I haven't been above (or even close to) it since.

Do you recall what the floor is for the wealth tax?

 

[steveinbsas]

Do you recall what the floor is for the wealth tax?

You can see the rates for 2022 (due in june 2023) here:

Bienes Personales 2023: AFIP publicó las escalas y mínimos no imponibles

La AFIP publicó las escalas y los mínimos no imponibles del Impuesto a los Bienes Personales para el período 2022, que vence en junio de 2023.

www.eldestapeweb.com

 

[toongeorges]

I won't have much income though. I don't think Colombia has a tax on global assets, just income?

Colombia seems to have a wealth tax on global assets of 1÷, see https://www.taxathand.com/article/27284/Colombia/2022/Wide-ranging-tax-reform-enacted

If you are rich, tax-wise Uruguay is the best country in South America, but you complain it is too expensive? Somewhere there is a contradiction there.

Maybe Paraguay could be an option, I do not know how it is there, but it should be cheaper even than Argentina.

 

[toongeorges]

Thanks for your post. This is pretty much the process I'm working my way through right now. I actually met with an immigration lawyer this afternoon who seemed quite good, but was a bit pricey. It sounds like there may be a way for me to avoid becoming a tax resident if I never gain permanent residency and always spend at least 90 days a year outside of the country. That way I can avoid dealing with Argentinian taxes entirely.

That will deal with the Argentine taxes, but not with migraciones. If you overstay your tourist visa (180 days max per year) on a regular basis, eventually you will get into troubles.

When you overstay, you are legally not allowed to leave the country until you pay a fine, which is peanuts. The issue is when you come back to Argentina. If you have a habit of overstaying, at one point, migraciones will refuse to let you enter the country.

The only way to live long-term in Argentina is to pursue some kind of citizenship, which always comes with tax obligations.