In depth

1. General considerations

The Tax was created by Law No. 27,541 of Social Solidarity and Productive Reactivation in the framework of Public Emergency ("Emergency Law") back in December 2019 and is applicable to Argentine tax residents for the following activities:

• Acquisition of foreign currency — including travel checks — for saving purposes or without any specific purpose related to the payment of obligations under the terms of the existing FX regulations, made by Argentine residents.
• Exchange of foreign currency made by Argentine financial entities, in the name of a local party, to pay for the acquisition of goods or services rendered abroad, canceled using a credit, purchase or debit card or any other payment method determined by the regulations, including extractions of cash made abroad (Acquisitions made using websites and any other type of operations that imply remote acquisition of foreign currency are also included).
• Exchange of foreign currency made by Argentine financial entities for payment, in the name of a local party, of services rendered by nonresident parties, canceled by credit, purchase or debit cards, as well as any other payment method determined by the regulations.
• Acquisition of services abroad using travel and tourism agencies of Argentina.
• Acquisition of land, air and water passenger transportation services in which it is necessary to acquire foreign currency for payment, for destinations outside of Argentina.

2. Increase of the Tax for certain transactions

The Decree increased the Tax from 7.5% to 17.5% for the following transactions:

• Acquisition of foreign currency for payments to be made for freight services and other transport services for import or export operations of goods, in accordance with Central Bank of Argentina regulations, or their acquisition in the country when rendered by non-residents. 
• Acquisition of foreign currency for the importation of any type of goods except for (i) those detailed in Annex I of Decree 99/2019 (that already paid the tax) and those included in chapters 27 and 38 (different types of oil) of the Mercosur Common Tariff Schedule; (ii) raw materials and intermediate goods used in the manufacturing of basic food stuff to be determined by the Ministry of the Economy; and (iii) other goods related to energy generation to be determined by the secretary of energy. This Tax applies to definitive imports, including imports to free trade zones and the Tierra del Fuego Island, and temporary imports (except those covered by export finance or paid after the effective liquidation in Argentina of the export proceeds). 

3. Collection agents

The subjects designated by the Emergency Law, such as financial entities, must act as collection agents.

4. Effective date

The Decree will be applicable to operations carried out for the acquisition of foreign currency as of 13 December 2023.

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