ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Daniel Rinci, Tomas Cabanelas, Fernando García and Marisa Majul, Rinci & Asociados
4. OECD/G20 Global Tax Reform 4.1 Pillar One – Amount B As a member of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, Argentina participated in the negotiations that pro - duced the Amount B framework for simplifying the application of the arm’s length principle to baseline marketing and distribution activities. At the time of writing, Argentina has not yet formally incorporated Amount B into domestic law or regulations. 4.2 Pillar One – Amount A Argentina has constructively engaged in the Pillar One Amount A negotiations through its participation in the Inclusive Framework. As a significant develop - ing economy and capital-importing country, Argen - tina’s interest in Amount A is primarily to ensure that it receives a fair allocation of taxing rights over the profits of large multinational digital and consumer- facing enterprises that generate significant revenue from Argentine users and consumers without having a physical presence in Argentina. 4.3 Pillar Two Argentina has not yet implemented the OECD’s Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) rules – the Income Inclu - sion Rule, Undertaxed Profits Rule, and Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-up Tax under Pillar Two. At the time of writing, there is no enacted legislation or draft bill before congress introducing Pillar Two rules into Argentine domestic law. 4.4 Specific Features or Deviations of Pillar Two As Argentina has not implemented Pillar Two, there are no domestic deviations to report at this stage. 4.5 Digital Services Tax Argentina does not have a standalone national digital services tax. However, the Argentine VAT system was extended to cover digital services supplied by non- resident providers to Argentine consumers through “reverse charge” and “payment intermediary” mecha - nisms. Under these rules, non-resident providers of digital services (including streaming, software, online advertising, and platform-based services) are required to register and collect VAT at the standard 21% rate on services supplied to Argentine final consumers,
with payment facilitated through Argentine credit and debit card processors where direct registration is not effected. Several Argentine provinces have also applied provin - cial turnover tax to digital services rendered by foreign providers. These provincial-level taxes add a layer of complexity for non-resident digital businesses operat - ing in Argentina. 5. Anti-Avoidance and Anti-Evasion Measures 5.1 Definition and Identification of Tax Fraud, Evasion, Tax Avoidance and Abusive Schemes Tax Evasion and Fraud Argentina’s Criminal Tax Regime establishes mini - mum thresholds to consider tax fraud a criminal offence. Simple tax fraud is a criminal offence when the amount of evaded tax exceeds ARS100 million (roughly USD70,000) per tax and per fiscal period, punishable by imprisonment from two to six years. Aggravated tax evasion – which includes the use of false invoices, interposed persons, tax havens or much larger amounts evaded – carries penalties of three-and-a-half to nine years’ imprisonment. Tax Avoidance and the Economic Reality Doctrine The general anti-avoidance rule in Argentina is pri - marily the economic reality doctrine. This doctrine permits the tax authority to recharacterise transac - tions in accordance with their true economic nature, disregarding legal forms that do not reflect economic substance. The doctrine has been applied extensive - ly in cross-border contexts to challenge structures involving treaty shopping, artificial PE fragmentation, and the use of offshore holding companies without business substance. 5.2 Anti-Avoidance Mechanisms Transfer Pricing Rules Argentina introduced comprehensive transfer pricing legislation in 1998, applying the arm’s length principle to transactions between related parties and to trans - actions with entities in low-tax jurisdictions (regardless of whether the parties are formally related). The rules
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