Mining 2025

ARGENTINA Law and Practice Contributed by: Sebastián P. Vedoya, Sergio Arbeleche and Dolores Cattaneo, Bruchou & Funes de Rioja

Stamp tax Stamp tax is levied by Argentine provinces and the City of Buenos Aires on acts and documents evidencing transactions for consideration, such as contracts, acknowledgment of debts, incor - poration of companies, promissory notes, cor - porate capital increases, transfer of real estate, and monetary operations, among others. The applicable rates vary according to the transac - tion and the jurisdiction involved. Some provinc - es have repealed this tax on financial, insurance and other kind of transactions related to agricul - tural, industrial, mining and construction activi - ties to the extent certain conditions are met. Pur - suant to Supreme Court case law, agreements celebrated through offer letters that comply with certain requirements do not trigger stamp tax. Mining royalties Mining royalties are mandatory payments that must be made to the province in connection with effective production (in addition to any contractual royalties that may exist in each par - ticular case). The maximum royalty payable to a province that has adhered to the MIL should not exceed 3% of the “mine-head value” of the mineral extracted. Provinces may increase their royalties up to 5% of the mine-head value of the mineral extracted only after adhering to Article 22 of Law 24,196 (as amended by Law 27,743) and only for mining projects that had not started construction of the exploitation phase prior to 8 July 2024. In some cases, the provinces negotiate and exe - cute agreements with the mining companies for the purposes of setting up specific methods of calculation and/or anticipated payments of roy - alties.

(MIL) for import duties). The import duty rate var - ies, depending on the type of good imported. Also, until 31 December 2024, definitive imports are levied with a 3% statistics fee, subject to certain caps (unless any exception applies, such as the one stated in the MIL for import duties). Financial costs associated with imports are VAT (10.5% or 21%) and payments in advance of some taxes (typically, VAT, IT and turnover tax on goods other than fixed assets). These costs are generally recovered against domestic sales or refunded against exports. Export duties are assessed according to the tariff number of the goods being exported. The basis is FOB value. Export duties are applicable to some products. RIGI includes a series of tax incentives that materially reduce the total tax burden for mining projects qualifying under such regime. Provincial Taxes Turnover tax Turnover tax ( Impuesto sobre los Ingresos Bru- tos ), which is a tax on gross revenue imposed at the provincial/local level, is the most relevant tax within the general Argentine Provincial Tax system; it is also levied in the City of Buenos Aires. This tax is levied on all kinds of industrial or commercial activities carried out on a habit - ual basis and for consideration. The tax base comprises gross revenue (or the total amount received in cash, in kind or as a service) accrued from the taxpayer’s commercial activity, and its tax rate varies, depending on the activity and the jurisdiction involved. Exemptions are avail - able for many industrial activities, subject to cer - tain conditions, as a result of a tax agreement entered into between the federal government and the provinces.

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