On June 2nd, 2022, by means of Communiqué “A” 7518, the Central Bank of Argentina established a new regime through which the collection of service exports for certain concepts is excluded from the mandatory local settlement (the “Regime”).
The Regime provides that (i) the funds from the export of services (the “Funds”) must be credited in a foreign currency account owned by the exporter of the services (the “Exporter”) in a local financial entity; and (ii) two tickets must be prepared without movement of pesos, the purchase ticket for the concept of services and the sale ticket which must be registered in the name of the Exporter under the concept “A22. Accreditation of service export collections”.
In this sense, when the Exporter is an individual, this mechanism can be used up to an equivalent of USD 12,000 (twelve thousand U.S. dollars) in the calendar year. For the calculation of such amount, the whole set of entities and concepts included by which the Exporter has entered the Funds must be contemplated.
When the Exporter is a legal entity, it shall (i) have a “Certification of increase of income from collections from exports of services in the year 2022” (“Certificate of Increase”); and (ii) nominate a local financial entity that will be responsible for issuing the corresponding Certificate of Increase and forwarding it to the entities through which the Exporter shall enter the Funds.
The financial entity in charge of issuing the Certificate of Increase shall be the one that has accumulated the most liquidations in relation to the concepts included in the Regime within the period as from January 2nd, 2022, to May 31st, 2022.
The local financial entity will be able to issue a Certificate of Increase, when all the following requirements are verified:
(i) The Exporter registered settlements in the foreign exchange market of service export collections for the concepts included in the Regime during 2021. (ii) The value of the collections of exports of services for the concepts included in the Regime that the Exporter entered through the foreign exchange market in 2022, exceeds the value of the collections of exports for the set of concepts that the Exporter entered in 2021. (iii) The total amount of all the Certificate of Increase issued, including the one requested to be issued, does not exceed the equivalent in foreign currency of the minimum of the following two equations:
- a. 50% of the value by which the foreign exchange market receipts from service export collections in the current year exceed the amount received from such receipts during the entire previous year.
- b. the amount in foreign currency equivalent to 20% of the gross salaries paid to the Exporter’s employees in the previous calendar month in which the Certificate of Increase is requested, multiplied by the number of months remaining until the end of the year including the current month. The equivalent of the amounts paid in pesos will be calculated using the reference exchange rate published by Communiqué “A” 3500 at the end of the previous calendar month.
(iv) Finally, the local financial entity shall have an affidavit from the Exporter stating that:
- a. It undertakes that the Funds deposited and not settled under this mechanism shall be used exclusively to pay the net salaries of its employees in foreign currency within the 20% limit provided for in Section 107 of the Labor Contract Law.
- b. It agrees that the Funds that before the December 31st, 2022, have not been used to the pay employees’ salaries shall be liquidated in the foreign exchange market within the following 5 (five) working days.
- c. As of the date of issuance, the Exporter is not in fault in relation to the entry and settlement of service export collections.
- d. In the 90 (ninety) calendar days prior and in the 90 (ninety) calendar days after the day on which the Certificate of Increase is requested, the Exporter has not arranged or will not arrange sales in the country with settlement in foreign currency of securities issued by residents, or exchanges of securities issued by residents for foreign assets or transfers thereof to depository institutions abroad, or the acquisition in the country with settlement in pesos of securities issued by non-residents
The concepts of services that are included within the Regime are the following: (i) maintenance and repairs; (ii) construction services; (iii) telecommunications services; (iv) information technology services; (v) information services; (vi) charges for the use of intellectual property; (vii) research and development services; (viii) legal, accounting and management services; (ix) advertising services, market research and public opinion surveys; (x) architectural, engineering and other technical services; (xi) trade-related services; (xii) other business services; (xiii) audiovisual and related services; (xiv) other personal, cultural and recreational services (including educational instruction); and (xv) other health services.
In this sense, through the Regime, access to foreign currency is favored for the Exporter and ultimately for the employee, provided that the Exporter shall apply the foreign currency entered and not settled in the foreign exchange market for the payment of the employee´s salaries in foreign currency.
This report cannot be considered as legal or any other type of advice from Allende & Brea.
