Opening of bank accounts - A bank’s duty to report

General Resolution (AFIP) No 1694 was published in the Official Gazette on June 23, 2004.

It sets forth that if a non-resident individual, without any sort of identification granted by the AFIP, requests a financial institution governed by the provisions of Law No 21,526 the opening of an account to be operated from abroad, such financial institution must request the AFIP to grant such individual with an identification code (Clave de Identificación) (“CDI”).

Pursuant to the procedure set forth in the General Resolution, the financial institution must act as a representative of the individual, requesting the individual’s CDI from the AFIP. The financial institution must present a note containing information about itself and the following information about the individual: (i) name and surname, (ii) type and number of identification, (iii) date of birth, (iv) sex, (v) place of residence, and (vi) nationality.

The CDI could not be used by the individual for the fulfillment of his/her tax and social security obligations, for which the respective Tax Identification Code (Código Unico de Identificación Tributaria) (“CUIT”) or Labor Identification Code (Código Unico de Identificación Laboral) (“CUIL”), must be requested.

The importance of this General Resolution is that banks (and any other financial institution governed by the provisions of Law No 21,526) will have to report to the AFIP if any non-resident individual requests to open a bank account and that such individual will be somehow identified by the AFIP.