Increase in Interest Rates Calculated on Debts and Claims Before the Federal Tax Authority

The Ministry of Economy issued Resolution 3/2024, published in the Official Gazette on January 22, 2024, establishing the rates of compensatory and punitive interests accrued by tax, customs, and social security obligations with the Federal Tax Authority (AFIP). The Resolution also establishes those applicable to taxpayers’ requests for returns, refund, and compensations.

The Resolution seeks that the rates reflect the current economic conditions to promote the timely payment of obligations. Accordingly, AFIP reestablished a bimonthly updating scheme.
 

1. Regarding compensatory interest (i.e., the interest accrued in favor of AFIP as from the deadline and as long as a tax enforcement proceeding –tax execution– has not been filed), the rate will be equivalent to 1.3 times the monthly “effective lending rate for current account overdrafts not previously requested from the Banco de la Nación Argentina” in force on the 20^th day of the month immediately prior to the beginning of the relevant two-month period. Thus, the current rate of 5.91% would change, according to the current parameters, to an estimated monthly rate of 15.27%. For customs obligations in USD or to be paid according to the amounts of categories or other similar items in force at the date of their effective payment, the rate of 0.83% per month remains.

2. Regarding the punitive interest (i.e., the interest accrued in favor of AFIP as from the beginning of the tax enforcement proceeding –tax execution– until the effective payment), the rate is 1.5 times the “monthly effective lending rate for current account overdrafts not previously requested from the Banco de la Nación Argentina” in force on the 20^th of the month immediately prior to the beginning of the relevant two-month period. Thus, the current rate of 7.37% would change, according to the current parameters, to an estimated monthly rate of 17.62%. For customs obligations in USD, or to be paid according to the amounts of categories or other similar items in force at the date of their effective payment, the rate of 1% per month remains.

3. Regarding the interest accrued in favor of the taxpayer in the cases of return actions, refunds, compensations, and in the cases of articles 811 and 838 of the Customs Law, the rate in force in each two-month period will be the effective monthly rate resulting from considering the average of the rate published by the Argentine Central Bank in the section “Interest rates for 30-day term deposits in financial entities” for the 30-day periods ending on the 20^th of the month immediately prior to the beginning of the relevant two-month period.  In the case of items in USD, the rate of 0.20% per month remains.

Finally, the Resolution establishes that:

(a) the rates for obligations in ARS referred in 1, 2, and 3 above will be published on AFIP's website at the beginning of each two-month period,

(b) the Resolution will be effective on January 22, 2024 and will become enforceable as from February 1, 2024, 

(c) for paying obligations with deadlines before the Resolution becomes effective, the applicable rates and regimes are those in force during each of the periods they reach.