The Supreme Court of Justice restrains the Provinces

On September, 8 2009, the Supreme Court of Justice restated, in its original jurisdiction, its criterion towards four cases with similar characteristics about a very controversial issue: Stamp Tax is not applicable to agreements created by means of an offer letter. The cases in question are the following: “Yacimientos petrolíferos Fiscales S.A. (YPF) c/ Tucumán, Provincia de s/ acción declarativa de certeza”; “Esso Petrolera Argentina S.R.L. c/ Entre Ríos, Provincia de s/ acción declarativa de certeza”; “Petrobras Energía S.A. c/ Chaco, Provincia del s/ acción declarativa de certeza”; and “Esso Petrolera Argentina S.R.L. c/ Chaco, Provincia del y otro (Estado Nacional) s/ acción declarativa de certeza”.

As per the facts and circumstances described in the resolutions, the gas stations companies offered the abovementioned oil companies agreements based on the offer letter modality. These offers were not expressly signed by the oil companies, nor accepted in writing, but through the delivery of the requested products.

The oil companies understood that there was no “instrument” to be levied by the stamp tax, that the provinces’ claims went against their own tax codes, the principle of the legitimacy of taxation, and article 9, section b of the Federal Tax Law, which defines the term “instrument”.

The Supreme Court stated that this belongs to its original jurisdiction, reconfirmed the basis and conclusions drawn from previous cases with similar characteristics (please see Marval News # 28), and declared inadmissible the claim against the defendants about the Stamp Tax applied to “offer letters”.

Finally, we should now pose the question about the effect the recent Supreme Court’s ruling in the “Papel Misionero S.A.I.F.C. c/ Misiones, Provincia de s/ acción declarativa” case (P. 582. XXXIX; ORI; 05-05-2009) would have in the future, regarding its original jurisdiction.