Changes in Customs Taxation

The Social Solidarity and Productive Reactivation within the Public Emergency (Law 27,451) provides for two changes in customs-related matters: a) an amendment on the ‘statistical fee’ levied on imports of goods, and; b) capping export duties tax rates on different goods.

In connection with the statistical fee, Section 49 of Law 27,451 provides for a raise on its tax rate to a 3% ad valorem (from a prior 2.5% tax rate) for definitive imports until December 31, 2020.

The wording of Law 27,451 is unclear in regards to the set of exceptions introduced by prior Administrations by means of Decree No. 389/95 and Decree No. 361/19, which provided for different sets of exceptions with a deadline set on December 31, 2019. Following the rationale in the aforementioned Decrees, on January 1, 2020, most of the exceptions under Decree No. 389/95 may be re-enabled, which, in turn, would make temporary imports tax-exempt.

Sections 52, 53 and 54 determine grounds on which the Argentine Congress is delegating its powers to the Argentine Executive to fix the applicable tax rate on export duties. Section 52 of Law 27,451 establishes the general cap for export duties at 33% for all goods and sets out that the export of goods that had no export duties, or were taxed at a 0% rate before Decree No. 793/18 came into force (September 2, 2018), may not have a rate higher than 15% on export duties.

Section 52 of Law 27,451 also provides for different caps for separate groups of exports, such as:

• Soybean: 33%
• Agricultural products from regional economies: 5%
• Industrial goods: 5%
• Services: 5%
• Hydrocarbons and minerals: 8%

According to Law 27,451, export duties on oil and gas may not reduce the wellhead value used for calculating and paying royalties to the corresponding provinces.

The Argentine Congress determined that the Argentine Executive may use these delegated powers to modify the export duties tax rates until December 31, 2021.

Section 53 of Law 27,451 allows the Argentine Executive to set different tax hikes on export duties on different regions by weighing the competitiveness and distance between production and commercialization points.

Lastly, Section 54 of Law 27,451 ratifies the extent and validity of all Decrees related to modifications on export duties tax rates applicable to exports of goods.