- Mattress dollars: the five keys to the “fiscal innocence” project.
He Government of Javier Milei wants to close 2025 with the approval of one of the two projects – in addition to the 2026 budget – that are being debated in Congress: the so-called “principle of fiscal innocence”.
This is an initiative that, in practice, aims to ensure that Argentines Use so-called “mattress dollars” to “remonetize” the economy.
According to the Minister of Economic Affairs Luis Caputoduring an event IEB FoundationCitizens have around $200,000 million outside the financial system.
The executive branch is keen to ensure that these savings flow into the formal economy. “We want people to be able to use their money without fear of persecution”Caputo made the comments in early May.
The Treasury chief highlighted what he called “the story that people aren’t taking out the dollars to spend them.” From your point of view, “They don’t do it because they break their coconuts.”.
Beyond these statements, the “tax innocence” project proposes abandon the presumptive and punitive system to replace it with a regime in which Argentinians are taken into account innocent until proven guilty.
This explicitly implies a shift the relationship between the state and taxpayers. “From a more general perspective, the initiative is part of the framework of the process of fiscal consolidation and de-bureaucratization of the state. with the aim of reducing the administrative burden on citizens“says a report from Ieral des Mediterranean Foundation.
The project also proposes changes in the Penalty tax systemHe Tax procedures and the creation of Simplified winning regime (RSG).
The proposal already had half the approval of MPs. Senate approval remains in place, although the government expects there will be no objections The initiative could be approved this week.
Mattress dollars: the five keys to the “fiscal innocence” project.
Beyond its legislative treatment, the “fiscal innocence” project is not an absolute novelty, as the government had already presented it in mid-May – after joint work by the Ministry of Economic AffairsHe Central Bank (BCRA) and the Customs Collection and Inspection Authority (ARCA)– Him “Historic reparations plan for Argentines’ savings”with the aim that the economy “continues to grow at 6% annually.”.
The difference is that the executive branch is now trying to provide legal support to taxpayers.
1. Relationship between the Ministry of Finance and the taxpayer
One of the central aspects is the change Relationship between state treasury and taxpayer. The government’s goal is that ARCA cannot fall on citizens, unless specific irregularities are identified.
This means that the authority cannot assume that there is an intention to circumvent the law in all cases. Prosecution and control must be linked to concrete evidence or malicious behavior.
In this sense, the axis of the project is to promote a “more transparent” relationship between the state treasury and taxpayers.
2. Penalty tax system
The initiative changes the minimum amounts above which a behavior is considered a “tax crime”:
- Easy dodge: the threshold would increase from $1.5 million to $100 million (Change in the first paragraph of Article 1 of the penal tax system).
- Aggravated evasion: the threshold would increase from $15 million to $1 billion (Amendment to Article 2, Subsection a) of the Tax Code).
- Apocryphal calculations: the threshold would increase from $1.5 million to $100 million (Amendment to Article 2, Subsection d) of the Penal Tax Law).
However, the taxpayer can avoid criminal charges. (Eradication of criminal acts) if you pay the entire debt with interest or, if criminal proceedings have been initiated, by paying 50% of the amount owed within thirty working days of the indictment.
3. Tax procedures
The “principle of fiscal innocence” also introduces a number of changes regarding the Administrative procedures and the tax limitation periods provided for in Law 11,683.
In this context It is proposed to shorten the general limitation period for those taxpayers who Submit your affidavits in a timely manner and not notice any material discrepancies with the information provided by the Ministry of Finance.
The initiative also provides for the following changes:
- Fines– Amounts are updated (e.g. from $200 to $220,000 and from $400 to $440,000).
- Recipe: five years for registered taxpayers (general), three years for registered taxpayers – if the declaration is submitted on time and without significant deviations – (reduced) and ten years for unregistered people.
Regarding the fines, the project provides for the amount of the fines are automatically updated by UVA (Purchasing Value Unit). from the January 1, 2027.
However, this point is one of the most criticized points among tax experts. As they warn, the increase will not be gradual, depending on the taxpayer’s profile could have an impact on SMEs and people.
“The legislative debate now focuses on whether the massive update to fines provides appropriate compensation Sanctioning effectiveness and appropriatenessor if it opens the door to future questions due to disproportionality in certain cases,” accountant Marcos Felice said in his blog.
4. Simplified earning system
The simplified earnings regulation is used human persons and undivided succession -Domestic residents- with an income of up to $1 billion and assets less than 10 billion dollars.
Under this scheme, the taxpayer can accept this overall tax relief effect And Presumption of accuracyunless serious discrepancies or apocryphal documentation are discovered.
However, ARCA may challenge the affidavit as long as “a significant discrepancy between the information provided and the information available in its systems or provided by third parties.
5. Whitewashing?
There are significant differences between the projects to be funded Using “Mattress Dollar” and the implementation of a Money and capital laundering.
First, the draft discussed in Congress does not provide for a new fiscal clarification of Law 27,743, but is intended to establish a new criterion where The taxpayer is innocent until proven otherwise.
“A new mechanism for accounting for income tax is regulated, aimed at a specific group of taxpayers and aimed at simplifying the tasks of tax assessment,” they emphasize from the Ieral des Mediterranean Foundation.
The Minister of Economic Affairs himself made this clear Amcham Peak. “It’s not a whitewash. What we are going to do goes deeper. It is the beginning of a new regime“, he explained in mid-May.
About The Author
