For Argentines

How tax residency works

Under the Income Tax Law (Ley de Impuesto a las Ganancias), every Argentine national, native or naturalised, is a tax resident until they lose that status under the law’s own rules. Residents pay income tax on worldwide income and Bienes Personales, the personal assets tax, on worldwide assets. Both are run by ARCA (Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero, the federal tax and customs agency), which replaced AFIP in late 2024.

An Argentine national loses tax residence in one of two ways: by obtaining permanent residence in another country under its migration rules, or by staying abroad continuously for 12 months. Visits to Argentina totalling no more than 90 days in each 12 month period do not break that continuity. The loss takes effect from the first day of the month after the triggering event.

A residence card abroad is not the end of the story. If you obtain permanent residence elsewhere but keep living in Argentina, or return intending to stay, the law treats you as having dual residence and applies tie breakers in order: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode and, last, nationality. For an Argentine that final test points back to Argentina, so the move itself has to be genuine.

Where Argentina has a tax treaty with your new country, its residence rules apply instead. Treaties are in force with 24 countries, including Chile, Brazil, Spain, Italy and the UAE, but not with Paraguay, Uruguay, Panama or Georgia.

Leaving properly

In law the loss of residence happens automatically, but ARCA keeps you on its register as a resident until you prove it. In April 2025 a federal appeals court confirmed that the loss dates from the first day of the month after you obtain permanent residence abroad or complete 12 months away, even if you report it later. ARCA has appealed to the Supreme Court, so filing promptly remains the sensible course.

1. 01

   Build the facts abroad

   Obtain residence in your new country, set up a real home there and move your family and the centre of your work, so that the tie breakers point away from Argentina.

2. 02

   Gather the proof

   A permanent residence certificate from the foreign authority, or your passport and a consular certificate showing 12 months abroad. Foreign documents need an apostille and a sworn translation into Spanish.

3. 03

   Declare your foreign address

   Record your address abroad as a sworn statement in ARCA’s Sistema Registral, the online taxpayer register, under the foreign residence option.

4. 04

   Request deregistration

   Apply online to cancel your registration for Ganancias and Bienes Personales, choosing the reason that fits (permanent residence abroad, or 12 months of continuous absence) and attaching your documents. Until it is granted, keep filing as a resident.

5. 05

   Appoint a substitute taxpayer

   If you keep assets in Argentina, name a responsable sustituto, a person in Argentina who pays Bienes Personales on them for you. ARCA does not record your deregistration until that person accepts the role online.

Exit tax, property and investments

Argentina has no exit tax: leaving does not trigger a deemed sale of your assets. Instead you become a beneficiario del exterior (foreign beneficiary), taxed only on Argentine source income, mostly through final withholding by the payer.

Bienes Personales follows your status on 31 December. Residents pay on worldwide assets above a non taxable minimum (ARS 384.7 million for 2025, with the home exempt up to ARS 1,346.5 million), at progressive rates of 0.5% to 1% for 2025 that fall each year towards 0.25% from 2027. Non residents pay only on Argentine assets, at a flat 0.5% through the responsable sustituto. Shares in Argentine companies are taxed at 0.5%, paid by the company itself, whether you are resident or not.

As a non resident, dividends from an Argentine company carry 7% withholding, and rent from Argentine property is taxed at an effective 21% of the gross amount (35% on a presumed 60% gain), unless a treaty lowers it. The tax on property sales changed for residents from 2026, so our team confirms the treatment for your case before any sale.

The cepo, Argentina’s currency controls, has largely been lifted for individuals. Since April 2025 you can buy foreign currency at the official rate through the banking system without the old monthly cap or the 30% surcharge. Some limits remain, including a 90 day bar on buying at the official rate after using the MEP or CCL markets (the legal parallel rates reached through securities trades) and the reverse, plus a surcharge on card spending abroad. The rules still change often, so check them when you move money.

A broader tax reform has been announced for Argentina but not enacted. We confirm the rules in force when you plan your move.

Pensions and social security

ANSES (Administración Nacional de la Seguridad Social, the national social security administration) pays Argentine pensions to people living abroad. The ordinary retirement age is 65 for men and 60 for women, with 30 years of contributions. Retirees abroad can be paid in foreign currency into an account in their own name in their country of residence, once that country is registered.

You must give proof of life (fe de vida) every six months, in February and August, at an Argentine consulate or the local authority, or electronically where the consulate offers it. As a non resident, an Argentine pension is treated as Argentine source income, and withholding can reach an effective 31.5% of the gross amount unless a tax treaty reduces it. Our team checks the position for your destination.

Argentina is part of the Mercosur social security agreement with Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, and has bilateral agreements with countries such as Chile, Spain and Italy, which let contribution periods in each country be combined.

Dual citizenship

Argentina allows dual nationality. Argentine nationality by birth cannot be lost or renounced: the courts have refused requests from native Argentines to give it up, so taking a second citizenship has no effect on it.

In Argentina you are treated as Argentine, so enter and leave on your Argentine passport or DNI (Documento Nacional de Identidad, the national identity document). Argentina has dual nationality agreements with Spain and Italy that ease some of these points for their citizens.

Because nationality and tax residence are separate, keeping your Argentine passport does not keep you tax resident, and a second passport does not end your residence. Children born abroad to an Argentine parent can take Argentine nationality through an Argentine consulate.