“We do not want Argentines to use the United States financial system as a tax haven to evade their obligations to the Argentine tax authorities”, said the head of the Palacio de Hacienda when presenting the agreement, together with the US ambassador Marc Stanley, at the CCK. According to Massa, with this agreement “we are not seeking to persecute”, but rather it is an act of “fiscal transparency”.
This Wednesday, the headline of the General Directorate of Customs referred to the agreement and gave details of how the processes of access to information will be carried out. “With the US we had a bilateral agreement but on a case-by-case basis. That is, the AFIP had to ask the IRS to give it data. What Massa signed is a massive exchange”he said first, during an interview on the program Fantino Multiverse by neura.
“Except with the US, we had with all the countries relevant to Argentina,” added Michel and announced that the new agreement “will enter into force, if we make all the notifications, as of January 1, 2023.”
From there, the Argentine Government will receive “all the information, every year, massively”. And he pointed out: “All Argentines, with income, interest or housing in the US, will be informed to the AFIP.”
There are 68 active exchanges
Beyond the fact that the validity of the agreement begins in 2023, a series of requests for information in this regard are currently active. In that sense, Michel pointed out that “the papers are already open” for particular cases and said that “there are 68 active exchanges with the US of Argentines.”
Regarding the values, he clarified that “they are relevant amounts” and stressed that the accounts are of human persons, which does not involve companies. In addition, he said that they are not necessarily black accounts but that “they may have differences in the amounts declared.”
Regarding the agreement itself, he explained that what Massa signed “was to join the FATCA network.” What does it mean? “The US has never entered the OECD multilateral network because they are in a position to create their own network (FATCA). If you want information from the United States, you have to subscribe to their agreement, which gives them the possibility of discontinuing the information when they want, ”he said.
By signing the agreement, the Argentine government accepts the conditions set forth by the US. “They give you the information under their rules”, added Michel and gave an example: “The AFIP people who are going to manage the FATCA information work in an office with cameras. They are one of the conditions you have. They make you put up a computer system, which (Carlos) Castagneto (AFIP head) acquired it this week, especially for this type of information as well”.
The United States exchanges information with other countries through Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs) that are enabled by the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
This standard is known by its acronym in English: FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and aims to identify Americans who evade taxes. Namely, Its objective is to combat tax evasion of investments abroad by residents and citizens of the United States.
With the signed agreement, andThe US IRS will provide its Argentine counterpart, the AFIP, with the following information:
- Personal data of the person identified as “holder” or owner.
- The account number and the name of the bank.
- The amount paid as interest, dividends, or other passive income.
The agreement between Argentina and the US will put some US$5,000 million on the AFIP radaras could increase the taxable base for the Argentine treasury of close to US$100 billion.
Source: Ambito
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