On June 2, 2022, Argentina´s Central Bank issued Communication A 7518, which exempts (partially) the obligation to compulsory exchange foreign currency obtained from the export of certain services, among which are IT and professional services.
The exception is conditional on the exporter increasing its exports in the permitted services compared to those made in the whole of 2021, and that the unliquidated currencies are exclusively affected to the payment of remuneration in foreign currency to the exporter´s employees, within the limitations set forth by the Employment Contract Law (20% of the salary). In turn, the amount of foreign exchange exempt from liquidation is limited to: i) 50% of the increase in exports in 2022 compared to the whole of 2021; and b) 20% of the gross monthly remuneration paid to its employees, multiplied by the number of months until the end of the year. Currency that is not used for the payment of salaries as of December 31, 2022 must be settled by the MULC. The process involves the nomination of a bank to issue “Certifications of increased revenue from collections of exports of services in the year 2022” that will verify compliance with the aforementioned conditions. Finally, this exception regime requires the exporter to issue a declaration stating that it has not carried out operations of the type of “Contado con Liqui” or similar and other declarations.
The conditions and limitations of the regime, in particular the one that limits the amount to the increase of exports with respect to the total exports of the year 2021, makes it difficult to apply for the purpose that supposedly guides this mechanism, which would be to allow exporters to pay remuneration in dollars, and forces to think about other strategies of use within what is allowed by the norm.
You can find the Communication in the following link: http://www.bcra.gov.ar/Pdfs/comytexord/A7518.pdf
If you are interested in discussing the scope and application of this regime, please contact Palico Millé at palico@mille.com.ar.