What is Fiscal Innocence, the law that the Government promoted so that the dollars come out of the mattress

That first announcement about this initiative took place at the Casa Rosada and was made by José Luis Espertat that time the main candidate for national representative for La Libertad Avanza, and the then head of ARCA Juan Pazo. Neither of them is still part of the Government.

The so-called Fiscal Innocence Law is the initiative promoted by the Government to allow the use of undeclared savings without this resulting in questions from ARCA (former AFIP).

The official intention was to provide greater legal certainty to taxpayers and prevent future administrations from demanding explanations about the origin of these funds once incorporated into the formal circuit.

From a technical point of view, the rule modified Law 24,769 on the Criminal Tax Regime and updates the amounts from which certain behaviors are considered tax evasion. It also raised the thresholds that oblige banks, notaries and other subjects to report operations to the collection agency.

Among the main changes, the amount to configure simple evasion changes from $1.5 million to $100 millionwhile that of aggravated evasion increases from $15 million to $1,000 million.

Likewise, they rise to $100 million in values ​​linked to crimes by issuance or use of apocryphal billing and $200 million in amounts related to non-compliance by taxpayers receiving tax benefits.

The law also incorporates a mechanism for termination of criminal action. In cases where the taxpayer regularizes the debt and pays the corresponding interest, ARCA will refrain from filing a complaint. If the complaint has already been made, the criminal action may be extinguished by paying the obligation owed, interest and an additional amount equivalent to 50%.

Another relevant change is the reduction of the limitation period of tax obligations, which goes from five to three years.

The regulations also create a Simplified Income Tax Regime (which Manuel Adorni and his wife Bettina Angeletti joined) aimed at taxpayers with annual incomes of less than $1,000 million and assets of less than $10,000 million, as long as they are not categorized as large taxpayers.

Under this scheme, ARCA stops focusing on the consumption level or in the patrimonial evolution of people to determine the tax. Instead, it will take as reference the declared income and deductible expenses. Those who accept the determination made by the agency and comply with the corresponding payment will be released from future reviews for that tax.

Within this framework, funds held outside the system may be used to purchase registrable assets, such as real estate or vehicles, without being subject to controls derived from these consumptions. In turn, banks, notary offices, dealerships and card issuers will no longer be required to report many of these operations due to the new established thresholds.

The ruling party is pushing for a new discussion of this rule in Congress to “correct” some issues in the Tax Innocence law that the Ministry of Economy agreed to incorporate after questions from experts and tax experts who considered that the law left some doubts open to taxpayers.

Firstly, there would be no limit on the amounts for membership. The regime would be opened to almost everyone and the amounts that served as income and equity limits ($1,000 million and $10,000 million) to access the regime would disappear.

The size of the taxpayer no longer matters, but rather his tax residence. The latter must be maintained throughout the fiscal period declared under simplified modality.

Unlike the current scheme, the project defines a window until December 31, 2027 to externalize funds. Until that date, undeclared money may be deposited without cost for the past and without that appearance becoming evidence against it.