The Convention will enter into force on January 1, 2013 in Argentina and includes exchange of information, assistance in recovery and service of documents.
On September 13, 2012 Argentina ratified the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (the “Convention”).
According to the Convention, the parties shall provide administrative assistance in tax matters. This administrative assistance shall consist of: a) exchange of information; b) assistance in recovery, including measures of conservancy; and c) service of documents.
Argentina made reservations to the Convention: Argentina shall not provide assistance in recovery of taxes and fines and shall not provide assistance in the service of documents.
A party of the Convention shall provide administrative assistance, in this case exchange of information, whether the person affected is a resident or national of a party or of any other state. The parties shall exchange any information that is foreseeably relevant for the administration or enforcement of their domestic laws concerning the taxes covered by this Convention. The information may be exchanged upon request of a party, or automatically or spontaneously.
The taxes to which the Convention would apply for Argentina are Income Tax, Social Security, Personal Asset Tax, Value Added Tax, Tax on Liquid Fuel, Excise Tax, Tax on Minimum Presumed Income, Property Transfer Tax, Tax on Debits and Credits in Bank Accounts, and Tax for Small Taxpayers (“Monotributo”).
The competent authority will be the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos) and the Convention will enter into force for Argentina on January 1, 2013.
According to the OECD, the signatory countries of the Convention are: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Ghana, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Romania, the Russian Federation, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. There are countries which have signed the Convention, but it is not in force for internal reasons (for example, the United States).
The Convention does not provide detail on the procedure for the exchange of information, unlike the bilateral agreements on exchange of information signed by Argentina. Argentina signed bilateral agreements for exchange of information with Andorra, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Guernsey, Italy, Jersey, Monaco and San Marino.