The lowest wage growth achieved by income tax affects the minority of workers in Argentina. From June 1 and without reversal, As confirmed by the Ministry of Economy, taxes will no longer be paid by those whose total salary is more than $ 225,937 (floor that was valid until the current month) and less than $ 280,792. After deducting social security contributions, the latter figure is equal to Net salary $ 233,057. To find out if the tax deduction is valid, employers look at the salaries of each particular month as well as the monthly average for the period of the previous year.

Those who belong to this group, with just over 100,000 salaries –According to government figures, about 12% of them pay profits this month. They will also be exempt from the Christmas bonuses tax burden. Other paid employees will pay this benefit, Whose first installment will arrive next month.

The announced change provides, at the same time, Discount for those with a salary of $ 280,793 to $ 323,850. In this case, a special table of deductions will be used (amounts deducted from income before tax is calculated), which will result in a reduction in taxable amounts relative to current amounts. This mechanism is provided for in the law, which was approved last year and was created to avoid situations in which due to the impact of the imposition, With some pay, a person gets less money than someone who has a lower total salary (and is exempt from the tax burden).

For those who earn more than $ 323,850, there will be no change! Even when their income (even with nominal increases) has lost its purchasing power in the face of inflation. They alone are not out of the question. The announcement does not include the self-employed, who are around 390,000. According to data from the Argentine Integrated Social Security System (SIPA) and which are taxed on the basis of much lower income compared to wages. Also, finally, there is no news Monotributists, However The value of the pesos they receive is also deteriorating due to inflation And situations may arise where they have to leave the simplified tax system in order to move to a more severe general regime, even when their billing level is actually declining.

In the case of paid and self-employed workers who pay income, The system has an automatic update mechanism that covers most of the components of the circuit (Exceptions are various deductions for expenses). Adjustments are made in January of each year according to the variation that the Ripte payroll index (average taxable salary of stable workers) had between the two previous months of October. And it affects all taxable income.

The law that proposed the special system of MP Sergio Massa, which made yesterday’s statement, Provides partial correction of the scheme: Only special deductions are created, designed to ensure that those who are paid up to a certain amount do not have to pay taxes. This bias leads to the distortion of organizations’ pay schemes.

“The threshold for tax exemption has been increased, but higher rates will be used to calculate the tax for those who have to pay” if it were appropriate “if the whole scheme was adapted. High inflation is observed by accountant Felix Rolando, a firm from Andersen, Argentina. In this case, the values A table that defines what the fixed amount and interest calculated on the income portion should be paid for the tax, depending on the different income ranges. In practice, the table, which was updated in January because it was provided for by a law approved during the previous administration, will not change now.

Accountant Fernanda Lyon, “All amounts that can be calculated as deductible expenses in profit should be regulated in the same way and in real time” Protecting Revenue from the Impact of Inflation. Among the cost deductions, the scheme has several that are updated once a year (also according to the Ripte variation) and Others that have remained unchanged for more than two decades. For example, the possible deduction of interest on a mortgage loan, which is always only $ 20,000 per year.

In addition to the differences in how often adjustments should be made, there is considerable agreement among economists and tax specialists that: At current levels of inflation, annual renewal is a mechanism that fails to achieve its goal; Which prevents wages that lose purchasing power (even with nominal growth) from being affected by tax or the burden of tax burden. For the Mariano Ghirardotti meter, there should be an automatic update every month.

As for the self-employed, they have today The annual deduction from your income is $ 757,694 per year; Thus, with an average monthly income of $ 63,141, they have already made a profit; In addition, they can use deductions for expenses that, in some cases and as explained, have outdated limits. “For a self-employed person, income tax is more like consumption tax,” Girardoti said.

More than a year ago, when the text of the last approved income law was discussed in Congress, Massa noted that the law for the self-employed was working “in parallel”. However, so far no initiative has emerged.

In any case, because the self-employed have another way of paying taxes (they declare and pay the balance once a year when paying advances calculated on the previous year’s tax), Lyon believes that – except to improve the flooring – “it is not necessary to gamble more than once a year.” And variables MonotaxSaid the accountant, “They should have an update rate at least once every six months.”

In recent days, MP Martin Tetaz (Radical Evolution – CABA) presented a project that goes in this direction: The text suggests that in January and July of each year, the maximum payments that should be made in each category and remain in the system should be re-adjusted according to the increases that pension assets received in the semester due to the Mobility Act. . From 2018, Monotax is updated according to this variable, but once a year, every January. Today the maximum annual billing to avoid being under the general tax regime is $ 3,276,011.15 (service activity) and $ 4,662,015.87 (trade).