By decree, the government established that from August transfers between companies by payment, applications will pay the check tax

By decree 301 published this Saturday in the Official Journal, The government has decided that from August 1, buy and sell transactions made through payment service providers (PSPs) would be covered by the tax on bank debits and credits, better known as the name “check tax”.

Tax it will exclusively affect the operations of legal persons (i.e. companies) that operate through Mercado Pago, Ualá and any other of the 55 PSPs listed in the respective Central Bank register.

In this way, payment service providers will begin, from August, to act as liquidation and collection agent for the tax on debits (0.6%) and credits (0.6%), as well as transactions with banks and finance companies, from which they demanded this measure, considering that the PSP had a fiscal or competitive advantage, because they were not affected by the check tax.

In this regard, the decree invokes “that one of the principles of tax law is equality of tax treatment, in accordance with the provisions of Article 16 of the National Constitution, the State must safeguard competition under equal conditions” .

“Decree 301 exempts payment accounts used by human beings so that they enjoy the same advantage as savings banks opened in banks today. This is important considering the advancement of e-commerce and the use of payment accounts provided by PSP. If human payment accounts are not exempt from the tax, they might attempt to switch some or all of their transactions to using cash, which should be avoided. In addition, cash transactions can encourage tax evasion ”, the tributarian pointed out to Infobae Sebastián Domínguez, Partner of SDC Asesores Tributarios.

As, Fernando Quiroga placeholder image, KPMG’s tax partner, said that “The good thing is that it exempts monotax payers from paying check tax in the banking sector when they use their checking account. The second important effect of the decree is that it levies the tax on legal persons when they use their virtual accounts, assimilating them to bank accounts “.. According to the expert, “the decree aims to have an integration scheme between the banking and virtual domains, between bank accounts and in fintech. The big challenge for this integration to work in practice is that the traceability of these operations is technologically possible ”.

Transfers between accounts of the same owner, whether bank or via PSP, are exempt, which is added from August to the tax exemption of monotax current accounts, currently taxed at the reduced rate. 0.25%.

“Although the majority of monotributists do not open current accounts but tax-exempt savings banks, the exemption of all accounts is an additional relief which reduces the tax burden and is welcome, especially in the current economic context, “said Domínguez.

The letter of the decree

In its article 1, the decree establishes that “In the event of movements of funds in payment accounts, Payment Service Providers (PSP) or companies dedicated to the electronic service of payments and / or collections for account and order of third parties, according to Accordingly, they will be responsible for acting as liquidation and collection agents, with tax being borne by the respective account holders. And in its article 2, it reaffirms the current rates by specifying that “in the case of movements of funds in payment accounts, the general rate of the tax mentioned in the previous paragraph will be SIX PER THOUSAND (6 ‰) for credits and SIX PER THOUSAND (6 ‰) for debits, resulting in the application, where applicable, of the reduced rates provided for in this article.

The same article specifies that “When cash withdrawals are made…. the fees will not be applicable “to accounts whose holders are human or legal persons who own and prove the status of Micro and Small Businesses”.

Guzmán’s imprint

The decree, signed by the president Alberto Fernandez, the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero, and the Minister of the Economy, Martin guzman, has the imprint of the latter, to the point of invoking the need for a “quiet economy” and “reassuring” the economy, insists on the principle of “fiscal sustainability” as “common interest” and “social investment “And stresses that” tax policy must be a gear that allows us to turn to a model of sustainable and inclusive development “, concepts similar to those that the minister reiterated yesterday, insisting on the fact that the current subsidy regime of energy is “pro-rich”, an issue which has brought him a hitherto lost standoff over electricity and gas tariffs and the impossibility of detaching himself from the Under-Secretary for Electricity Federico Basualdo.

Among the fundamentals, the decree indicates that the economic emergency and the measures in place to contain the coronavirus pandemic “have favored the expansion of payment transactions via electronic platforms” and even attributes the merit of this expansion to measures of promotion of the State, such as the law of the Knowledge Economy.

The application of the check tax will fundamentally affect the buying operations of companies and businesses with their suppliers and those of selling to other companies whose payments are made through PSPs. At the same time, it will tend to increase the prices charged for the goods and services they offer to their private customers, although this cost does not appear as a tax in the regulations.

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