Stricter control on currency sent abroad

New AFIP resolution means each particular case will be analyzed

Stricter controls will fall upon companies and banks looking to send money abroad after the national government yesterday announced new controls.

The national government will analyze case by case and more thoroughly each request by companies and financial entities that wish to wire foreign currency abroad.

The AFIP tax agency’s general resolution 3417/2012 states that companies that pay debt or wire utilities abroad, as well as those that perform temporary or regular imports, must beforehand present an early statement of payment to the AFIP.

AFIP’s new demand to companies is part of the so-called “single window” system for foreign trade, created by the national government and, although it will become effective on February 1, it also includes “operations carried out beforehand, that have due date on that day.”

The measure includes those payments to “foreign financial debts, originated from purchased goods that didn’t enter the country and were sold to third party countries,” to “the foreign debt interest payment,” and the “utilities and dividends paid abroad,” as well as the temporary and regular imports.

In relation to foreign debt payment, the agency must be informed, among other things, the amount and currency that will be used to pay, the creditor must be identified and, in the corresponding case, present the loan contract.

Utilities and dividends sent abroad will require details on the amount and type of currency, details on the person receiving the payment, their relation with the respective company and the record of the ordinary assembly or the board of directors’ meeting in which the transfer was decided.

Remittances by companies and banks through the currency exchange market dropped drastically in 2012, as a result of the official restrictions.

— Herald with DyN