Government to Send Changes to Tax Amnesty Bill to Congress: The Four Pillars of the Reform

Economy Minister Luis Caputo, along with the Legal and Technical Secretary of the Presidency, María Ibarzabal Murphy, announced this Wednesday in a press conference a series of changes to the Tax Amnesty bill. The initiative, which had already been previously approved, seeks to formalize undeclared savings, but now incorporates modifications aimed at providing greater legal certainty to taxpayers.

The Four Central Changes to the Bill

According to the Ministry of Economy, the bill introduces four main modifications. The first eliminates the income and asset requirements to access the simplified declaration regime. Currently, to enter, it is required that income does not exceed one billion pesos annually and that assets do not exceed ten billion pesos. With the reform, the regime is open to all resident individuals and undivided estates in the country, without distinction of assets or income, with an exception for Large Taxpayers.

The second modification touches a sensitive point: when the tax authority can break the taxpayer’s presumption of accuracy. Today, if ARCA’s challenge results in an increase of 15% or more over what was declared, the presumption automatically falls. The bill introduces a minimum threshold: even if the 15% is exceeded, the presumption is not broken if the nominal difference claimed does not reach the equivalent of 5% of the evasion amount provided for in Article 1 of the Criminal Tax Law. In concrete numbers, if the difference does not exceed five million pesos, the presumption is maintained.

The third change establishes that if ARCA detects a significant discrepancy, the taxpayer may file a corrective sworn declaration and pay the difference, plus corresponding interest, within up to 15 business days from notification of the official determination. The fourth change provides an additional tool: the presumption of accuracy is fully restored, and ARCA is obliged to refund the contributions paid with interest within no more than 45 business days from notification of the final resolution.

The Spirit of the Law Does Not Change

During the conference, Caputo stated that «the spirit of the law does not change in absolutely anything. The goal remains that those savings can be formalized in the banking system without any penalty of any kind.» The minister explained that the decision to promote a new law arose after receiving observations from tax advisors on various aspects of the previously approved regulations. «As the weeks and months went by, we gathered this information. We set up a working group with tax experts with the aim of clarifying some issues that make citizens feel much more at ease that, regardless of who is in government, they will be covered in these situations,» he said.

Caputo also stressed that the initiative seeks to respond to a process of growing informality generated by years of high tax pressure, fiscal deficit, monetary issuance, inflation, and exchange restrictions. In that sense, he pointed out that these factors led many Argentines to keep their savings outside the financial system.

Key Data: Savings Outside the System

The minister indicated that currently, even though dollar deposits in the financial system reach record levels close to 40 billion dollars, there is an amount more than four times that figure in savings kept outside the banking circuit. In this context, he argued that formalizing these resources represents a benefit both for citizens and for the development of the economy. «For individuals, having dollars under the mattress is a very bad business. Dollars lose value because there is also inflation in the United States. A dollar today does not buy the same as a dollar 20 years ago,» he said.

Finally, the minister highlighted that incorporating these savings into the system will contribute to economic growth and greater formalization of activity: «At the country level, it is also not useful for people to have dollars under the mattress, because we need to grow as a country, we need the economy to grow, and we need to collect more. How are we going to collect more? In two ways: by formalizing the economy and growing.»

What the Official Document Establishes and What Questions Remain Open

The primary source is the Ministry of Economy’s statement. Below, it details what it establishes, what it does not establish, and what questions remain open.

Value Module: Comparison of Savings

According to the Ministry of Economy’s statement, dollar deposits in the financial system reach nearly 40 billion dollars, and savings outside the banking circuit are more than four times that amount. To put this figure into perspective, the following calculation is made:

• Document: Ministry of Economy statement, 2026.
• Agency and date: Ministry of Economy, press conference of August 15, 2026.
• Unit: Millions of US dollars.
• Values used: Dollar deposits: 40,000 million; multiplier: 4 times.
• Operation: 40,000 million × 4 = 160,000 million dollars.

This calculation is an estimate based on the minister’s statement, which indicated that savings outside the system are «more than four times» deposits. No exact figure is provided, so the result is an approximate floor. No conversion to pesos is made because the statement does not provide an official exchange rate for the date.

What to Follow

The key data to follow is the treatment of the bill in Congress. It will be important to observe whether the proposed changes are maintained in the final wording of the law and how the thresholds and deadlines are regulated. It is also advisable to monitor the reactions of tax experts and specialists, who were the ones who promoted the modifications, to assess whether the new provisions effectively provide the promised legal certainty.