1) Setting up and maintaining a company in Argentina

Regardless the business field of the investment, there are certain general steps to set up and maintain a company in Argentina in a legal good standing. Our Doing business in Argentina Guide to set up and maintain a Company will set forth a general guideline aimed as reference for those wishing to do or already doing business in Argentina. The guide describes the formation process of a Sociedad Anónima (or SA) for being this vehicle the most suitable one to channel foreign investments.

2) Steps to incorporate a company

a) To register before the Public Registry of Commerce (Registro Público de Comercio or RPC) the foreign companies that will be the shareholders of the future locally incorporated one. In the jurisdiction of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, the RPC is run by a special agency: the General Inspection of Justice (Inspección General de Justicia or IGJ);

b) To reserve the intended company name before the RPC;

c) To sign the deed of incorporation before a national certified public notary.

d) To deposit at least 25% of the subscribed capital stock in the National Bank of Argentina (Banco de la Nación Argentina);

e) To publish a notice about the formation of the company in the legal official paper (Boletín Oficial);

f) To buy a caution insurance policy to comply with the managers’ guarantee regime;

g) To pay the RPC´s incorporation fee and file for incorporation;

h) To buy special books and get them rubricated by the RPC;

i) To obtain a tax identification number (Clave Única de Identificación Tributaria or CUIT) from the National Tax Office (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos or AFIP);

j) To get a turnover tax identification at the jurisdiction level;

k) To register with the social security agency (Sistema Único de Seguridad Social or SUSS);

l) To get an labor risk insurance for employees with a risk labor insurance company (Aseguradora de Riesgos del Trabajo or ART) are private companies;

m)Rubricate books of wages in the Ministry of Labor.

As to the facilities, the company must also secure its premises, either buying real estate or leasing entering into a commercial renting agreement.

After completion of the incorporation process, there are certain corporate requirements the company has to comply with on a regular basis that will be covered in future newsletters.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.