Starting a business in Argentina
Monotributo folds tax and pension into one monthly category payment - the numbers move with inflation, the mechanism does not.
Checked against the sources on 2026-08-30
Before anything else
Argentina’s small-business front door is the monotributo: a unified regime where one monthly payment by category (A upward, set by revenue bands) covers income tax, VAT and pension. Registration happens online with the CUIT (tax ID) and the fiscal key (clave fiscal) at ARCA - the renamed AFIP - and is free.
The permanent context is inflation: every threshold and category amount is re-indexed repeatedly; percentages and mechanisms are stable, absolute numbers are not. Plan against the mechanism, check the numbers the week you need them, and expect provincial taxes (ingresos brutos) as a second, separate layer with its own registrations.
The legal shell
Monotributo or the general regime?
Monotributista
Solo services and small trade inside the category ceilings.
One monthly payment by category - modest at the bottom, scaling with the bands.
Exceeding your category’s revenue, or tripping the spending indicators the system watches, recategorises or expels you into the general regime.
Responsable inscripto / SAS / SRL
Above the ceilings, or corporate clients wanting full VAT invoices.
SAS formation online within days; SRL by notary. Both then face 21% IVA, profit tax, and the full filing calendar.
The administrative jump is the largest in the hemisphere - the general regime is what monotributo exists to postpone.
The sequence
Get the CUIT and clave fiscal
Where: ARCA (ex-AFIP), online with in-person or app-based identity validationCost: $0
The clave fiscal is the login for every later act; raise its security level as prompted or half the services stay locked.
Enrol in monotributo and pick the category
Where: monotributo.afip.gob.ar
Category follows expected revenue (and for some activities, premises data). The obra social election inside enrolment picks your health coverage - part of the same payment.
Register for ingresos brutos
Where: Your province’s revenue agency (AGIP, ARBA, …)
The provincial turnover tax is separate from monotributo (some provinces offer a unified simplified option). Selling across provinces can mean the multilateral convention - a phrase that means "get an accountant this week".
Invoice electronically and recategorise on schedule
Facturas issue through the ARCA portal or its apps; monotributo recategorisation windows run twice a year, and skipping one while revenue grew is the classic expulsion route.
What it costs to start
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| CUIT + enrolment | $0 |
| Monthly category paymentCheck the current table - it moves. | By band, indexed |
| Ingresos brutos | ~1.5-5% of revenue by province and activity |
The words on the forms
- ARCA
- The federal tax agency (formerly AFIP - both names circulate).
- CUIT
- The tax ID.
- Clave fiscal
- The credential every service hangs off.
- Monotributo
- The unified category regime.
- Recategorización
- The twice-yearly band adjustment you must do yourself.
- Ingresos brutos
- The provincial turnover tax layer.
- Obra social
- The health coverage chosen inside monotributo.
- SAS
- The fast online company for the general regime.
The traps
- Skipping recategorisation after a good semester.
- Forgetting the provincial layer entirely.
- Planning on last quarter’s peso amounts.
- Card spending far above declared category revenue - the system cross-checks.
Where to check this yourself
- ARCA - monotributoCategories and enrolment.
- ARCACUIT, clave fiscal, e-invoicing.
This is a map, not legal or tax advice - and an honest one about how it was drawn: the Germany guide was written by a person who walked the route; most other countries were drafted with AI against the official sources and have not yet been walked by someone who did it. Laws change. Every guide carries the date it was last checked and the sources to check it yourself - and if you have been through one of these routes, your corrections are exactly what this handbook wants.