As reported by the AFIP (Federal Administration of Public Revenues), the agency may seize money from the digital accounts of Argentines who have delinquent debts. The initiative takes effect this month, which is when the embargo process that had been suspended for the last 19 months to cushion the economic difficulties caused by the pandemic is reactivated.
Although the AFIP He did not specify what he means by “embargoes on digital accounts”, it would be believed that he has left the field open to apply the initiative on all types of virtual platforms. This could include cryptocurrencies, which has generated uncertainty in the country.
Thus, the digital accounts are added to the list of assets on which the AFIP can request money seizures from the justice to collect the debts registered by the Argentines. Until now, the entity could only seize bank accounts, credits and movable or immovable property, among others.
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As reported by different media, the AFIP has already identified 9,800 taxpayers who owe 24 million pesos in debt, and have virtual wallets. For this reason, they warn that the agency will ask the justice system to place embargoes on their digital accounts.
LThe strategy makes sense considering the growing use of non-bank digital financial applications in Argentina. Some of them have in fact become commonplace among Argentines to make payments, transfer money, apply for loans, have a savings account and other financial benefits outside the banking system.
Proof of this is the top 10 most downloaded financial apps on the Google Play Store in Argentina. The list shows that the second most downloaded is MercadoPago, a non-bank financial platform, as well as Lemon Cash, a cryptocurrency exchange. In addition, in seventh and ninth place are two virtual “banks”, Ualá and Brubank.
It is understood that the new capacity of the AFIP to seize balances in digital accounts weighs mainly on accounts that have CVU (Uniform Virtual Code), such as MercadoPago, Ualá and Brubank. This is because the agency seizes the most liquid assets first, that is, money in pesos.
Cryptocurrency exchanges have not had a CVU since last November, the month in which, by disposition of the Central Bank, those who had it had to take it off. Although, according to Sebastián Domínguez of SDC Tax Advisors, the new seizure strategy in digital accounts could also apply to holdings in cryptocurrencies.
The AFIP could only seize your cryptocurrencies if it knows that you have them
The AFIP has access to the declared financial information of all Argentines. That is, of their goods, properties and their money, as long as they are registered in the formal system. That is why, to determine which assets to request a lien on in the event that someone has a delinquent debt, proceed to investigate this information.
Currently, financial entities in Argentina, including non-banks and cryptocurrency platforms, are under the fiscal control of the AFIP.. That is, they have the obligation to report financial information of their users.
Although, for example, the Lemon Cash cryptocurrency platform moved part of its company to El Salvador two months ago, with which it could avoid this national regulation.
In addition, in the global market there are platforms that allow you to have bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without registering your identity, in such a way that it is possible to keep money movements private. This is something that the AFIP could not access to carry out embargoes, although it could do so on platforms that govern under the laws of Argentina.