Plan contractor hiring in Argentina

Engage an Argentina-resident contractor through a written services contract with defined deliverables, genuine freedom over execution, and payment against a Factura E for services used abroad. The contractor can operate as a monotributista when eligible or as an autónomo under the general regime. The decisive engagement issue is actual independence: Argentine employment law can apply to work performed in Argentina even when the buyer signs abroad and has no local entity. Tax registration, invoices, and contract labels support the record, while daily direction, organizational integration, attendance control, and discipline can establish dependence.

Sources: Employment Contract Law, current consolidated text, Civil and Commercial Code, ARCA guidance on service exports

If the line is crossed

If the arrangement is employment in substance, the Employment Contract Law can govern work performed in Argentina despite a foreign signing location or the buyer's lack of a local entity. The relationship may have to be recognized and registered as employment, and missing employer records can create evidentiary consequences. The worker may claim unpaid employment entitlements, termination amounts, notice or pay in lieu, and ordinary seniority-based severance where the statutory conditions are met. The foreign payer should obtain Argentina-specific advice on registration, contribution, procedure, and enforcement because the cited rules do not provide a separate no-entity compliance mechanism.

Sources: Employment Contract Law, current consolidated text, Official Gazette publication of Law 27,802

Factura E

Class E export invoice

The Factura E is the contractor's electronic tax invoice for an export of services. It documents a service performed in Argentina whose immediate economic use or first disposition is abroad. The foreign customer should receive and retain it with the contract, delivery evidence, and payment record. Its class, export point-of-sale number, authorization code, customer identification, currency, service detail, and total connect the commercial charge to the contractor's Argentine tax record. Issuing this document does not settle the employment-classification question.

Issued by: The Argentina-resident contractor issues it electronically through an export point of sale and gives it to the foreign customer.

Timing: For services, issue it when performance is completed or when full or partial payment is received earlier. Invoice continuous services by the end of each calendar month, and deliver the document within 10 calendar days after issuance.

Sources: ARCA General Resolution 4401, ARCA General Resolution 5866, Value Added Tax Law, current text

Nota de crédito E o Nota de débito E

Class E export credit or debit note

A Nota de crédito E or Nota de débito E adjusts an earlier class E export invoice when the price, scope, cancellation, or other documented amount changes. The adjustment should identify and remain linked to the original export document so the customer's payable record and the contractor's electronic record reconcile. Use the credit form to reduce the earlier charge and the debit form to increase it. A revised commercial memo alone does not replace the corresponding class E tax document where an invoiced export amount requires correction.

Issued by: The contractor that issued the original class E invoice issues the linked class E adjustment to the foreign customer.

Timing: Issue the adjustment when the underlying correction is established, with a link to the original authorized export document and consistent currency and customer details.

Sources: ARCA General Resolution 4401

Accept a class E electronic invoice from an Argentina-resident contractor when the service is performed independently in Argentina and its immediate economic use or first disposition is abroad. That export condition supports value-added tax export treatment; the customer's foreign address alone does not establish it. For services, the current timing point is completion or earlier full or partial receipt, with continuous services invoiced at month end. The payer should match the document to the contract, acceptance evidence, service period, and payment reference, and should return incomplete customer, currency, authorization, or destination data for correction.

Sources: Value Added Tax Law, current text, ARCA General Resolution 4401, ARCA General Resolution 5866

What an invoice has to show

• Class E identification, export point-of-sale number, sequential number, issue date, and authorization code with expiry

  These fields establish that the document belongs to the contractor's authorized export series and was accepted by ARCA. The payer should retain the complete document rather than recording only a commercial invoice number. A missing class, series, sequence, or authorization detail prevents reliable matching to the official electronic record and should be corrected by the contractor before the payable is finalized.

  Sources: ARCA General Resolution 4401, ARCA General Resolution 1415

• Exporter's legal name, address, CUIT, and tax status

  These fields identify the Argentina-resident supplier and the tax registration used for the export. The payer should match the legal name and CUIT to the contract, onboarding record, and payment beneficiary. If the contractor changes regime or legal details, the new invoice should reflect the current registration. A trade name by itself is insufficient because it does not identify the individual responsible for the class E document.

  Sources: ARCA General Resolution 1415

• Foreign customer's name, address, and foreign tax identifier or country-specific identifier

  These fields identify the overseas recipient of the exported service. The contractor should use the customer's legal contracting name and foreign address and enter the applicable foreign tax identifier or the identifier ARCA assigns for the destination country. The payer should return an invoice that names an affiliate or address inconsistent with the agreement, because a mismatch weakens the link between the export document, the recipient abroad, and the payment record.

  Sources: ARCA authorization for service export invoices, ARCA General Resolution 1415

• Service description, service dates, amounts, total, currency, exchange rate, destination country, operation code, payment date, and export legend

  These transaction fields explain what was exported, when it was supplied, how the price was calculated, and where the service was used. A foreign-currency invoice must include the applicable exchange-rate data for Argentine fiscal reporting. The destination, operation code, and payment-date field support export and currency-control processing. The class E document should also carry the required export legend. The payer should reconcile these details to the contract, acceptance record, and actual receipt date before booking payment.

  Sources: ARCA authorization for service export invoices, ARCA General Resolution 4401, ARCA General Resolution 1415

Pay the contractor against the class E invoice on the date fixed in the services contract, using the invoiced currency and a payment reference that can be reconciled to the document. Argentina does not supply a universal 15-day or 30-day buyer term for this scenario. If Argentine law governs, the agreed fixed maturity controls when payment is due. The payer should confirm the contractor's correct local receiving account before release because the contractor's ability to use the current foreign-currency exception depends on timely local entry and credit to an eligible own account.

Sources: Civil and Commercial Code, Central Bank Communication A8137, Central Bank Communication A8330

When invoices are settled

Set the settlement window expressly in the contract because no universal statutory or officially published customary term was established for this foreign-customer transaction. If Argentine law governs, a payment obligation is due on the agreed date, and delay at a fixed maturity generally begins automatically without a separate demand. The contract should state the invoice trigger, acceptance period, due date, treatment of a disputed amount, and applicable interest. The contractor's separate 20-business-day currency-control clock runs from receipt, perception, or credit of export proceeds; it does not create the customer's invoice-payment term.

Sources: Civil and Commercial Code, Central Bank Communication A8137

The currency on the invoice

Invoice in Argentine pesos or an agreed foreign currency because class E rules permit either format. If Argentine law governs the contract, state the payment currency and discharge terms clearly, since the Civil and Commercial Code addresses obligations expressed in currency. For Argentine fiscal recording, a foreign-currency export invoice uses the Banco de la Nación Argentina selling rate from the prior business day under the current rule. That conversion is a tax-document calculation and does not rewrite the contract currency. Keep the stated rate consistent across the invoice and any class E adjustment.

Sources: ARCA General Resolution 4401, Civil and Commercial Code

Local currency rules

The contractor must cause service-export proceeds to enter the local foreign-exchange framework within 20 business days after receipt, perception, or credit abroad. Under the current individual-exporter exception, an eligible human exporter may keep the proceeds in foreign currency without an amount cap when they are timely entered and credited to the contractor's own local foreign-currency account. The exception removes conversion for qualifying proceeds; it does not remove the entry requirement. The payer has no direct filing identified under these rules, yet should use the invoice reference, pay the contractor's verified own account, and provide receipt information promptly so the contractor can document the deadline.

Sources: Central Bank foreign-exchange rules, ordered text, Central Bank Communication A8137, Central Bank Communication A8330, Central Bank Communication A8417

Treating tax registration and invoices as a classification shield

The mistake is accepting Monotributo enrollment, a services contract, and class E invoices as conclusive proof of independent status. Current article 23 limits the presumption for arrangements that are substantively nondependent and have the required documentary and payment record. Daily conduct still controls the risk. Preserve contractor freedom over means and schedule, avoid employee-style discipline or attendance controls, and test changes in the working model against the dependence factors rather than relying on onboarding documents alone.

Sources: Employment Contract Law, current consolidated text, Official Gazette publication of Law 27,802

Assuming a foreign customer automatically makes the service an export

The mistake is treating the customer's overseas address as sufficient for value-added tax export treatment. The service must be performed in Argentina independently and have immediate economic use or first disposition abroad. Record the deliverable, recipient, place of use, acceptance, and destination consistently in the contract and class E invoice. If the benefit is actually used in Argentina, the export premise can fail even though the invoice is addressed to a foreign company.

Sources: Value Added Tax Law, current text, ARCA guidance on service exports

Using an obsolete foreign-currency cap or the wrong deadline trigger

The mistake is designing payment around an older annual cap or counting the 20-business-day period from the invoice date. The current individual-exporter exception has no amount cap and now extends across service concepts, while the entry deadline runs from receipt, perception, or credit of the proceeds. Confirm the contractor's eligible own local foreign-currency account before payment, preserve the actual receipt date, and keep the payment reference aligned with the class E invoice so the contractor can support timely entry.

Sources: Central Bank Communication A8137, Central Bank Communication A8330, Central Bank Communication A8417