The issue is part of the legislative and executive agenda, they say from the Argentine Fintech Chamber.
The need to exempt the tax becomes relevant with the expected entry of banks into the market.
As reported by the Argentine Fintech Chamber in communication with CriptoNoticias, tax changes are possible for cryptocurrency exchanges. The objective is to equalize the tax conditions of these companies, called virtual asset service platforms (PSAV), in the financial sector.
The Chamber maintains a permanent dialogue with the national government and with the technical organizations involved, both with the Ministry of Economy and with ARCA. Through this link, they were introduced to how PSAVs operate and that were affected by a tax scheme that does not fit the role they play in the digital financial system.
Precisely, they refer to Decree 796 issued in 2021. This expressly excludes PSAVs from the exemption regime for the Debits and Credits (IDC) tax that does reach banks, Settlement and Clearing Agents (ALyC), payment service providers (PSP) and other regulated actors, thus generating fiscal inequality.
“In these meetings there was a technical understanding of the situation and the existence of this asymmetry,” said the Argentine Fintech Chamber. In them, considerations linked to the national budget and the peso intervened which has a tax that was born as a transitional tax in 2001, but remains in force more than two decades later.
In addition, the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, was publicly consulted about the application of the tax to PSAVs. This during his participation a month ago, on November 11, in the Argentina Fintech Forum event.
In his response, Menem indicated that the issue is being analyzed and that there is the intention to advance a solution, with the expectation that There may be news before the end of 2025.
For us, it is important that the problem has been recognized in a public and specialized sphere, because it confirms that it is part of the legislative and executive agenda.
Argentine Fintech Chamber.
How does this tax work on cryptocurrency exchanges?
The Tax on Debits and Credits It is a tribute to the movements in bank accounts that the owner must pay. This tax, also known as the “check tax,” is not applied to purchases or sales of cryptocurrencies made by users on an exchange. However, it has to do with it, as explained later.
Most of the financial system—banks, PSP, acquirers and ALyC—is exempt from this tax because it operates with “collection accounts.” These are bank accounts where the money that enters and leaves belongs to the users and does not constitute their own income. “This figure has both tax and operational logic,” says the Argentine Fintech Chamber.
PSAVs, on the other hand, must pay this tax. Therefore, when a user deposits pesos in a cryptocurrency exchange and then withdraws them, even if they have not carried out any operation, PSAV pays the tax twice: upon entry and exit. In practice, a movement that does not represent income or taxable capacity is taxed.
The tax encourages the use of foreign cryptocurrency exchanges
Although users of a cryptocurrency exchange do not have to pay the Debit and Credit Tax, this affects them indirectly.
“For exchanges, the impact is direct: it increases operating costs, leaves them at a disadvantage compared to actors that perform similar functions, but are exempt, and makes the development and offering of new services in the country difficult,” highlights the Chamber.
Therefore, it indicates that, for users, this makes it more expensive to move pesos to and from regulated platforms in Argentina. In his words, “it encourages operating outside the formal system or on foreign platforms and limits the integration between traditional payments, digital services and blockchain technology.”
“All this occurs in a country where immediate transfers and digital payments are already part of everyday use, which makes the need to correct this distortion even more evident,” he adds.
The position is clear: PSAVs should have the same treatment as the rest of the actors that manage third-party money; It is not appropriate to charge a tax for movements that do not constitute income; and it is necessary to recover competitive neutrality, where equivalent activities receive equivalent tax treatment.
Argentine Fintech Chamber
According to your vision, It is vital to correct this situation because it favors formalization, improves competition and strengthens a sector that generates development, employment and innovation in the country.
The possibility of exempting taxes grows with the entry of banks into the market
From Lemon, which along with other cryptocurrency exchanges make up the Chamber, told CriptoNoticias that the factors that led to the application of that tax for PSAV today have absolutely changed:
“The sector is regulated, adoption grows year after year and it is an ecosystem that includes sectors that often cannot acquire traditional banking and financial products, due to the access barriers that exist in these areas.”
Therefore, Lemon concludes that “this constitutes a distorting and arbitrary treatment, which should be corrected as soon as possible.” Furthermore, for the company, the need to exempt the tax becomes more relevant now that, according to close sources, the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA) is evaluating the possibility of allowing banks to offer cryptocurrencies.
According to relatives, The approval for banks in Argentina to provide services with cryptocurrencies could be completed in April 2026. Although this initiative is independent of the issue of the check tax, Lemon believes that both changes should advance together to ensure equitable conditions within the financial system.