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How to buy a property through the new money laundering scheme - Infobae
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Cómo comprar una propiedad a través del nuevo blanqueo de capitales
La medida que impulsa el Gobierno es vista por el sector inmobiliario como una oportunidad clave para inyectar fondos frescos y reactivar el mercado de la construcción y la venta de propiedades. Cómo adherir al régimen
www.infobae.com
September 04, 2024
By Jose Luis Cieri
Housing prices have stabilised after a five-year decline. Experts believe that they are now at affordable levels. It is a good time to buy property before prices eventually rise again (Illustrative Image Infobae)
Since the Government announced the operations authorized by the Ministry of Economy for money laundering , a significant increase in enquiries within the real estate market has been observed. This measure, which allows the investment of laundered money in real estate projects, promises to revitalize the housing sector together with the reintroduction of mortgage loans.
The National Directorate of Economic Taxes detailed in relation to the Asset Regularization Regime that cash laundering has two instances:
- If you launder up to USD 100,000, you don't pay taxes
- If more than USD 100,000 is laundered, 5% of the total amount laundered must be paid, unless it is used for the purpose provided for in the law and regulations.
If the regularized cash remains in the financial system until December 31, 2025, there will be no fines and no cap will be established. Additionally, the Ministry of the Economy published the permitted destinations for the regularized funds. These destinations include investment in new real estate projects that have less than 50% progress as of July 8, 2024 .
However, the sector also reported that money laundering also allows the purchase of used homes, a highly anticipated measure in the real estate industry in general.
Sebastián Domínguez , CEO of SDC Asesores Tributarios, explained to Infobae : “This money laundering, under certain conditions, can allow both the purchase of used properties and the investment in properties under development or construction. According to details provided by real estate agencies and developers, since the announcement, there has been a constant flow of inquiries about how to proceed with such purchases through the disclosure of undeclared funds.”
Real estate agencies are already reporting a 20% increase in enquiries since the beginning of August from those interested in purchasing homes through money laundering.
Keys and steps
When laundering cash, regardless of whether it exceeds USD 100,000 or not, it must be deposited in a Special Asset Regularization Account (CERA).In the case of money laundering of up to USD 100,000 in cash, a used or new property can be purchased before September 30 without paying tax and it can be classified as an onerous transaction provided for in the regulations. “That is, it is not necessary to wait for the first stage to end,” added Domínguez.
"There is a lot of hope in the sector, in addition to the mortgage loans," said the Argentine Real Estate Chamber (Illustrative Image Infobae)
There are limitations for laundering amounts greater than USD 100,000. Domínguez said: “If you want to buy a used property and avoid paying the tax, you must find a seller who agrees to transfer the funds to a CERA account of the latter. If the money goes from a CERA account to another CERA account, there will be no 5% withholding.”
But the seller must keep these funds in the CERA account or use them for the purposes indicated by law to avoid the tax. Otherwise, if they want to withdraw them from the account, the Bank will apply a 5% withholding, explained Dominguez.
Anyone who launders more than USD 100,000 in cash will also be able to withdraw the money starting October 1 to buy a used property without transferring the funds to a CERA account, but there they will be subject to a 5 percent withholding tax.
Once the money is in a CERA, the holder can use it for various purposes without paying taxes, in accordance with current regulations. Some options include transferring it to a brokerage account to invest in government securities, negotiable obligations, mutual funds or other instruments.
This would allow the laundered money to be re-entered into the economic circuit without paying taxes, generating activity, at least initially. Taxes would only be paid if the CERA holder decides to withdraw the money from the account.
Summary
Those who have up to USD 100,000 in cash and have not declared it can launder it without paying taxes or suffering penalties.For larger amounts, you will have to pay 5% of the total deposited if you are not given the destinations to avoid the tax.
Those who keep the laundered money in the CERA account or use it for investments authorized until 31/12/2025, such as real estate projects, will be able to launder without a limit or taxes.
Until that date, in the case of those who launder up to USD 100,000, it is possible to transfer these funds to another account before September 30 to subsequently acquire a property. The AFIP will be able to verify that the property has been purchased, but it is not necessary to maintain ownership until the end of 2025, given that there is no stipulated time limit for these cases. However, if the laundered amount exceeds USD 100,000 and is destined for a real estate project, then the investor must maintain said investment until the end of 2025. If this is not fulfilled, and if the funds are used for other purposes, the benefit of laundering could be revoked by the AFIP.
Domínguez added that if a taxpayer laundered up to USD 100,000 and transfers them from the CERA to another joint account in his/her ownership before 9/30/2024, he/she must justify under affidavit that they will be used for documented onerous operations and must complete them by that date. The Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP) will be able to control whether the declared destination was given and if it was not done, it may consider the benefits of the laundering to have lapse.
Optimism
In the segment they expect the Whitewashing to activate the purchase of units in the pit as used and brand new. In this last case it is vital that the houses have papers in order and that the seller is willing to receive the money through a CERA account.Iván Ginevra , president of the Argentine Real Estate Chamber, expressed his optimism regarding these measures: “There is a lot of hope in the sector, in addition to the mortgage loans.”
The money laundering scheme also contemplates the possibility of using undeclared funds to purchase used homes (Illustrative Image Infobae)
Ginevra suggested that “the money should be deposited in a CERA account and then used in the desired ways according to the regulations, which allows avoiding paying taxes, for example, by transferring it to a special client account and from there to permitted projects.”
The price of a property will be determined by three value parameters: acquisition, fiscal and minimum, whichever is higher. This is relevant due to the fluctuation of the exchange rate and its impact on the valuation of properties.
The laundered funds that remain in the CERA accounts until December 2025 will be exempt from personal property taxes, “which represents an additional incentive for taxpayers who wish to regularize their tax situation without incurring additional costs,” Ginevra concluded.
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