Argentina has a distinctive feature that sets it apart from most countries: capital gains from selling shares listed on BYMA (the Argentine stock exchange) are completely exempt from Impuesto a las Ganancias for individuals. The same applies to interest and gains on national sovereign bonds.
Historical double exemption: Argentine shares on BYMA and national government bonds. Neither the capital gain nor the interest they generate would be taxable for resident individuals. This exemption aims to encourage the local capital market and sovereign debt financing.
Instruments exempt from Ganancias for individual investors:
- Shares listed on BYMA (Merval panel, Argentine equity market)
- National sovereign bonds in any currency (AL30, GD30, LECAP, LECER, Bonares, Globales…)
- Argentine provincial and municipal bonds
- Interest on savings accounts at Argentine banks
This exemption does NOT apply to cryptocurrencies. CEDEARs, although they represent foreign shares, also have their capital gains exempt if they are traded on markets authorised by the CNV. What is taxable are dividends from the foreign underlying, which would be subject to the general progressive scale.
You buy shares in an Argentine company on BYMA for $100.000 and sell them for $200.000: the $100.000 gain would be exempt. If you buy a CEDEAR of a US company for US$ 1.000 and sell it for US$ 1.500, the capital gain would also be exempt. You would be taxed if you receive dividends from the underlying: those would go to the progressive scale.