Engaging a contractor in Argentina runs on registration and invoices. Freelancers register with the tax agency and invoice under the monotributo, a flat monthly payment that covers taxes and social security. They issue an export invoice for each payment, and since September 2025 an individual can keep the dollars they earn in a local dollar account. The 2026 labor reform also narrowed when a court presumes an employment contract. This guide covers the legal forms, reclassification, the contract and the currency rules. The payment side is on our Argentina payouts page. It is general information, not legal advice.
Monotributo or responsable inscripto
Monotributo. The simplified regime replaces VAT, income tax, pension contributions and health cover with one monthly payment (arca.gob.ar, checked 2026-09-28). Categories run from A to K by annual gross income. From 1 August 2026 category A is capped at ARS 12,009,410.45 with a monthly payment of ARS 49,527.18 for services, and category K at ARS 126,610,838.75 with ARS 1,614,446.04 (ARCA, checked 2026-09-28). At Banco Nación’s selling rate of ARS 1,545 on 28 September 2026, the top cap is about USD 81,900 (El Cronista, checked 2026-09-28). Monotributistas may export services within the top category’s limit and do not need to join the exporters’ register (arca.gob.ar, checked 2026-09-28). A contractor whose income passes the cap is excluded and cannot return for three full calendar years (ARCA, checked 2026-09-28).
Responsable inscripto. In the general regime the contractor pays income tax on a progressive scale from 5% to 35% (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-06-16) and registers for VAT at 21%. Exports are zero-rated, and input VAT on them can be credited or refunded (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-06-16). The invoice to a foreign client carries no VAT in either regime.
Some contractors bill through a company, usually an SAS or SRL. That changes the currency picture (see below) and the US tax form.
Reclassification risk after the 2026 labor reform
Law 27.802, promulgated and in force since 6 March 2026, rewrote article 23 of the Labor Contract Law. Services rendered in dependency still presume an employment contract unless the contrary is shown. The presumption no longer applies to contracts for works or professional services where the matching invoices are issued or payment goes through the banking system, and that carries over to social security (Ley 27.802, art. 13, checked 2026-09-28). The law also excludes Civil Code service contracts and independent workers from the Labor Contract Law’s scope (same law, art. 1).
Unions went to court. A labor judge suspended more than 80 articles on 30 March 2026; the labor appeals court restored them on 23 April 2026 (Infobae, checked 2026-09-28), and the constitutional challenge was sent to the federal administrative courts (Infobae, checked 2026-09-28).
In practice, a monotributista who invoices you and is paid by bank transfer no longer starts with the presumption on their side. The dependency test remains. A single client, a fixed monthly fee regardless of output, hours and tools set by you, and integration into your team are the facts a claimant would use to prove misclassification. If they succeed, the relationship falls under the Labor Contract Law: the aguinaldo, paid as 50% of the highest monthly salary each half-year (Law 20.744, art. 122, checked 2026-09-28), vacations, contributions and, on dismissal without cause, one month’s salary per year of service, on a salary base capped at three times the average pay under the applicable collective agreement (Ley 27.802, replacing art. 245).
What to put in the contract
- A written services agreement scoped to deliverables, with the fee, currency, receiving account and who bears transfer charges.
- A factura E for every payment. It supports the contractor’s tax filing and your records, and it is the kind of invoice the new article 23 refers to.
- IP assignment in writing. Under Law 11.723, software made by employees in the course of their duties belongs to the employer unless agreed otherwise; the rule covers dependents, not contractors (Law 11.723, art. 4(d), checked 2026-09-28). Article 53 says an assignment of a work must be registered with the national copyright register or it has no validity (same law). Assign the rights explicitly and ask local counsel whether to register.
- Independence markers: the contractor’s own equipment and schedule, and the right to work for other clients.
Currency rules on the contractor’s side
Payments to residents for services sold abroad must be brought into the FX market within 20 business days of receipt. An individual is exempt from converting them to pesos if they are credited to a foreign-currency account in their own name at a local bank, and the bank may not charge a commission for it. A company sells them for pesos, unless it is a knowledge-economy beneficiary meeting further conditions (BCRA, Exterior y Cambios 2.2, checked 2026-09-28). The USD 36,000 annual cap on the individual exemption was removed on 18 September 2025 (BCRA A 8330, checked 2026-09-28). Since April 2025 individuals can also buy dollars through their bank without prior central bank approval (BCRA A 8226, checked 2026-09-28), and on 28 September 2026 the official and informal rates were 0.9% apart (El Cronista, checked 2026-09-28).
Taxes and paperwork
The contractor’s side. Register with ARCA under a CUIT, join the monotributo or the general regime, enable an export point of sale and issue a factura E per payment, in foreign currency or in pesos at Banco Nación’s buying rate of the previous day (arca.gob.ar, checked 2026-09-28). Residents are taxed on worldwide income (PwC Tax Summaries, reviewed 2026-06-16).
The client’s side. Pay gross against the factura E; a foreign client withholds nothing. US payers collect a W-8BEN from an individual or a W-8BEN-E from an SAS or SRL and file no 1099. Argentina is not on the IRS list of treaty countries (irs.gov, checked 2026-09-28); the two countries have only a 2016 tax information exchange agreement (treasury.gov, checked 2026-09-28).
How to pay contractors in Argentina
The usual route is a USD wire to the contractor’s own dollar account at an Argentine bank. Payoneer lets contractors withdraw dollars or pesos to their bank (payoneer.com, published 2025-08-28), and Wise delivers pesos only, up to the equivalent of USD 18,000 per transfer, per calendar month (wise.com, checked 2026-09-28). Some contractors ask for USDT, which is widespread in Argentina but outside the central bank’s service-export rules. Rails, costs and platforms are compared on our Argentina payouts page.
Contractor of Record in Argentina
Since the 2026 reform, a monotributista who invoices and is paid through a bank has a stronger default position as an independent contractor, so a Contractor of Record here sells operations as much as risk transfer. It collects the factura E, keeps contracts consistent across a team and flags engagements that look like dependency before a claimant does. Where the role is a job, with your hours, your tools and core work, hire through an EOR instead. Compare providers in our COR rating.