Through Resolution No. 6/2018 published in the Official Gazette this week, and with the aim of boosting the registration of foreign business companies, the IGJ has introduced significant simplifications for the initial registration of foreign companies under Sections 118 (branches of foreign companies) and 123 (foreign shareholders of domestic companies) of the General Companies Law, as well as regarding their yearly reporting obligations towards that agency.
The simplifications will also apply to the filings that are in progress as of August 30, 2018.
The prior regulation imposed an unnecessary burden to foreign investors, and caused many foreign companies to register themselves at other Argentine jurisdictions demanding lesser requirements. Among the amendments, we must point-out:
- Elimination of the need to submit together with registration applications, evidence on assets and activities showing significant activity abroad Argentina;
- Elimination of the requirement of disclosure of the partners of the foreign company at the time of submitting the registration application;
- Introduction of the possibility of applying for registration of companies from countries with special tax regimes or considered non-cooperative on matters of fiscal transparency. In this case it will be necessary to submit documents evidencing significant activity abroad Argentina; and
- elimination of the so-called "Annual Reporting Obligations", by virtue of which foreign companies had to annually revalidate their registration by submitting information related to their partners/shareholders, UBOs and foreign assets.
This healthy amendment of the regulation is expected to result in a substantial increase of applications for registration of foreign companies at the IGJ.
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