Argentina’s tax authority, Federal Public Revenue Administration (AFIP), in a release, announced the enactment of the Public Registry of Final Beneficiaries under General Resolution No. 5529/2024 on 19 July 2024. The provisions of the Act are in force from their publication in the Official Gazette on the same day.
This Act is classified as a decisive instrument by AFIP to combat activities related to money laundering and terrorist financing, in accordance with the guidelines and recommendations issued by various international organizations.
The Registry will gather the information included in the current information regimes for financial and non-financial trusts established in the country or abroad, as well as the annual information regime for the registration of operations and the updating of corporate authorities.
The AFIP will be the enforcement authority and will centralize in the Registry adequate, precise, and updated information referring to those natural persons who have the character of final beneficiaries. Said information will be available to public organizations for the natural persons who appear as final beneficiaries.
For the purposes of the formation of the Registry, natural persons who hold at least 10% of participation or voting rights in a company or entity are considered final beneficiaries. This 10% threshold shall not apply in the case of entities incorporated, domiciled, established, or located abroad that do not make a public offering of their securities.
The Public Registry will include the information from the existing regimes of General Resolutions Nos. 3312 and 4697, along with their respective amendments, supplements, and any future replacements or implementations. Additionally, it will include details from agreements for information exchange established with other public entities.
The following entities may access the information in the registry:
- The Public Prosecutor’s Office (MPF), the Judiciary (PJ) and the Financial Information Unit (UIF);
- The Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), the National Securities Commission (CNV), the National Insurance Superintendency (SSN), and the National Institute of Associativism and Social Economy (INAES);
- The Public Registries and the representative bodies for the supervision and control of legal entities, and,
- The remaining natural and/or legal persons will have access to their information as final beneficiary or to that of their final beneficiaries, respectively.
