Economy Minister Luis Caputo has declared that the government intends to present a revised fiscal innocence bill to Congress, aiming to address concerns highlighted by accountants and tax experts regarding the initial proposal that received approval in December. The bill, referred to as Fiscal Innocence II, is scheduled for submission on Thursday. During a conference on Wednesday, Caputo, alongside Legal and Technical Secretary of the Presidency María Ibarzabal Murphy, articulated that the modifications were formulated in collaboration with tax specialists. The modifications were predicated on the existing law, which reformed the criminal tax code and instituted a simplified income tax payment regime.
The purpose of the amendments, the minister added, is to encourage citizens to bring their stashed savings into the formal economy, a problem that has plagued the Argentine economy for decades. Despite the law already being in force and U.S. dollar deposits in the banking system reaching record levels, the minister observed that there remain “more than four times as many dollars outside the financial system” compared to those within it. According to the Argentine Central Bank, there are approximately US$170 billion outside the system, compared to a stock of dollar deposits hovering around US$40 billion. “Keeping dollars under the mattress is a bad decision,” Caputo said, arguing that, contrary to popular belief, idle dollars “also lose value.”
The minister stated that the “spirit of the law remains absolutely unchanged,” further noting that the proposed changes aim to guarantee that “regardless of which government is in office, citizens will be protected.” In December 2025, Congress enacted the Fiscal Innocence Law, which subsequently took effect in early February. The new law introduced modifications to the Argentine tax system by relaxing controls and increasing the threshold for the amount of money citizens can spend without needing to justify the source of the funds. Among other measures, the law permits taxpayers under the regime to introduce up to AR$100 million in savings into the formal financial system without incurring tax penalties, as long as they do not surpass an annual income of AR$1 billion or total assets of AR$10 billion.
Prior to that point, taxpayers faced allegations of tax evasion if they could not substantiate the source of any expenditure exceeding US$1,000, a threshold deemed antiquated by the government. The law, however, has drawn criticism from specialists concerning its limited enrolment. The new bill aims to mitigate the risk of taxpayers forfeiting the regime’s benefits should the national tax agency ARCA uncover discrepancies in their tax filings. Critics of the law have expressed apprehensions regarding its potential misuse for criminal activities, including tax evasion, money laundering, and drug trafficking, with a notable lack of intervention from the state.