Executive summary

On 30 September 2026, General Resolution (ARCA) 5903/26 (the Resolution) was published in the Official Gazette. The Resolution replaces General Resolution (AFIP) 4717/20, which regulated the Argentine transfer pricing rules.

The Resolution applies to fiscal years beginning on or after 1 October 2026. Accordingly, the first regular annual fiscal year covered by the new rules will be the fiscal year ending 30 September 2027. All provisions of General Resolution 4717/20 remain in force for prior fiscal years. (For background, see EY Global Tax Alert, Argentina updates transfer pricing compliance obligations, dated 18 December 2025.)

Key changes

The key changes under the Resolution are outlined below.

Transactions conducted on behalf of third parties

The rules do not apply to taxpayers that carry out imports or exports on behalf of third parties. Instead, the owner of the goods is responsible for reporting those transactions.

Transactions subject to analysis

All transactions recorded for accounting purposes must be assessed, even if they are not taken into account for income tax purposes in the relevant fiscal year. Only transactions shown to have no effect, either wholly or partially, on the determination of income tax in any fiscal period may be excluded.

Segmentation and consistency

New requirements are established concerning the segmentation of accounting information and its reconciliation with total accounting information. The requirement to justify year-on-year changes in methods, profitability indicators, comparable companies and other elements is also expanded.

Tested party

A foreign entity may be selected as the tested party in the following specific circumstances: (1) certain services received; (2) transactions subject to the international intermediary rule; (3) imports of goods with a value of less than 2% of total operating costs; and (4) exports of goods with a value of less than 2% of sales.

The foreign entity may be selected as the tested party if the following additional requirements are met: (1) the foreign entity's assets, risks and functions are less complex; (2) the resale price, cost-plus or transactional net-margin method applies; (3) reliable accounting information is available to determine the foreign entity's profitability attributable to the transaction under analysis; (4) comparable companies require fewer adjustments; and (5) the transaction does not involve the foreign entity's use of valuable or unique intangibles.

Foreign information

When a foreign entity is selected as the tested party, the Transfer Pricing Study must include the foreign entity's accounting information used in the comparability analysis, certified by an independent public accountant or external auditor. Argentina's Customs Collection and Control Agency (Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero, or ARCA) may require a certified translation if the information is in a foreign language.

Loss-making comparable companies

The scope of the restriction on the use of comparable companies with operating losses is broadened, including a definition of recurring losses.

Comparability adjustments

The criteria for the use of comparability adjustments, including limitations on these adjustments, are defined.

Deductibility of services received

To qualify as deductible under Section 23 of the Income Tax Law, intragroup services received must satisfy the new requirements, which broadly meet the requirements of General Resolution 4717/20.

Low-value-adding services

Low-value-adding services are defined as auxiliary services that concurrently: (1) perform a support function for the service recipient's core business; (2) are not part of the group's core business; (3) neither require the use of, nor lead to the creation of, unique and valuable intangible assets; and (4) do not involve the assumption or control of a significant or material risk by the service provider, or give rise to a significant risk for the service provider.

Taxpayers may also elect to treat such services as being provided between independent parties without performing a comparability analysis, provided that the profit margin, measured over the total operating costs and expenses related to the transaction, is (1) at least 5% when the service provider is a local entity or (2) no more than 5% when the service provider is a foreign related party.

To make this election, if the foreign entity is the tested party, the total amount of low-value-adding services received must not exceed 10% of the local entity's operating expenses.

If, instead, the local entity is the tested party, the following requirements must be met: (1) the total amount of low-value-adding services provided must not exceed 10% of the local entity's operating revenue; (2) the local entity must not report operating losses for the fiscal year; and (3) the local entity must not be undergoing a business restructuring process.

Transactions with international intermediaries

The Resolution introduces numerous changes to transactions conducted with international intermediaries, including changes to the definition of intermediary, the determination of the tested party, clarifications regarding the calculation of the transfer pricing adjustment, and changes to supporting documentation requirements.

Commodities with quoted prices

The Resolution introduces various rules for transactions involving commodities with quoted prices, including:

• Requirements for the acceptance of discounts
• The need to perform a specific analysis for export contracts in extractive industries
• A prohibition on using average prices for the tested party's transactions
• Specification of the free-on-board (FOB) price to be considered as the minimum export value for certain agricultural tariff classifications, based on the price on the sales closing date corresponding to the shipment period in which the goods are loaded
• For mining exports, a requirement to substantiate the correlation between product quality and the benchmark used, in line with the applicable customs documentation

Financial transactions

The analysis of financial capacity, risks and credit ratings is strengthened. Group credit ratings may be used in certain cases involving implicit support. The rules for cash pools, derivatives and implicit guarantees are also amended.

Intangible assets

The Resolution defines hard-to-value intangibles and introduces changes to the treatment of contributions to the value chain of an intangible asset.

Business restructurings

The Resolution introduces changes to the analysis of business restructurings, including by requiring that the amount of any transfer pricing adjustment arising from a business restructuring be reported separately from any other adjustment.

Simplified regime

The Resolution consolidates and amends provisions governing the simplified filing regime previously established by General Resolution 5010/21.

Filing deadlines

Forms 2668 and 4501 will be due on days two through six of the seventh month following fiscal year-end. Fiscal years beginning before 1 October 2026 remain subject to deadlines on days 23 through 27 of the sixth month following fiscal year-end. Master File deadlines remain unchanged, beginning on day 23 of the twelfth month following fiscal year-end.

Minimum filing thresholds

The minimum thresholds must be calculated by reference to transactions attributable to the fiscal period in which they accrue. Transactions carried out free of charge or without agreed consideration must also be included, based on an estimate of the market value that independent parties would have agreed to under similar circumstances.

Taxpayers that are not required to file a Transfer Pricing Study must still comply with all other obligations arising under the applicable regulations to demonstrate that their transactions are conducted on an arm's-length basis. In addition, the minimum thresholds for filing the various forms with ARCA are amended, as shown in the table below:

¹Thresholds are adjusted annually based on changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

² ARS is the abbreviation for Argentine peso.

Implications

MNE groups should assess the effect of the new rules on their transfer pricing policies, documentation and filing processes. Particular attention should be given to tested-party selection, segmented financial information, intragroup services, commodity transactions, intermediary transactions, financial arrangements and the revised filing thresholds and deadlines.