Applying for Savings Plans to Purchase Vehicles Not Subject to Stamp Tax

On July 2, 2024, in the case “Recurso de hecho deducido por la parte actora en la causa Volkswagen S.A. de ahorro para fines determinados c/ Provincia de Tierra del Fuego y otro s/ contencioso administrative,” the Argentine Supreme Court of Justice analyzed the validity of levying the stamp tax on applications to access savings plans to acquire vehicles.

In the case, the plaintiff filed a lawsuit before the Superior Court of Justice of the Province of Tierra del Fuego against the Tax Authority of Tierra del Fuego (AREF) and the Province, to revoke the resolution of the Ministry of Economy that confirmed the debt determination that established a debt regarding the stamp tax for applications for accession to saving plans, plus interest, fees, and fines. The plaintiff argued that accessing applications was not a self-sufficient instrument under the terms of the Federal Tax Distribution Law.

The Superior Court of Justice rejected all the plaintiff’s arguments. Regarding the substance, the Court held that the contract was executed when signing the application, which met the characteristics of instrumentality and self-sufficiency, and that the obligations of the parties are not subject to the subscription of another document.

The taxpayer filed a Federal Extraordinary Appeal which, when denied by the Superior Court, gave rise to the claim filed before the Argentine Supreme Court.

The Argentine Supreme Court unanimously referred to the opinion of the Attorney General. It emphasized that the Federal Tax Distribution Law establishes a series of obligations to which the provinces must be subject. It highlighted that, pursuant to article 9, paragraph b) of such law, the stamp tax must be levied on onerous acts, contracts, and transactions, on contracts for valuable consideration executed by correspondence, and on certain monetary transactions carried out by financial entities.

The Supreme Court emphasized that said law defines an instrument as “any deed, paper, or document from which the execution of acts, contracts, and operations (...) is derived in such a way that it has the external characteristics of a legal title by which the compliance of obligations can be demanded without the need of another document and regardless of the acts actually performed by the taxpayers.”

Thus, the Court ruled that applications for accession do not meet the requirements and characteristics the Federal Tax Distribution Law requires for here to be a taxable “instrument,” since the customers only require the taxpayer to include them in a group, and forming the group is subject to the admission of a certain number of applications, according to the plan. Further, the Court highlighted that whoever accesses the plan only through the application has no possibility of claiming, but it is required to prove other extremes.

The Court thus ruled that the claim of Tierra del Fuego to apply the stamp tax on the applications is in conflict with the obligation assumed through the Federal Tax Distribution Law, since it lacks the self-sufficiency required to demand compliance with the obligations in the contract without the need for an additional document and regardless of the acts actually carried out by the taxpayers. Therefore, it overturned the appealed ruling and ordered the Tierra del Fuego Superior Court of Justice to issue a new judgment in accordance with the provisions of the law.