We remind you that on 17/10/2022 a new system for monitoring imports of goods and services will be implemented jointly by the Central Bank of the Argentine Republic (BCRA), AFIP/Customs and the Ministry of Foreign Trade.
The Argentine Republic Import System (SIRA) is an instrument that facilitates the exchange of information with external organizations involved in the nationalization of goods.
Through this system, AFIP makes available to the agencies involved the information provided by the affected customs users, in order to obtain in advance the necessary information to generate predictability and traceability of the import operations of goods.
Importers registered in special customs registries who import consumer goods are affected.
SIRA Operations
The registration of the SIRA declaration will be carried out in the MARIA Information System (SIM) in the Declaration Module and is the responsibility of the declarant.
The SIRA Declaration can be partially allocated, that is, its balances can be used in different import clearances; however, an import clearance for consumption may not affect more than one SIRA declaration.
The SIRA declaration will be in a position to be affected for import for consumption, from the moment that all the Organizations that have adhered to the regime have approved it, implying that the SIRA declaration status changes to EXIT, for which a process will be run every hour that will update the statuses.
The importer will have the possibility of registering the SIRA declaration, requesting an urgent procedure, provided that the reasons involved are among those defined by the MARIA Information System (SIM).
The participating organizations may generate Observations within the 60-day period for their intervention. The status of the SIRA declaration can be consulted on the AFIP website in My Customs Operations (MOA).
If you submit comments, you will be able to access information related to the circumstances that motivated them and the Agency before which you must regularize them.
SIRASE: payments for services abroad
The Argentine Republic Import System and Payments for Services Abroad (SIRASE) is a tool designed to analyze tax compliance and the financial economic capacity of taxpayers who make a payment abroad for contracted services.
SIRASE will be applicable to natural persons, undivided estates and legal persons, regardless of the form they adopt, who must make payments abroad on their own behalf or on behalf of third parties or act as payers, to settle their own or third-party obligations.
SIRA/SIRASE payments in yuan
After almost 7 months of implementing these new payment regimes for goods and services abroad, it has been demonstrated that they have been tools to delay and postpone the outflow of foreign currency beyond the good intentions of organizing payments by giving them predictability and traceability.
There are countless complaints from importers because they are not approved by the SIRA to import goods. And, in the same way, importers of services have been waiting for months for the approval of the SIRASE.
The loss of BCRA reserves caused by multiple factors such as the pandemic, the war, the drought, and above all by the exchange rate gap close to 100% has caused SIRA / SIRASE approvals to stop.
It is public and notorious that maintaining a gap of that magnitude of almost 100% encourages importing everything possible at $220 and discourages the export of goods and services.
One point to highlight is the program called Dólar Soja III at $300, which in this last stage has not had the same result as in the two previous versions of 2022, in which almost USD 11.500 billion were received in advances on exports and pre-financing of exports.
Those Soybean Dollar I and II currencies that were collected in advance last year now also affect current foreign exchange earnings, and are further aggravated by the meager export settlements in the exchange market due to the drought, which has reduced the grain harvest by less than half of previous years.
Given this dramatic scenario of foreign currency shortages, the BCRA has signed an agreement with the Bank of the People's Republic of China for the bilateral exchange of foreign currency, starting on April 25, 2023.
This agreement implies that of the current currency swap between both countries, which totals USD 18.000 billion, USD 5.000 billion will be used to make payments for imports of goods and services with Chinese YUAN.
This means that for payments for imports of goods and services made in Yuan, the Chinese currency swap will be used and will not involve the use of dollar reserves.
part of the BCRA.
It is planned to activate around USD 1.000 billion per month from the Chinese swap to cover the payment of imports. It is important to bear in mind that Argentina imports USD 17.500 billion from China and exports around USD 9000 billion, which results in a trade deficit with the Asian giant of approximately USD 8.500 billion.
Any type of imported goods and services can be paid for in Yuan, regardless of the origin of the goods or whether the exporter is exclusively Chinese.
This means that the Yuan is beginning to circulate as a common currency in the world market and beyond the rescue effect it has today for Argentine imports, this currency is here to stay and become one more currency like dollars, euros, yen, pounds, etc.
This implies that China, beyond being an economic and military power, is already beginning to become a financial power.
Argentine banks will be able to pay for any import as long as the SIRA is in YUANES or if they are in another currency they have the advantage of ACCESS YUAN MLC, which gives them scope to operate in this currency.
April SIRAs in YUANS have been approved very quickly compared to those charged in other currencies which have not been approved for a long time.
It is worth noting that payment terms remain in Yuan as in other currencies, that is, 60, 90 and 180 days depending on the company.
The same is true for SIRASE service payments charged in Yuan: they have been approved more quickly than those charged in other currencies.
Payment can be made in Yuan regardless of whether the invoice is in dollars, euros or another currency, applying the conversion according to the exchange rate in effect at the time of access to the exchange market.
The transfer will be issued in Yuan and the exporter will receive a payment order in Yuan at his commercial bank, so it is important to clarify with the foreign exporter that he will receive Yuan.
Local Argentine banks that process payments in Yuan from their clients must request the currency from CAM1 of SIOPEL at BCRA, delivering pesos and receiving the Yuan in the foreign correspondent account within 48 hours, that is, T+2. This is the only way in which the Chinese swap is activated.
Advantage Code ACCESS MLC YUAN
How should the Argentine importer proceed to ensure that the SIRA is payable in Yuan? AFIP/Customs has implemented the advantage code Access MLC Yuan that enables the use of YUAN as the currency to be purchased in cases where the FOB value has been declared in a different currency in the SIRA System and the associated shipments to the market.
SIRA approved without MLC Yuan Access Advantage declared: In cases where the operator has an approved SIRA without the declared advantage and wishes to cancel the operation by transferring Yuan as currency, he/she must request, through the SITA multi-electronic customs note (Muela) procedure, Presentation before the Department of Customs Collection Programs and Standards, the inclusion of the advantage in treatment in the registered SIRA, and then once included, he/she may convert the clearance to the import port by invoking the advantage code on all declared items.
We can conclude that these Yuan payments in SIRA and SIRASE, today, represent a rescue for the exhausted liquid reserves of the BCRA, with the currency of the Asian giant that came to stay over time.
On the other hand, once the election year is over and the new authorities are defined, measures must be taken to reduce the extremely high inflation, reduce the fiscal deficit, prevent the issuance of unsupported money and unify the exchange rate by simplifying the exchange regulations, but maintaining the necessary controls to re-accumulate reserves in the BCRA.
He is a certified public accountant from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). He has a postgraduate degree in Finance from the Universidad Argentina de Empresas (UADE). Currently, he is Head of the Comex Technical Area at Banco Santander Argentina, since 1987. He also serves as Secretary of the Comex Commission at the Association of Argentine Banks (ABA), since 2011. He has been married for 34 years to Adriana Barsanti, and has three children aged 33, 31 and 26, all professionals.
