Employer of Record (EOR) Argentina

An Employer of Record (EOR) in Argentina acts as the official employer for workers, often referred to as a Global Professional Employer Organization (Global PEO). This role encompasses a broad range of employment functions, ensuring full compliance with local labor laws and regulations, managing payroll, administering taxes, providing legally required benefits, and handling employment contracts.

With our Employer of Record (EOR) services, expanding your business into Argentina becomes easier and more efficient. Our solution eliminates the need for setting up a local entity, providing a seamless path to establish a legal presence in Argentina. We ensure full legal compliance, manage payroll, protect your intellectual property, and handle work permits, so you can focus on growing your business and building your workforce in Latin America.

Things you need to know before hiring in Argentina

Employment Contracts in Argentina

Argentine labor relations are governed by the Ley de Contrato de Trabajo (LCT), most recently and significantly amended by Law No. 27.802, the “Ley de Modernización Laboral,” enacted by Congress in February 2026, published on 6 March 2026, and regulated in mid-2026. This is the most consequential labor reform in Argentina in years, and it affects trial periods, registration, and severance calculations, among other areas.

Indefinite-Term and Fixed-Term Contracts

The indefinite-term contract is the default and standard form of employment in Argentina. A fixed-term contract (contrato a plazo fijo) is the exception and must be justified by the objective nature of the task or activity.

Working Hours

The standard legal working week in Argentina is 48 hours, structured as 8 hours per day (Ley 11544). This has not changed under the 2026 reform.

Notice of Termination (Preaviso)

Employees with up to 5 years of seniority are entitled to 1 month’s notice; employees with more than 5 years of seniority are entitled to 2 months’ notice. No notice is required during the trial period following the 2026 reform.

Severance Pay (Indemnización por Antigüedad)

The core severance formula was not changed by the 2026 reform: one month’s salary per year of service, or fraction of service greater than 3 months, based on the employee’s best normal monthly remuneration in the last year worked. The Supreme Court’s “Vizzoti” doctrine — that this base cannot be reduced by more than 33% relative to the employee’s actual best salary — has now been expressly written into the statute.

Law 27.802 also refined how the base is calculated: a pay concept only counts as “habitual” if earned in at least 6 months of the last calendar year, and the SAC and non-monthly extraordinary bonuses are now excluded from the calculation.

Other Termination Payments

In addition to severance, a dismissed employee is generally entitled to integración del mes de despido (pay for the remainder of the dismissal month) and payment for proportional accrued, unused vacation days.

Optional Severance Fund (Fondo de Cese Laboral)

Law 27.802 also authorizes, via collective bargaining agreement, an optional alternative to the traditional severance formula: an ongoing employer-funded severance fund, modeled on the construction industry’s existing regime, from which the accumulated balance is paid to the employee on termination for any reason. Adoption of this system is optional, not automatic.

Employees vs Independent Contractors

Argentina recognizes independent contractor arrangements, typically structured through the simplified “monotributo” tax regime (monotributista) or as a registered self-employed professional (autónomo). However, Argentine courts apply the doctrine of “primacía de la realidad” (primacy of reality) — actual working conditions such as subordination, exclusivity, fixed schedules, and integration into the business determine employment status, regardless of how the relationship is invoiced.

Misclassifying an employee as a monotributista to avoid social security contributions and severance obligations (“falso monotributista”) is treated as labor fraud and carries a meaningful compliance risk, particularly on prolonged or exclusive engagements. Under the 2026 reform, invoicing via monotributo alone no longer automatically creates a presumption of employment where a properly documented civil or commercial contract exists — a pro-employer clarification, though the underlying substance-over-form test still applies.

Comparison Table: Employee vs Independent Contractor

Understanding these differences is essential for ensuring compliance and correctly determining entitlements such as SAC, severance, and social security contributions.

Social Security in Argentina

Argentina’s social security system covers retirement (SIPA), health insurance (obra social), the PAMI healthcare programme for retirees, and family allowances, funded through combined employer and employee contributions calculated on gross remuneration.

*Employer contribution rates depend on the employer’s size and sector: approximately 18% for employers holding current MiPyME (small/medium enterprise) certification, and approximately 20.4% for larger employers in services and commerce exceeding the MiPyME thresholds. Contributions are calculated up to a periodically updated monthly taxable salary cap. In addition, employers must separately fund ART (workers’-compensation insurance) at a market-negotiated premium that varies by industry risk classification, plus a fixed per-employee monthly fee.

Payroll in Argentina

Minimum Wages

Argentina’s national minimum wage, the Salario Mínimo, Vital y Móvil (SMVM), is set by the Consejo Nacional del Empleo, la Productividad y el Salario Mínimo, Vital y Móvil and adjusted frequently in response to inflation — recently on a near-monthly or quarterly cadence. As it changes often, employers should confirm the exact current figure with Mercans before running payroll; as a recent reference point, the SMVM stood at ARS 372,400 per month in July 2026.

Payroll Cycle

Salaries in Argentina are paid monthly in Argentine Pesos (ARS), with employers required to issue an itemized payslip (recibo de sueldo) each pay period showing gross pay, all statutory deductions, and net pay. Argentina’s historical currency controls (the “cepo cambiario”) were substantially eased starting in 2025 under a currency band system, materially changing the foreign-exchange environment for businesses operating in the country; employers should confirm the current exchange control position before structuring any cross-border payment arrangements.

Overtime rules can vary depending on the applicable collective bargaining agreement.

Mercans’ payroll capabilities

Personal Income Tax in Argentina

Personal income tax on salaries in Argentina, known as Impuesto a las Ganancias (4th category), is administered by ARCA (formerly AFIP) and applies progressively on income above a non-taxable minimum threshold.

Income Tax Rates in Argentina

Income tax is charged on a progressive scale ranging from 5% up to 35% of net taxable income, applied via ARCA’s Article 94 tables.

Because Argentina updates the non-taxable minimum and bracket thresholds roughly every six months (typically January and July) to keep pace with inflation, Mercans confirms the exact current thresholds and deduction amounts — which also vary based on dependents — before processing payroll for any engagement.

Argentina Employee Hiring Cost

When hiring an employee in Argentina, employers must budget for gross salary, mandatory employer social security contributions, SAC provisioning, vacation accrual, and ART workers’-compensation insurance. As a directional estimate, the fully-loaded employer cost in Argentina is often approximated at around 1.4 times the employee’s gross salary, though the exact figure depends on the employer’s size, sector, and ART risk classification.

Employee Benefits in Argentina

Argentine employees are entitled to a combination of mandatory statutory benefits and, increasingly, supplementary benefits offered at the employer’s discretion.

Work Permit in Argentina

Foreign nationals generally need a temporary work-residency visa to work legally in Argentina, though the requirements differ significantly depending on nationality.

Primary Pathways for Foreign Worker Authorization

MERCOSUR Nationals

Nationals of MERCOSUR member and associate states (including Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Ecuador) benefit from a simplified MERCOSUR temporary residency process, valid for 2 years, which grants work authorization based on nationality and a clean criminal record, without requiring employer sponsorship or a specific job offer.

Non-MERCOSUR Nationals

Nationals from other countries apply for temporary residency under Argentina’s Migration Law based on a demonstrated employment relationship, which in practice requires employer sponsorship through the Dirección Nacional de Migraciones (DNM).

Processing Time

Applications typically take 2–6 months to process. Applicants generally receive “residencia precaria” (provisional status), which allows them to work legally in Argentina from the start of the application process.

Path to Permanent Residency

After 2 years of continuous temporary residency under a work visa or MERCOSUR status, foreign nationals may apply for permanent residency.

Important Considerations for Employers

Employer Sponsorship

For non-MERCOSUR nationals, a registered legal entity in Argentina is required to sponsor a foreign employee’s work authorization — an EOR partner such as Mercans allows companies without a local entity to still hire and sponsor talent compliantly.

Regional Mobility

Businesses hiring across Latin America can take advantage of Argentina’s simplified MERCOSUR pathway for regional talent mobility.
Understanding these pathways can streamline the hiring process, allowing employers to bring skilled talent into their Argentina-based operations effectively.

EOR Solutions in Argentina

Best Employer of Record Argentina