Overview
- Argentina’s Criminal-Economic Appeals Court, in a Tuesday ruling, rejected AFA’s plea to throw out the case for lack of action, so the investigation stays open and the judges will now review the first-instance indictments.
- The case targets alleged failures to deposit withheld taxes and social-security contributions of roughly 19,000–19,300 million pesos for 2024–2025, with 34 tax counts and 17 social-security counts and 350 million–peso asset freezes on Claudio Tapia and Pablo Toviggino plus travel limits.
- Defense filings say the debt was paid in part and placed in payment plans and cite Economy Ministry measures that paused state collection suits against nonprofits, but the court said those measures did not change due dates or erase the duty to deposit withheld sums.
- Under Argentina’s penal tax rules, a withholding agent commits the crime when it fails to deposit retained amounts within 30 days of the legal due date, which the judges noted in rejecting the bid to close the file at this stage.
- Judge Diego Amarante allowed Tapia to travel under strict conditions to Paraguay on April 8–9, Ecuador on April 23–26, and Canada on April 29–May 1, while the appeals court’s upcoming ruling on the indictments could clear the way for a trial and further appeals after an ARCA complaint sparked the probe.