Payroll and social security

Last verified: 24 Oct 2026 · Status: Changing

Employers pay social security contributions of 18% or 20.4% plus 6% health insurance, which official guides present as 24% for SMEs and listed activities and 26.4% otherwise. Employees contribute 17% up to a maximum base. Law 27.802 created a new formal employment incentive regime (RIFL) that cuts employer contributions for qualifying new hires for 48 months.

Peso amounts are converted at the dólar MEP (bolsa) selling rate of ARS 1,563.90 per US$ on 23 Oct 2026 (source: dolarapi.com, MEP quote). Conversions are indicative and move daily.

Key rules

Employer rates. 20.4% for large companies in commerce and services, 18% for the rest (article 19 of Law 27.541, which repealed Decree 814/2001), plus 6% health insurance under the health insurance laws.
Employee rates. 11% pensions (SIPA), 3% PAMI, 3% health insurance, total 17%, withheld by the employer.
Contribution base limits. ANSES updates the minimum and maximum base periodically. The minimum is reported as ARS 138,757.90 (about US$89). The maximum is reported as ARS 4,509,567.41 (about US$2,884) for July 2026 in one official guide and ARS 4,594,798.23 (about US$2,938) in another place. Check the current ANSES resolution.
RIFL incentive. Law 27.802 Title XX (articles 157 and 159), regulated by Decree 315/2026 and ARCA RG 5844/2026: for hires from 1 May 2026 to 30 Apr 2027, employer contributions fall to 2% (pensions, employment fund and family allowances) plus 3% (PAMI) for 48 months. Workers must not have been registered at 10 Dec 2025, or have been unemployed 6 months, previously on monotributo or ex public sector. New employers may apply it to up to 80% of their staff.
Other charges. Occupational risk insurance (ART) has a fixed component reported at ARS 1,827 per employee (about US$1.17) plus a variable rate set by contract. Mandatory life insurance reported at ARS 424.62 per employee for June 2026. Union and collective agreement contributions vary by sector.
Minimum wage. SMVM reported at ARS 363,000 (about US$232) per month from May 2026. Check the latest National Council resolution.
Labor Assistance Fund (FAL). Law 27.802 created a fund to finance severance, reported as 1% for large companies and 2.5% for SMEs from November 2026.

Step by step

Register as employer with ARCA.
Register each employee in the Simplified Registration system before they start.
Calculate wages under the applicable collective agreement.
File the monthly F.931 return and pay contributions.
For RIFL hires, apply the reduced rates through the ARCA procedure in RG 5844/2026.

International comparison

No comparison figures for this topic have been verified from an official source yet, so the cells are left blank on purpose. We only fill a cell from an official registry, statute or the OECD and World Bank datasets.

Jurisdiction	Comparable rule
Argentina	Not yet sourced
US (Delaware)	Not yet sourced
UK	Not yet sourced
Canada	Not yet sourced
Chile	Not yet sourced
Uruguay	Not yet sourced
Brazil	Not yet sourced
Singapore	Not yet sourced
Estonia	Not yet sourced

Practical traps

Collective agreement wage scales often exceed the minimum wage by a wide margin.
Unregistered or underregistered work exposes the employer to fines and claims; Law 27.802 changed this regime.
RIFL cannot be used to replace existing staff; check the anti abuse rules in Decree 315/2026.

Conflict flagged: two different 2026 maximum contribution bases appear in the sources reviewed. The FAL rates and start date come from the official investor guide and have not been checked against the article of Law 27.802 yet. ART and life insurance amounts come from secondary sources.

Primary sources

Cross checks (secondary, not relied on alone)

Argentine Investment and Trade Promotion Agency, investor guide 2026 (cross check)