According to the Global Alliance for Tax Justice and the Tax Justice Network, cross-border tax losses caused by multinational companies hiding assets exceed $483 billion approximately. One of these cases reported involves the Techint group, suspected of having created firms in tax havens to evade tax payments.
Situation in Argentina
In Argentina, the collection of $1200 million and $2400 million each year has stopped, according to AFIP (Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos – Federal Administration of Public Revenues). Based on the formation of producing companies in Argentina and tax havens employed as alleged service providers, multinational companies misprice transactions among companies of the same group. All these situations reduce the profits of companies residing in Argentina and increase those operating in tax havens.
Techint Case
The Techint Group is an Italian-Argentinian multinational business group engaged in the productive internationalization of its main business areas, such as construction and steelmaking, among others. It has also carried out a financial restructuring that led local companies to be members of a global network whose final control formally depends on companies located in tax havens. Thus, the group would have located its main controlling firms in Luxembourg, such as Tenaris and Ternium, and founded firms in Uruguay as part of this process. These firms invoiced more than $7 billion in that country, with 0.75% of the profits from the effective income tax rate.
Source: El Destape 20/09/22
