France publishes 2019 amendment to Argentina tax treaty

France has published the 2019 amendmentLegifrance to its double-tax treaty with Argentina.Legifrance Décret n° 2026-1024Legifrance du 2 novembre 2026Legifrance orders publication au Journal officiel de la République française of the avenant to the convention of 4 April 1979 between France and ArgentinaLegifrance for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and on fortune, together with a protocol, signed at Buenos Aires on 6 December 2019Legifrance. The Premier ministre and the ministre de l'Europe et des affaires étrangères are each responsible for its application as far as they are concerned.

The underlying instrument is the 1979 Franco-Argentine convention, signed at Buenos Aires on 4 April 1979 together with a protocol forming an integral part of it. The convention covers taxes on income and on fortune and was approved on the French side by loi n° 80-1044 du 23 décembre 1980, published by décret n° 81-211 du 3 mars 1981, and entered into force on 1 March 1981. Its article 30 applied its provisions to withholding taxes on sums falling due from 1 March 1981 and to other income and fortune taxes for the 1981 calendar year or any financial year opened during that year.

The convention has already been amended once. France and Argentina signed an avenant on 15 August 2001 amending article 2 and article 24 of the 1979 convention, approved by loi n° 2004-339 du 21 avril 2004, published by décret n° 2007-1453 du 9 octobre 2007, and entered into force on 1 October 2007. Its article 3 applied it to withholding taxes on amounts taxable from 1 January 2008, to other income taxes for years or financial years beginning on or after 1 January 2008, and to fortune taxation whose chargeable event occurred on or after 1 January 2008. The competent authorities later clarified article 11 on interest by an exchange of letters of 28 May 2018 and 29 January 2019, extending the guarantee-based exemption previously benefiting the Compagnie française d'assurance pour le commerce extérieur to Bpifrance Assurance Export.

The 1979 convention as amended in 2001 is additionally overlaid by the Convention multilatérale pour la mise en œuvre des mesures relatives aux conventions fiscales pour prévenir l'érosion de la base d'imposition et le transfert de bénéfices. The consolidated reading records that France and Argentina both signed that convention on 7 June 2017, that it entered into force on 1 January 2019 for France and on 1 January 2026 for Argentina, and that it overlays the 1979 convention as amended in 2001 with provisions including a principal-purpose test denying a treaty benefit where obtaining it was one of the principal purposes of an arrangement unless granting it accords with the object and purpose of the relevant provisions.

The publication décret does not set any withholding rate, allocation rule or application date for the 2019 avenant. Its two articles order publication, designate the authorities responsible for application, and point to the annex, and the annex states that the full text with its images may be consulted from the authenticated electronic Journal officiel extract accessible on Légifrance at the stated address. The annex states that the full text with its images may be consulted from the authenticated electronic Journal officiel extract accessible on Légifrance at the stated address.

Legal basis: Décret n° 2026-1024 du 2 novembre 2026 portant publication de l'avenant du 6 décembre 2019 à la convention franco-argentine du 4 avril 1979, ensemble un protocole; convention franco-argentine du 4 avril 1979; Convention multilatérale du 7 juin 2017.