Hire Employees in Argentina

Your own entity is normally an SRL or SA. Both are workable, but registration, tax enrolment and payroll setup realistically take two to three months, and the entity commits you to Argentine corporate reporting in an environment where rules change frequently.

An Employer of Record inverts the sequence: the Argentine entity signs the contract, registers the employee with AFIP and the relevant obra social, arranges ART cover and administers the the statutory thirteenth-month salary (aguinaldo), while you direct the day-to-day work.

Argentine labour law is highly protective and applies to work performed in Argentina regardless of the contracting entity. In dispute, what actually happened between you outweighs what the contract says. Argentine courts call this primacía de la realidad, the primacy of reality.

Hiring people as contractors looks simpler, and for genuinely independent people it now is. This changed on 6 March 2026, when the Labour Modernisation Law took effect. Before that date, Argentine law started from the assumption that anyone doing regular work for you was an employee, and it was on you to prove otherwise. That assumption no longer applies where someone invoices you for project work, professional services or a trade.

The limit is real independence. A contractor who works your hours and reports to your manager can still be ruled an employee after the fact. If that happens you owe back social security contributions and severance.

The same law helps if you use an Employer of Record. Whoever registers the employment is now treated as the actual employer, where the old wording could put that on the client instead. Judges are also no longer required to resolve doubt about the evidence in the worker’s favour.

One caution. Argentina’s main trade union confederation is challenging the law in court, and an early ruling against it was overturned on appeal. This guide follows the law as it currently stands and will flag any change.

Argentina's difficulty is not the contribution rate but the volatility around it. Employer contributions run about 30–33% all in, but high inflation means minimum wages, ceilings and collective agreement scales are revised several times a year rather than annually. A cost model built in January is materially wrong by June.

The unified employer contribution is 20.40% for services and commerce above the medium-enterprise tramo 2 threshold, and 18% for everyone else holding a current MiPyME certificate. The rate turns on activity as well as size, so a services PyME can pay 20.40% while a large industrial employer pays 18%, the distinction is worth checking rather than assuming from headcount. On top sit plus obra social health cover at around 6%, ART occupational risk insurance which is activity-rated and can reach 8%, and the FAL contribution. Nothing is capped, so the percentage holds at every salary level.

Unregistered or partially registered employment, trabajo en negro, is the risk that dominates Argentine labour litigation. Paying part of salary off the books doubles the exposure: the unregistered portion attracts penalty multiples on top of the back contributions, and the employee can trigger them by formal demand. Foreign employers sometimes inherit this practice from a local adviser without understanding what it creates.

The statutory thirteenth-month salary (Aguinaldo) is a full thirteenth month, paid in two instalments in June and December, and it is statutory rather than customary. Any budget built on twelve months understates cost by more than 8% before contributions.

Break-even rule of thumb: EOR fees begin to exceed the running cost of a small Argentine entity somewhere between 15 and 20 employees. Model both before committing, see EOR vs Entity for the full comparison, and plan any later migration so employees keep seniority.

Employer contributions run about 30% to 33% all in, and nothing is capped, so the percentage holds at every salary level. The unified contribution is 18% for SMEs and 20.4% for larger employers, plus obra social at around 6%, ART occupational risk insurance rated by activity and reaching 8% or more in high-risk sectors, and the FAL contribution.

Aguinaldo adds a full thirteenth month, paid in two instalments in June and December, and it is statutory. Any budget built on twelve months understates annual cost by more than 8% before contributions are applied.

The variable that dominates planning is not the rate but the pace of change. High inflation means minimum wages, contribution ceilings and collective agreement scales are revised several times a year. A model built in January is materially wrong by June, so Argentine costs need re-basing quarterly rather than annually.

What the percentage does not tell you. Employer contributions of 33% are the statutory floor, not the cost of a hire. Add deferred pay that accrues monthly but is paid later, any sector agreement that raises the minimum, and the administrative cost of registering and filing. A quote built on the headline rate alone will be short.

Where the number moves. Ceilings, floors and eligibility conditions change the effective rate at different salary levels, so the percentage that applies to a junior hire is rarely the percentage that applies to a senior one. The calculator below applies each component separately, with its own ceiling where one exists, rather than a single blended rate.

Before you commit. Confirm the current schedule against the sources listed at the foot of this page. Argentine figures were verified on 17 August 2026, but contribution ceilings and minimum wages are revised on their own timetables and not always in January.

Four representative profiles, costed with the 2026 contribution rates above. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data, use them to see how the on-cost percentage behaves as pay rises, not as a salary benchmark for a specific role. For real market data on your roles, ask for a costing.

Nothing here is capped, so the on-cost percentage is identical at every salary level. A senior hire costs proportionally exactly what a junior one does, which is not true in most comparable markets and makes salary the only variable worth modelling.

Four representative profiles costed on 2026 statutory rates. Salaries are illustrative market midpoints, not GX operating data.

Payroll runs monthly in pesos, with aguinaldo instalments in June and December. Contributions and withheld income tax are declared through AFIP’s Form 931 and paid monthly.

Income tax (Impuesto a las Ganancias) applies to employment income above a threshold that is revised frequently, and the employer acts as withholding agent. Because thresholds move with inflation, an employee can move in and out of the tax net during a single year, and payroll must track the revisions rather than applying an annual table.

Collective agreement scales are similarly dynamic. Where a convenio colectivo applies it sets minimum pay by category and is renegotiated on its own cycle, so the floor can rise between reviews without any employer decision.

Thresholds and ceilings are uprated periodically, so a figure correct in January may not hold later in the year. Where a row below is flagged, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved.

Thresholds move on a local cycle that does not always fall in January, so a figure correct at the start of the year may not hold through it. Where a row below carries a flag, published sources disagreed and the conflict is recorded rather than resolved, there are 5 such rows on this page.

The sections that follow set out contracts and probation, working time, leave, termination and immigration in that order. Where an entitlement comes from a collective agreement rather than statute it is marked as such, because that distinction determines whether it is negotiable.

A written contract is standard though not universally mandatory. Registration with AFIP is what matters legally, an unregistered employee is employed, but unlawfully so.

Probation is three months, during which either party may terminate with fifteen days’ notice and no severance. It must be registered like any other employment; an unregistered probationary period gives the employee the benefit of the doubt on start date in any later dispute.

Fixed-term contracts are permitted only where the nature of the work justifies them, require written form and advance notice of expiry, and convert to indefinite where either condition fails.

Forty-eight hours a week and nine hours a day. Overtime is paid at 150% on a normal day and 200% on a Saturday after 1pm, Sunday or public holiday. Work on a public holiday attracts a 100% surcharge on top of normal pay.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually start. Record hours from day one even where the role is salaried and the expectation is that overtime will not arise, reconstructing records after a complaint is far harder than keeping them.

Overtime is where payroll disputes usually begin, and the burden of proving hours worked generally sits with the employer. Record hours from the first day even for salaried roles where overtime is not expected, reconstructing a record after a complaint is considerably harder than keeping one.

Public holidays sit on top of the annual leave entitlement. Where a holiday falls at a weekend, practice varies, some markets move it, some grant a substitute day and some do neither, so check the position before assuming a day in lieu.

The 16 dates below are the statutory position. Employers in many markets grant more by policy or collective agreement, and sector agreements sometimes add local or patronal days that do not appear in a national list.

Argentina observes 16 paid public holidays in 2026. Dates that fall at a weekend and any substitution rules are set out below; entitlement is separate from annual leave.

Maternity: 90 days, 45 before and 45 after the birth, Paid by ANSES as a family allowance, not by the employer. Paternity: 2 days. Paid by the employer. Marriage leave: 10 calendar days. Paid by the employer. Sick leave: 3 months for under 5 years of service; 6 months beyond, Full pay, employer-funded, doubled where the employee has dependants.

Bereavement: 3 days for a spouse, child or parent. Paid by the employer.

The question that matters for budgeting is who funds each entitlement. Where the state or a social insurance fund pays, the employer carries administration but not cost; where the employer pays, it is a direct charge that headcount models routinely omit. Both patterns appear above.

Argentine severance for dismissal without just cause is one month's best normal remuneration per year of service or fraction exceeding three months, with a statutory minimum of one month. The base is the highest monthly remuneration in the last year, which means a recent bonus or salary rise lifts the entire calculation.

Notice (preaviso) is 15 days during probation, one month up to five years of service and two months beyond, or payment in lieu. An additional integration payment covers the balance of the month in which dismissal takes effect.

Dismissal must be notified in writing stating the cause with sufficient precision, and the stated cause cannot later be changed or supplemented in litigation. That makes the dismissal letter the single most important document in an Argentine exit.

Where employment was unregistered or under-registered, additional penalty payments apply on top of ordinary severance, and they are substantial enough to dominate the settlement.

A foreign national needs a residence permit with work authorisation. Mercosur nationals, and citizens of associated states including Chile, Colombia and Peru, follow a simplified route based on nationality alone, which is materially faster.

For everyone else the employer must be registered in the RENURE register of employers of foreign nationals before sponsoring an application. That registration is a precondition and is frequently discovered late.

Allow two to four months for a non-Mercosur hire. Temporary residence is typically granted for a year and renewable, with work rights tied to the sponsoring employer.

Trabajo en negro, unregistered or partially registered employment, dominates Argentine labour litigation. Paying part of salary off the books does not reduce exposure; it multiplies it. The unregistered portion attracts penalty payments on top of back contributions, and the employee can trigger them by formal demand during employment.

Foreign employers sometimes inherit the practice from a local adviser presenting it as normal. It is common, but it is not lawful, and the penalties are calculated to make it uneconomic.

Practical controls: register the full salary from day one, keep ART cover active before anyone starts work, re-base the cost model quarterly for inflation, and check the applicable convenio colectivo scale at each renegotiation rather than annually.

Work backwards from the start date. For an Argentine national through an EOR, one to two weeks is realistic. A foreign national needs a residence permit with work authorisation, adding two to four months, with Mercosur nationals following a simplified route.

Confirm before making an offer: which convenio colectivo applies and what scale it sets, since Argentine collective agreements are detailed and revised frequently; that the full salary will be registered, with nothing paid off the books; and that the budget carries thirteen months plus roughly a third again in contributions.

Registration with AFIP and the relevant obra social must precede the first payroll. ART occupational risk cover must be in place before the employee starts work, not after, an uninsured workplace accident is a direct employer liability.