If you’re looking to work as a legit local freelancer in Argentina so that you can provide companies and individuals with invoices for your services, you’ll need a taxpayer ID as a “monotributista” and a local bank account where they can send you payments.

HOW TO GET YOUR MONOTRIBUTO

1. Gather the required documentation:

a) proof of address: you’ll need two, which could be a utility bill in your name, a “certificado de domicilio” from your local police station, lease agreement, notary verification or your local bank statement. If you don’t have any services in your name or a bank account or formal lease agreement, don’t worry, neither did I. I went to my local police station, paid $10 pesos for the certificado which they dropped off a couple days later, and paid a notary $1000 pesos to come to my home and complete the “constancia notarial”.

b) Original and photocopy of your Argentine DNI. You must be a resident of Argentina in order to become a monotributista: see more information here.

c) Two copies of form 460/F, filled out to the best of your ability (I had a couple questions which were answered in person during processing). You’ll need to know what category, based on how much you expect to earn, and what type of services (I just went with the general “locaciones de servicios” category).

2. Go to your local AFIP office with the above documentation (you can look up where to go according to your address on the AFIP website).  

3. Go home and accept your “datos biometricos” on the AFIP website (they will give you a link and some information on how to do this). This needs to be done within 48 hours I believe. Now you just need to finish the enrollment process online yourself, or pay an accountant. 

After you’ve submitted your documentation in person at your local AFIP office and confirmed your datos biometricos, there are a series of steps to follow (30+ steps!) that you will received when you registered in person. You can do this process yourself, or you can pay a local accountant to do it for you (like I did). Well worth the $500 pesos they charged me!

5. Order invoices and pay for monotributo 

My accountant (included in the $500 pesos) also helped me order invoices. All I had to do was select where (not all librerias have this service, so be sure to check beforehand if they work with “facturas AFIP”. I used AXELCOPY) and they sent me the form to submit to the copy shop.

You’ll need to pay for your monotributo every month. I bring my enrollment form with me and go to a local rapipago with cash. Simple.

HOW TO GET A BANK ACCOUNT IN ARGENTINA. 

I got a “caja de ahorros” account at Banco Galicia.

What did I need? My monotributo enrollment form, my DNI (you must be a PERMANENT resident to get a bank account at Galicia, and I have heard it is the same at other banks) and proof of address. Since I didn’t have a utility or service bill in my name, in lieu of this they had me sign up for “Home Insurance” for $170 pesos (then I just cancelled it within the first month) which sufficed as proof of address. Within 15 minutes I had a bank account, and within one week my debit card.