Key facts
- The fideicomiso is regulated by Articles 1666 to 1707 of the Civil and Commercial Code.
- Trust assets form a separate estate, protected from the creditors of the trustee and, except for fraud, of the settlor (Arts. 1685–1686).
- Maximum term: 30 years, except for a beneficiary without full capacity (Art. 1668).
- A fideicomiso cannot reduce the reserved shares of forced heirs (Art. 2493).
- Argentina is not a party to the 1985 Hague Trusts Convention.
Families from common-law countries often hold wealth through trusts. When they look at Argentina, through property, a business or a second citizenship, they ask whether a trust will work there. The short answer is that Argentina has its own instrument, the fideicomiso, which shares the logic of a trust but follows civil-law rules.
This guide explains the fideicomiso as set out in the Civil and Commercial Code (CCyC), how it differs from a trust, and the main tax points, as of 10 October 2026. It is general information. Trust and tax structures depend on your facts, so speak to an Argentine lawyer and tax adviser before you set one up.
How a fideicomiso works
Article 1666 defines the contract. One party, the fiduciante (settlor), transfers, or promises to transfer, ownership of assets to another, the fiduciario (trustee). The trustee must exercise that ownership for the benefit of a beneficiario (beneficiary) and, at the end of a term or on a condition, transfer the assets to the fideicomisario (final recipient).
The roles can overlap, with limits:
- The settlor, the trustee or the final recipient can be a beneficiary (Article 1671).
- A trustee who is also a beneficiary must avoid conflicts of interest and put the other parties’ interests first (Article 1673).
- The trustee can never be the final recipient (Article 1672).
The contract must identify the assets, the term or condition, the beneficiaries (or how to identify them), who receives the assets at the end, and the trustee’s rights and duties (Article 1667). It must be registered in the relevant public register (Article 1669). Where an asset, such as real estate, can only be transferred by public deed, the same form applies.
Duties and protections
The trustee must act with “the prudence and diligence of a good businessperson” who acts on the trust placed in them (Article 1674). The contract cannot release the trustee from the duty to account, from liability for fault or wilful misconduct, or from the ban on buying trust assets for themselves (Article 1676).
The central feature is the separate estate. Trust assets are separate from the property of the trustee, the settlor, the beneficiary and the final recipient (Article 1685). The trustee’s creditors cannot reach them. The settlor’s creditors cannot reach them either, but they keep actions for fraud and insolvency claw-back (Article 1686). Debts incurred by the trust are paid only from trust assets, and an insolvent trust is liquidated, not declared bankrupt (Article 1687).
How it differs from a common-law trust
| Point | Argentine fideicomiso | Typical common-law trust |
|---|---|---|
| Nature | A contract (or a will) that transfers ownership | Usually a unilateral settlement by deed or will |
| Ownership | Trustee holds dominio fiduciario, a limited ownership that ends with the trust (Art. 1701) | Legal title with the trustee, equitable interest with beneficiaries |
| Duration | Maximum 30 years, unless a beneficiary lacks full capacity (Art. 1668) | Often longer, depending on the jurisdiction |
| Registration | Must be registered (Art. 1669) | Often private |
| Revocation | Only if the settlor expressly reserved the right (Art. 1697) | Depends on the deed |
| Forced heirship | Cannot reduce reserved shares (Art. 2493) | Many jurisdictions have no forced heirship |
Two further rules matter for family planning. Future inheritances cannot be placed in a fideicomiso (Article 1670). And a fideicomiso is void if its purpose is only to hold and manage assets so they pass, on the trustee’s death, to another trustee (Article 1700).
Common uses
Real estate development. Argentine developers often use a fideicomiso to pool buyers’ money and build an apartment block. The land and the funds sit in a separate estate, and each investor receives a unit at the end. A 2024 Supreme Court case on the tax treatment of such a structure, Fideicomiso Edificio La Favorita de Rosario, shows how common the model is. If you buy off-plan, ask who the trustee is, what the contract says about cost overruns, and how units are transferred. Our guide to buying property in Argentina as a foreigner covers the rest of the process.
Guarantees. A fideicomiso en garantía holds assets as security. The trustee can apply incoming funds to the secured debt and sell other assets as the contract provides (Article 1680).
Financial trusts. A fideicomiso financiero issues securities backed by trust assets. Its trustee must be a financial institution or a company authorised by the securities regulator, the CNV (Articles 1673 and 1690).
Family planning. A fideicomiso can hold a family home or business, manage assets for minors, or provide for a relative who cannot manage their own affairs. A fideicomiso can also be created by will (Article 1699). In that case the 30-year limit runs from the settlor’s death.
The limit: forced heirship
Argentine succession law reserves two-thirds of an estate for children. Article 2493 says a testamentary fideicomiso must not affect those reserved shares. The only exception is Article 2448: a person can leave up to one-third of the reserved portions, in addition to the free portion, to a descendant or ascendant with a disability, and the Code expressly allows this through a fideicomiso.
A lifetime transfer into a fideicomiso is also exposed. Heirs can ask for the reduction of gifts that exceed the free portion, and creditors keep their fraud actions. A fideicomiso is therefore a management tool, not a way to disinherit. Our guide to forced heirship in Argentina explains the rules in detail.
Foreign trusts
Argentina is not a party to the 1985 Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition, according to the Hague Conference’s status table. The Civil and Commercial Code regulates the local fideicomiso but has no chapter on foreign trusts. How an Argentine court would treat a foreign trust that holds Argentine assets, or that conflicts with forced heirship, depends on the facts. Take advice before you place Argentine assets in a foreign trust.
The tax law is clearer. Since the 2017 tax reform, Article 130(d) of the Income Tax Law (2019 consolidated text) attributes the income of foreign trusts, foundations and similar structures to the Argentine resident who controls them. Control includes cases where the trust is revocable, where the settlor is also a beneficiary, or where the resident can decide on investments. For the personal assets tax, the tax authority’s criteria turn on whether a foreign trust is revocable and whether the settlor has truly parted with the assets, according to a 2020 analysis by Julián Martín. In the Fiorotto case (2017), a federal appeals court kept in the taxpayer’s base sums he said he had given to a Canadian trust, because he had not proved he had parted with them.
How fideicomisos are taxed in Argentina
Income tax. Under Article 73(a)(6) of the Income Tax Law, a fideicomiso set up in Argentina is a taxpayer itself, at corporate rates. The exception is where the settlor is also the beneficiary; the trust’s income is then taxed in the hands of that person. The exception does not apply to financial trusts, or where the settlor-beneficiary is a non-resident. In March 2024 the Supreme Court held, in La Favorita, that a trust with both resident and non-resident settlor-beneficiaries could be taxed proportionally, according to Marval O’Farrell Mairal.
Personal assets tax. For non-financial fideicomisos, the trustee pays the tax at 0.5% on the value of the trust assets at 31 December, as a single and final payment. Assets placed in such a trust do not form part of the settlor’s own taxable base, provided the trust paid its tax on time (Ley 23.966). See our guide to the personal assets tax.
Anti-money-laundering rules. People who, as a business, act as trustee of a non-financial fideicomiso are reporting entities under Article 20 of Ley 25.246 and must identify their clients and report suspicious transactions. Expect a professional trustee to ask for full source-of-funds evidence, as the citizenship programme will. Our source of funds guide explains what that involves.
Citizenship and trusts
Becoming Argentine does not change how your existing trusts are taxed in Argentina. What matters is whether you become an Argentine tax resident. See does Argentine CBI make you a tax resident?. The investment route itself rests on DNU 366/2025, which the Cámara Nacional Electoral declared unconstitutional in June 2026; the government’s appeal is now with the Supreme Court. See legal status and the family guide.
Sources
- InfoLEG, Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación, consolidated text, Arts. 1666–1707, 2448, 2493: https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/235000-239999/235975/texact.htm
- InfoLEG, Ley de Impuesto a las Ganancias, 2019 consolidated text (Decreto 824/2019), Arts. 73 and 130: https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/330000-334999/332890/texact.htm
- InfoLEG, Ley 23.966, Title VI (personal assets tax), consolidated text: https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/0-4999/365/texact.htm
- InfoLEG, Ley 25.246 (anti-money laundering), consolidated text: https://servicios.infoleg.gob.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/60000-64999/62977/texact.htm
- Hague Conference on Private International Law, status table of the 1985 Trusts Convention: https://www.hcch.net/en/instruments/conventions/status-table/?cid=59
- Marval O’Farrell Mairal, on the La Favorita ruling (5 April 2024): https://www.marval.com/Publicacion/como-tributan-los-fideicomisos-integrados-por-fiduciantes-beneficiarios-argentinos-y-del-exterior-15794
- Julián Martín, Abogados.com.ar, on foreign trusts and the personal assets tax (16 July 2020): https://abogados.com.ar/bienes-personales-situacion-de-los-fideicomisos-en-el-exterior-inconsistencias-de-gravar-derechos-condicionados/26324
- Infobae, the Supreme Court and DNU 366/2025 (7 October 2026): https://www.infobae.com/judiciales/2026/10/07/la-corte-suprema-analizara-otro-dnu-de-javier-milei-que-modifico-el-regimen-para-otorgar-ciudadanias/