Municipal Fees in Argentina: Supreme Court Sets Limits on What Cities Can Charge

Besides national and provincial taxes, businesses in Argentina usually pay a municipal charge on their activity. It goes by different names, most commonly the safety and hygiene fee (tasa de seguridad e higiene), and many municipalities calculate it as a percentage of gross revenue. For years, companies have argued that some of these fees look more like taxes than payments for a service. Argentina’s Supreme Court has now reinforced the limits.

What a municipal fee is supposed to be

Under Argentine law, a fee (tasa) is different from a tax. A tax is charged because the taxpayer has economic capacity. A fee is charged in exchange for a specific service provided to the taxpayer, such as inspections of an establishment’s safety and hygiene conditions. That difference is what the recent rulings turn on.

The September 2026 rulings

On September 10, 2026, the Supreme Court decided two cases: one brought by Banco de Galicia against the City of Córdoba, and another brought by a mutual association against the Municipality of Pergamino. Building on earlier precedents, the Court set out several clear principles:

• The service must be concrete. In the Córdoba case, the ordinance described the service in residual, catch-all terms, listing oversight, health, hygiene and any other service for the general welfare. The Court found that too broad to support a fee.
• The municipality must prove the service. The burden of showing that the service was actually provided falls on the municipality, not on the taxpayer.
• The service must be periodic. In the Pergamino case, the Court stressed that periodic provision of the service is an essential feature of a fee charged periodically.
• The amount must be reasonable. The total collected must not unreasonably exceed the cost of the service, and the taxpayer’s economic capacity can only be used to distribute that cost, not to justify disproportionate burdens.
• Courts can review the amount. Judicial review is not limited to confiscatory fees; there must be a reasonable relationship between the amount and the cost of the service.

In both cases the Court sent the files back to the lower courts to issue new decisions in line with these principles.

Why it matters for businesses

These rulings do not cancel municipal fees, and each municipality’s ordinance has to be analyzed on its own. But they give businesses solid grounds to question charges that are disconnected from any real service, which is especially relevant for companies selling online to buyers in many cities.

Practical steps

1. Map where your company actually has establishments, stores, offices or warehouses.
2. Review the ordinances of the municipalities that charge you, and how they describe the service.
3. Keep records of inspections and services actually received.
4. Get advice before challenging a charge, since procedures and time limits vary.

Where your company is based also shapes which municipal rules apply. Our comparison of virtual offices and registered addresses and our registered address service explain the options, and our guide to mapping business license requirements covers local permits. If you sell on MercadoLibre, see our MercadoLibre sellers service, and for the full tax map read our overview of Argentina’s tax regime. Questions about a specific charge? Contact SAXIA.

How municipal fees are usually calculated

Although a fee should reflect the cost of a service, many municipalities calculate the safety and hygiene fee as a percentage of the gross revenue the business earns in their territory, sometimes with minimum amounts per establishment. When a company operates in several municipalities of the same province, the revenue is often allocated among them using rules similar to those of the Multilateral Agreement.

This method is what generates most disputes. A business with high revenue but a single small office can end up paying a fee that bears little relation to the inspections it actually receives. The new rulings do not ban revenue-based calculations, but they make clear that the total amount must remain reasonably connected to the cost of the service.

Frequently asked questions

Do these rulings cancel the fees I already paid?

No. They set principles that lower courts must apply in each case. Recovering amounts already paid requires a specific claim, and the outcome depends on the ordinance and the evidence in that case.

Does an online seller with no premises in a city have to pay?

The rulings strengthen the argument that a fee requires a concrete service provided to the taxpayer. A business with no establishment in a municipality has solid grounds to question a charge, although each situation should be analyzed with the specific ordinance.

Who has to prove that the service was provided?

According to these decisions, the municipality bears the burden of proving that it actually provided the service that justifies the fee.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Rulings are summarized from published reports; the full decisions are available from the Supreme Court.