Monotributistas, between expectations and reality

Mario is a monotributista of category A; he enrolled in the simplified regime to be able to give trade courses and only charges when he gives them. Since isolation began, he cannot work. That is why it was registered in the Anses to request the emergency family income (IFE).

He thought that he fulfilled all the conditions because he does not work in a dependency relationship or has any other income and needed the 10,000 pesos, but he was surprised when he was rejected.

“The IFE does not correspond to non-contributor monotributistas”, replied the social security agency. It is that Mario pays only the tax component of the Monotributo, since, by his profession, he contributes to the retirement fund of engineers and architects.

The same response was obtained by lawyers, accountants and others who contribute to professional pension entities. This motivated a claim from the coordinator of savings banks throughout the country, which has not yet been answered, since the requirements do not require contributing to the Anses to access the benefit.

In practice, only the “pure” monotributistas access the IFE, but also in this group they were rejected with some arguments that leave no room for complaints, such as “the crossing of data with Afip”.

Unknowns

Expectations for new zero-rate loans for monotributistas and self-employed are many, but with that background, all view the issue with caution.

The measure, published on April 20, has not yet been regulated by the Afip, although other departments have already established the conditions for access. Here also it is worth asking how the collection agency will be implemented, which will have the last word for the ok.

Among other things, it is requested that applicants are not in a 3, 4 or 5 position in the financial system, do not provide services to the public sector (more than 70 percent of their turnover), have not obtained the IFE and have no other income. as employees or retirees.

On this last point there is the same doubt as with the IFE. What will happen to the monotributistas who contribute to professional savings banks and not to Anses? In principle, they should not be excluded, if an analogy is made with the self-employed, who would not need to contribute to the national pension scheme.

But there is another point that worries more: an exclusive requirement is that the turnover has fallen below the lower limit of the category for monotributistas, that is, less than the same period of the previous year, in the case of self-employed.

The issue is that invoicing does not mean charging. Many freelancers, especially those who perform continuous services, continue to bill but did not see a peso and do not know when they will. At a time when the payment chain is cracking, the smallest are the weakest links and those who suffer the most.

In short, zero-rate credit is a long-awaited measure, but we will have to see how it works in practice to see if it really reaches the great universe of independent workers who need it.