Argentina is not on the IRS list of countries with a US income tax treaty in force, so there is no reduced treaty rate to claim and the statutory 30% withholding governs any US-source FDAP income. This guide verifies that status against the IRS "United States income tax treaties - A to Z" page, explains why the absence of a treaty rarely changes the tax outcome for a working Wyoming LLC, and walks through the forms an Argentine owner still has to file.
Treaty status and what it means for Argentina founders
There is no income tax treaty in force between the United States and Argentina. This is confirmed directly by the IRS "United States income tax treaties - A to Z" page: the only countries listed under the letter "A" are Armenia, Australia, Austria, and Azerbaijan. Argentina is absent. That absence is the single most important fact for any Argentine resident who owns a Wyoming LLC, and it has been the case for decades.
The history is worth getting right, because a lot of low-quality content online confuses two completely different documents. A comprehensive income tax convention between the US and Argentina was signed in Buenos Aires in 1981, but the US Senate never ratified it, so it never entered into force. Separately, in December 2016 the two governments signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), and in 2022-2023 they implemented a FATCA intergovernmental agreement. Neither of these is an income tax treaty. A TIEA lets the two tax authorities (the IRS and Argentina's AFIP, now operating as ARCA) swap account and taxpayer information. It does not reduce US withholding rates, it does not create a foreign tax credit mechanism, and it does not give you an Article 7 "business profits" or Article 10 "dividends" benefit. If anyone tells you Argentina has a "treaty rate" of 10% or 15% on dividends, they are wrong: there is no rate to claim.
So what does this mean in practice? For any income that is genuinely US-source FDAP (fixed, determinable, annual, or periodical income such as US dividends, US-situs royalties, and most US-source interest), the default statutory rate under IRC sections 871 and 881 applies in full: 30% withholding, collected at source by the US payor. There is no treaty override available to an Argentine resident. The good news, covered in detail below, is that most Wyoming LLC owners running an operating business never touch US-source FDAP at all, so the treaty's absence usually costs them nothing.
Sources: IRS, United States income tax treaties - A to Z; US Treasury, TIEA with Argentina (signed Dec 23, 2016).
Withholding rates by income type
Because there is no treaty, the table below shows the US default statutory rate alongside what an Argentine resident can actually claim. The "Argentina rate" column is the default rate, not a reduced one, because no reduction exists.
| US-source income type | US default (no-treaty) rate | Rate available to Argentine residents | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dividends from US corporations | 30% | 30% (no treaty relief) | No Article 10 benefit exists. Withheld at source by the payor/broker. |
| Interest (general) | 30% | 30% (no treaty relief) | But see portfolio interest below. |
| Portfolio interest (registered debt, <10% owner) | 30% statutory | 0% under domestic IRC 871(h)/881(c) | This is a US domestic-law exemption, not a treaty benefit. Claimed on W-8BEN-E. |
| Bank deposit interest (US bank) | Generally not taxed | 0% under domestic law | US-source bank deposit interest paid to a nonresident is generally exempt. Still report on W-8BEN-E. |
| Royalties (US-situs IP) | 30% | 30% (no treaty relief) | No Article 12 benefit. Applies to US-source licensing of IP, software, trademarks. |
| Rents from US real property | 30% on gross | 30% on gross, or net-basis election | Section 871(d)/882(d) election lets you tax net rental income at graduated rates instead. Not a treaty matter. |
| Business profits with no US permanent establishment / no ECI | Generally not US-taxed | 0% | This is a sourcing/ECI result under US domestic law, not treaty relief. See next section. |
| Effectively Connected Income (US trade or business) | Graduated rates on net income | Graduated rates (same) | File Form 1040-NR; pay US tax. No treaty shelter available. |
Two points deserve emphasis. First, the portfolio interest exemption and the bank deposit interest exemption are real and valuable, and they exist in the Internal Revenue Code regardless of whether a treaty exists. An Argentine resident gets the same 0% on qualifying registered portfolio interest that a German or Canadian resident gets, because it is domestic US law, not a treaty perk. Second, the absence of a treaty hurts only on US dividends and royalties and non-portfolio interest, which are precisely the income types most operating-business owners never receive.
Sources: IRS Publication 515, Withholding of Tax on Nonresident Aliens and Foreign Entities; IRS, FDAP income.
Does the treaty even matter for your LLC?
For the overwhelming majority of Argentine founders, the absence of a treaty changes nothing about their US tax bill, because they earn no US-source FDAP and have no US tax in the first place. This is the counterintuitive but critical point that the marketing for treaty countries tends to obscure.
A US single-member LLC owned by one nonresident is a disregarded entity for US federal tax purposes. The IRS looks through the LLC to its owner. So the question is never "does the LLC have a treaty," it is "does the nonresident owner have income that the US is allowed to tax." The US can tax a nonresident on only two buckets: (1) US-source FDAP (the 30% passive bucket discussed above), and (2) income that is effectively connected with a US trade or business (ECI), taxed at graduated rates on a net basis.
Most Argentine founders run service, consulting, software, agency, e-commerce, or content businesses where the work is performed in Argentina (or wherever the founder physically sits), the people are outside the US, and there is no US office, no US employees, and no dependent agent concluding contracts inside the US. Under the US sourcing rules, personal services income is sourced to where the services are performed. Services performed from Buenos Aires are foreign-source income. Foreign-source income earned by a nonresident with no US trade or business is outside the US tax net entirely - it is not FDAP and it is not ECI. The result is 0% US federal income tax on operating profit, achieved through domestic sourcing rules, with no treaty required.
This is exactly why a treaty matters less than people assume. A treaty's headline benefit, the "business profits" article, simply says the US cannot tax your business profits unless you have a US permanent establishment. But a nonresident already gets a very similar result under domestic law: no US trade or business / no ECI means no US tax. The treaty mainly helps in two situations Argentine LLC owners rarely face: (a) you have borderline US activity and want the higher, clearer "permanent establishment" threshold rather than the murkier "US trade or business" standard, or (b) you receive US-source dividends/royalties and want a reduced rate. If you have neither, the missing treaty is a non-event.
The flip side: if you do create a US trade or business - a US warehouse with staff, a US dependent agent signing deals, US-based employees, or inventory you own and sell inside the US - that income becomes ECI and is fully US-taxable at graduated rates, and without a treaty you have no permanent-establishment defense to fall back on. That is the one scenario where Argentina's lack of a treaty genuinely stings, and it is worth structuring around with a US CPA before you build US physical presence.
A practical way to think about it: the treaty question and the tax question are separate. Your US tax depends on what kind of income you earn and where it is sourced, not on whether a treaty exists. A Buenos Aires-based developer invoicing US clients through a Wyoming LLC has foreign-source services income and owes no US income tax - the same outcome a developer in treaty-covered Spain or Germany would reach. The treaty would only have given a marginally cleaner standard or relief on US dividends, neither of which this founder needs. So before worrying about the missing treaty, confirm with a US CPA that your income is foreign-source services income with no ECI; if it is, the treaty's absence is irrelevant to your bottom line. Also remember that "no US income tax" is not the same as "no US filing" - the Form 5472 obligation below applies even when your US tax is exactly zero.
How to claim: W-8BEN-E line-by-line + Form 8833 if needed
Even though there is no treaty, your LLC still gives a Form W-8BEN-E to every US payor (Stripe, PayPal, Amazon, a US client, a US broker). The form's job here is to certify that the beneficial owner is foreign and to stop incorrect backup or FDAP withholding - not to claim a treaty rate. Here is how a disregarded single-member Wyoming LLC owned by an Argentine individual completes it.
- Line 1 (Name of organization): the LLC's legal name. Line 2 (Country of incorporation): United States.
- Line 3 (Disregarded entity name): generally leave blank unless the disregarded entity itself received a separate GIIN; the beneficial owner is the individual.
- Line 4 (Chapter 3 status / entity type): check Disregarded entity. Because a US disregarded entity is not itself the beneficial owner, the payor often needs a W-8BEN (individual) from you, the Argentine owner, as the actual beneficial owner. Many payors accept a W-8BEN-E for the LLC plus a W-8BEN for the owner; confirm which the platform wants.
- Line 5 (Chapter 4 / FATCA status): for a non-financial operating LLC this is typically Active NFFE (active non-financial foreign entity) - though note the entity is US-organized, so platforms frequently route you to the individual W-8BEN instead. Do not check a financial-institution status unless you actually are one.
- Line 6 (Permanent residence address): your real Argentine address. Do not use a US mailbox or the registered-agent address; that can invalidate the form.
- Line 9b (Foreign TIN): your Argentine CUIT/CUIL. Line 8 (US TIN): the LLC's EIN if you have one.
- Part III (Claim of tax treaty benefits): leave this entirely blank. There is no US-Argentina treaty, so you cannot and must not claim a treaty rate, residence, or article number here. Filling it in is a false certification.
- Part XXIX / Part XXX (Certification): sign, date, print name, and confirm capacity to sign for the entity.
Form 8833 (Treaty-Based Return Position Disclosure): for an Argentine resident there is normally nothing to disclose, because there is no treaty position to take. Form 8833 exists to tell the IRS that a treaty is overriding the default US rule; with no treaty in force, you have no such position and you do not file it. Do not let a generic checklist talk you into filing an 8833 citing a US-Argentina article - none exists. (If you also hold residency or income tied to a different treaty country, that is a separate analysis with a CPA.)
Where Argentine owners actually get relief from double taxation is on the Argentine side: Argentina taxes residents on worldwide income (Impuesto a las Ganancias) and provides a foreign tax credit for taxes actually paid abroad. Since most LLC operating income generates zero US tax, there is usually no US tax to credit - the income is simply Argentine-taxed. Coordinate the foreign-source characterization and any peso/inflation adjustment with an Argentine contador, because ARCA/AFIP rules on foreign income and BCRA currency controls are genuinely complex.
Sources: IRS, About Form W-8BEN-E; IRS, About Form 8833.
Form 5472 + pro-forma 1120 obligation ($25k penalty) regardless of treaty
Whether or not a treaty exists, a foreign-owned US disregarded entity must file Form 5472 with a pro-forma Form 1120 every year. This is a pure information-reporting requirement under Treasury Regulation 1.6038A-1, and it is completely independent of whether you owe any US tax. Most single-member Wyoming LLCs owned by an Argentine resident owe zero US income tax and still must file.
Per the IRS Instructions for Form 5472, the LLC files a pro-forma Form 1120 as a cover page - you complete only the name, address, and EIN at the top, write "Foreign-owned U.S. DE" across the top, and attach Form 5472. The 5472 reports "reportable transactions" between the LLC and its foreign owner (capital contributions you put in, distributions you take out, loans, and similar related-party flows). The pro-forma 1120 creates no corporate tax liability; it is just the delivery envelope for the 5472.
The penalty is severe and the IRS assesses it automatically: $25,000 for a late, incomplete, or missing Form 5472, with an additional $25,000 for each 30-day period the failure continues after IRS notice. There is no treaty, and no lack of US income, that excuses this filing. Note also that this return cannot be e-filed for a disregarded entity - it is filed by mail or fax to the IRS Ogden service center. Deadline is the 15th day of the 4th month after year-end (April 15 for calendar-year filers), and you can extend with Form 7004.
Sources: IRS, Instructions for Form 5472; IRS, About Form 5472.
Common mistakes
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Claiming a treaty rate that does not exist. The most damaging error: filling in Part III of W-8BEN-E with a US-Argentina article and a reduced dividend/royalty rate. There is no treaty, so this is a false certification under penalty of perjury. Leave Part III blank.
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Confusing the 2016 TIEA with an income tax treaty. The Tax Information Exchange Agreement shares data; it grants no rate reductions. Treat US-source dividends and royalties as 30%-withheld.
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Routing US dividend or US-IP-royalty income through the LLC. Because there is no treaty relief, US-source passive income is taxed at the full 30%. If you can hold US dividend stocks personally or restructure to avoid US-situs IP, you avoid burning 30%. The LLC does not improve this; it just passes the income through.
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Skipping Form 5472 because "there's no US tax." No tax does not mean no filing. Missing the 5472 is a flat $25,000 penalty regardless of treaty status or tax owed.
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Forgetting the Argentine side. Argentine residents owe Impuesto a las Ganancias on worldwide income, must report LLC profit on the annual return, and face BCRA currency-control rules on bringing USD into Argentina. The US-side 0% does not make the income tax-free overall - it is taxed in Argentina. Use an Argentine contador for the local treatment.
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Building US physical presence without advice. A US warehouse, US staff, or a US agent who closes deals can create effectively connected income that is fully US-taxable - and with no treaty, you have no permanent-establishment shield. Get US CPA advice before establishing any US footprint.
A Wyoming LLC remains a strong, low-cost structure for Argentine founders - WyomingLLC.xyz forms it for $397 all-inclusive (Wyoming state fee included), with an ITIN available as a separate $297 add-on if you need one for a tax return or certain platforms. The treaty gap rarely matters for an operating business; the compliance (Form 5472) and the Argentine-side reporting are what actually demand your attention.
Sources: IRS, United States income tax treaties - A to Z; IRS Publication 515; IRS, Instructions for Form 5472; Wyoming Secretary of State, Business Division.