Although Instruction No. 3/2026 issued by the Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero (ARCA) does not have regulatory status, its purpose is to provide internal guidance to all of the agency’s departments so that they act under uniform criteria. In this respect, the Instruction represents an important step toward achieving consistent standards regarding the application of statutes of limitation, providing greater legal certainty and seeking to reduce the potential for litigation arising from divergent tax authority interpretations.
In this regard, Section 56 of Law No. 11,683—amended by Law No. 27,779—establishes that while the general statute of limitations period for registered taxpayers remains five years, the limitation period will be reduced to three years for those taxpayers categorized as “compliant taxpayers,” namely those who file their tax returns on time and pay the corresponding balances within the legally established deadlines. This reduction applies provided that ARCA does not challenge such tax returns upon detecting “significant discrepancies.”
Instruction No. 3/2026 was issued to clarify the manner in which the tax authority must apply the reduction of the statute of limitations period (from five years to three years) in cases where such limitation periods are already running.
For these purposes, the Instruction refers to Section 2537 of the Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación, which provides, in summary, that for limitation periods already in progress the new law shall apply when it establishes a shorter limitation period than the previous one, unless the original period would expire earlier, in which case the prior legal regime remains applicable.
The Instruction further clarifies that this criterion also applies to the calculation of the reduced limitation periods established under Law No. 14,236 (social security) and Law No. 23,660 (health insurance funds).
Additionally, Instruction No. 3/2026 specifies that, with respect to limitation periods already in progress, the application of Section 2537 of the Civil and Commercial Code will not affect suspensions or interruptions that had already occurred prior to the entry into force of the so-called Fiscal Innocence Law, including those previously provided under the now repealed provision incorporated after Section 65 of Law No. 11,683, among others.
The Instruction also clarifies that, regarding the statute of limitations for the enforcement action to impose fines and business closure penalties (Section 58 of Law No. 11,683), the limitation period begins on January 1 of the year following the year in which the infringement occurred. For limitation periods already in progress as of January 2, 2026, the previous law shall apply in accordance with Section 2537 of the Civil and Commercial Code.
The limitation period for the enforcement of fines and closure penalties, pursuant to Section 60 of Law No. 11,683, begins to run from the date of notification of the final administrative resolution imposing such penalties. The prior legal regime will remain applicable for limitation periods already running as of January 2, 2026, in accordance with the criteria established under Section 2537 of the Civil and Commercial Code.
Finally, the Instruction clarifies that it applies to all competent technical and legal departments involved in proceedings aimed at assessing and collecting taxes governed by the Tax Procedure Law, as well as in the imposition and enforcement of the corresponding fines and closure penalties, and in connection with the actions referred to in Section 16 of Law No. 14,236 and its amendments.