Buenos Aires puts the tax breaks on the table
The City of Buenos Aires presented its RIMICABA investment regime to the hotel and gastronomy sector. Hernán Lombardi, the city minister of economic development, led the meeting. Camilo Suárez, president of the AHRCC, the Asociación de Hoteles, Restaurantes, Confiterías y Cafés de la Ciudad, attended. FEHGRA, the federation of Argentina's hotel and gastronomy businesses, published the terms on 13 October and counts more than 84,000 establishments among its members.
What the regime pays
Up to 25 percent of money invested and certified counts as a payment on account of gross income tax, Ingresos Brutos. The City exempts stamp duty on contracts signed in Buenos Aires that tie directly to approved investments. It exempts property tax and the ABL lighting, sweeping and cleaning levy on property built as a direct result of the investment and applied to the activity. Banco Ciudad adds a financing line under its own commercial policy.
Three ways in
Companies covered by the national RIMI regime register for their Buenos Aires investment from USD 150,000. That route covers MiPyMEs with a current certificate and non-profit entities registered with ARCA. Microenterprises below the national RIMI floor register for more than USD 100,000 and up to USD 149,999.99. Either group registers from USD 50,000 when the money buys equipment that verifiably improves energy performance or renewable energy.
Two zones lead the queue
Microcentro and the south of the City carry priority. The Microcentro polygon runs between Avenida Santa Fe, Avenida del Libertador, Avenida Leandro N. Alem, Avenida Paseo Colón, Avenida Belgrano, Bernardo de Irigoyen and Carlos Pellegrini. The southern polygon runs between Avenida General Paz, the Riachuelo, Dársena Sur, Avenida Ing. Huergo, Avenida San Juan, Avenida Directorio, Avenida Escalada and Avenida Juan B. Alberdi. Tourism and innovative gastronomy sit on the promoted-sector list.
The City ranks applications. A project inside a priority zone and a promoted sector takes first place. A project that meets one of the two criteria takes second. The rest take standard priority. Projects under USD 600,000 compete for 40 percent of the fiscal quota for their window, and projects at USD 600,000 and above compete for 60 percent. Ties go to the application filed first through the City system.
The caps and the clock
City law 6950 created the regime. The City sanctioned it on 14 May 2026 and promulgated it on 27 May 2026. Article 14 caps the benefits at 150,000 million pesos a year, and no single winner takes more than 10 percent of that. A beneficiary keeps productive activity in the City for at least four years, and the rules bar stacking RIMICABA benefits with other City promotional regimes.
What the City and the sector said
Applications run through the City's government web platform. Lombardi said the City works with the private sector to create better investment conditions and drive the economic development of the City. Suárez said the regime offers a framework of predictability for hotels and gastronomy. Daniel Prieto, president of FEHGRA, welcomed a new tool for the sector and linked it to the ABL exemption the City announced in September.
What backs the numbers
The City's own page for the regime puts the gross income credit at up to 25 percent of the investment and sets a fiscal quota of up to 300,000 million pesos across two years. It grants two years of property tax and ABL exemption for projects that build new premises, and it lists 11 promoted sectors, with hotel and sustainable tourism and the gastronomy industry among them. Resolución 67/SSIN/26 of the Subsecretaría de Inversiones approved the rules and their annexes on 19 September 2026, and the City's official gazette published the resolution on 25 September 2026.