SMEs: The Government Launched the RIMI Six Months After Its Approval in Congress

Finally, the Government launched this Tuesday the Medium Investment Incentive Regime (RIMI), a program that Congress approved last February along with the Labor Modernization Law. It is one of the few plans that the libertarian Government implements to encourage investments from small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

What was missing was for the Revenue and Customs Control Agency (ARCA) to launch a new service: the Investment Management System (SGI), which can be accessed with a tax key. It allows SMEs to access the benefit, declare the type of investment, and upload related invoices.

The regulation provides that the system will gradually replace the current procedures for managing productive investments and may extend to other benefit and tax incentive regimes in the future.

The regime establishes minimum investment amounts according to the size of the company, ranging from $150,000 for micro-enterprises to $9 million for medium enterprises, tier 2. For small companies, it is $600,000, and for medium enterprises, tier 1, it is $3.5 million.

The law was enacted in March and then, in May, through a joint resolution of ARCA, the Secretariat of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, and the Secretariat of Energy, it was established that the system for processing RIMI benefits is the SGI.

The RIMI offers two specific tax benefits for those making productive investments in depreciable movable goods and works in the country: accelerated depreciation in the Income Tax and refund of VAT tax credits.

According to tax expert Sebastián Domínguez, CEO of SDC Tax Advisors, the operational part of the RIMI consists of:

• Productive investments must have a start date no earlier than March 6, 2026, and the supporting documents must have an issue date prior to May 19, 2028, inclusive.
• Within the SGI, each investment is classified according to its type: capital goods, information and telecommunications goods, works, agricultural irrigation equipment, high energy efficiency equipment, livestock, hail nets, and mines, quarries, and forests. Each registered good, work, or exploitation is assigned a unique identification code by the system.
• An important clarification for those with ongoing works: Decree 242/2026 states that only those that, as of the date of entry into force of the law --- March 6, 2026 --- have an advancement degree lower than 30% of the total investment amount of the work qualify as "works" under the terms of the RIMI. Works with greater advancement by that date are excluded from the regime.

To access this benefit, the taxpayer must select it when registering the investment project in the SGI and provide the data before the deadline for the Income Tax affidavit (DDJJ) in which the depreciation is included.

The regulation expressly states that the goods declared in the DDJJ and their depreciation must match those reported in the system. This requirement for consistency between what is recorded in the SGI and what is declared to ARCA is an aspect that taxpayers must keep in mind when preparing their declarations.

This is a very relevant benefit for companies that invest. The VAT paid for the acquisition of depreciable movable goods and works related to productive investment that remains as a balance in favor after three months from when it became computable can be recovered, which improves cash flow and reduces the financial cost of the investment.

However, it should be noted that the refund is subject to 50% of the annual quota established for the general VAT refund regime for investments in fixed assets, which is set by the Budget Law and allocated on a first-come, first-served basis among the various beneficiaries.

The procedure operates in stages:

• First, the taxpayer submits a pre-application within the SGI, in the tab "SIR Pre-Application Submission". This option is available four times a year: during the first ten days of February, May, August, and November. Between the 11th and 15th of those same months, the system informs the assigned fiscal quota, which can be checked in the tab "Consultation of Receipts with Sufficient Fiscal Quota".
• Once the quota is assigned, the taxpayer must wait three monthly fiscal periods, counted from the one in which the computation of the VAT credit in the VAT return was deemed appropriate. Only then will the receipts be available in the Integrated Recovery System (SIR) to formalize the refund request in accordance with General Resolution 5173.

"This mechanism is a significant improvement over the general refund regime for positive balances due to investments in fixed assets implemented by Law 27.430, as, according to the regulations, it can only be requested in December of each year," said Domínguez.

Companies that are evaluating or already executing productive investments can currently, as the tax advisor indicates:

• Verify that the CUIT is active and that the tax address is updated and without inconsistencies.
• Confirm registration in Income Tax and VAT and that the CLAE activity code is updated.
• Confirm that the Electronic Tax Address is established, if it has not yet been enabled.
• Gather the investments made since March 6, 2026 and collect supporting receipts.
• Classify each investment according to the types provided in Annex I of RG 5889/2026.
• Identify the first window for VAT refund pre-application - February, May, August, or November - in which they can apply to recover the VAT on investments.

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