Argentina has no single national company register. Registry function is provincial: each province and the City of Buenos Aires operates its own Registro Público (Public Register). In the City of Buenos Aires that function is exercised by the Inspección General de Justicia — IGJ (General Inspectorate of Justice), a body of the Ministry of Justice; in the provinces it is exercised by bodies such as the Dirección Provincial de Personas Jurídicas in Buenos Aires Province or the Dirección General de Inspección de Personas Jurídicas in Córdoba. A national body exists but only consolidates data.

The company registries in Argentina

Companies are governed by the Ley General de Sociedades 19.550 (General Companies Law 19,550) and, for the simplified joint-stock company, by Ley 27.349. The registering authority is the juez del Registro referred to in the companies law, exercised in practice by the provincial or city body.

The Registro Nacional de Sociedades (National Register of Companies), created by Ley 26.047, is a data consolidator rather than an incorporation register. It offers a free search by taxpayer number or company name and publishes an open dataset containing the taxpayer number, company name, the date of the company contract and the tax and legal domiciles, drawn from tax administration records.

Tax identity and publication

The CUIT (unique tax identification code) is issued by the tax authority, which since Decreto 953/2024, published in October 2024, is ARCA — Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero, replacing the former AFIP; many older addresses still resolve and are now ARCA-branded.

Publication is a statutory step in its own right: the companies law requires limited liability companies and share companies to publish an edict on incorporation and on amendments, setting out the partners, the date, the name, the domicile, the corporate object, the duration, the capital, the administration and representation and the financial year end. Edicts appear in the Boletín Oficial, whose second section carries company and judicial notices and is freely searchable.

Incorporation of a simplified joint-stock company can be completed entirely online through the remote filing platform, with the tax identification number and digital corporate books issued immediately. The IGJ has been digitalising heavily: 2026 general resolutions eliminated paper filing, created an online documentation platform and introduced electronic notifications.

Sole traders

A natural person trading alone is not registered as a company in the Public Register. They obtain a tax identification number from ARCA and may register under the simplified small-taxpayer regime or as a self-employed contributor. Consistently with this, the companies law provides that a single-member company may take only the form of a sociedad anónima unipersonal.

Legal forms that can be registered in Argentina

  • Sociedad Anónima — S.A. (Corporation) — liability limited to the shares subscribed; the general-purpose vehicle for larger business.
  • Sociedad Anónima Unipersonal — S.A.U. (Single-member corporation) — limited liability with a sole shareholder; it may not be formed by another single-member company.
  • Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada — S.R.L. (Limited liability company) — quota holders are liable up to the capital subscribed; the most common form for small and medium business.
  • Sociedad Colectiva (General partnership) — partners bear subsidiary, unlimited and joint liability.
  • Sociedad en Comandita Simple (Simple limited partnership) — managing partners are unlimitedly liable while limited partners answer only up to their contribution.
  • Sociedad de Capital e Industria (Capital and industry partnership) — the capitalist partner is unlimitedly liable while the industry partner is liable only up to undistributed profits.
  • Sociedad en Comandita por Acciones (Partnership limited by shares) — managing partners unlimitedly liable, with the limited partners’ interest represented by shares.
  • Sociedad por Acciones Simplificada — S.A.S. (Simplified joint-stock company) — created by Ley 27.349; limited liability, one or more shareholders and fast digital incorporation. The restrictions imposed on it in 2019 and 2020 were removed by IGJ resolutions in 2024, which restored a simplified and deregulated regime.
  • Sociedades de la Sección IV (Section IV companies) — companies that do not adopt one of the typified forms or whose requirements are omitted or defective. The contract is enforceable between the partners and against third parties who knew of it, and liability is divided in equal parts unless otherwise agreed.
  • Cooperativas (Cooperatives) — registered not with the provincial register but with the national institute for associativism and social economy, which also maintains a public entity search. Members’ liability is limited to their subscribed shares. Mutual societies follow the same route.
  • Asociaciones civiles y fundaciones (Civil associations and foundations) — non-profit entities registered with the IGJ in the City of Buenos Aires or with the equivalent provincial body.
  • Sucursal de sociedad extranjera (Branch of a foreign company) — under article 118 of the companies law a foreign company must prove its existence under its home law, fix a domicile in Argentina with publication and registration, justify the decision to open the branch and appoint a representative. The branch has no separate legal personality and the head office remains liable.
  • Participación de sociedad extranjera (Foreign company participation) — under article 123, a foreign company forming or taking part in a local company must first prove its incorporation abroad and register its corporate contract with the Public Register. A 2026 IGJ resolution simplified and consolidated the requirements for both routes.

Information available from the Argentine registers

Public sources include the IGJ and provincial registry searches, the free national register lookup and its open dataset, the freely searchable edicts in the second section of the official gazette, and the IGJ’s own filing and status enquiry service. Certified copies of the bylaws, of registered filings and of financial statements can be requested through the remote filing platform by any registered user.

What is restricted

Beneficial ownership is a tax filing, not a public register. The information regime established by the tax authority in 2020 has no public access mechanism, and the Registro Público de Beneficiarios Finales created in 2024 under the anti-money-laundering reform is, despite its name, not publicly searchable: access is limited to prosecutors, courts, the financial intelligence unit, the central bank, the securities and insurance regulators and the registries, together with obliged subjects as to their own beneficial owners, while any other person may see only their own record.

Shareholder data follows the same pattern. Corporate participations are reported annually to the tax authority under a longstanding information regime; that is a tax filing rather than a public register.

Financial statements are filed with the IGJ, but a filing moratorium and regularisation regime extended into 2026, combined with the move to digital filing, means that the recency of filings should not be assumed.

Documents that can be obtained from the register

Through the IGJ, via the remote filing platform with tax-authority or national digital identity credentials:

  • Certificado de vigencia (Certificate of good standing) — confirms that the entity is active and current with its obligations. Used for banking, tenders and cross-border transactions.
  • Certificado de domicilio (Address certificate) — certifies the registered address.
  • Certificado de medidas cautelares (Certificate of precautionary measures) — shows precautionary or insolvency measures affecting the entity.
  • Certificado de vigencia por cambio de jurisdicción (Certificate of standing for a change of jurisdiction) — issued for transferring the registered seat, and requires fees and balance sheets to be current with no pending measures.
  • Certificado de vigencia y pleno cumplimiento (Certificate of standing and full compliance).
  • Copias simples y certificadas del estatuto (Plain and certified copies of the bylaws) — with amendments, the latest appointment of authorities and the registered address, together with all registrations recorded and specific case files.
  • Estados contables (Financial statements) — the filed accounts, requested by specifying the closing date.
  • Certificado de reserva de denominación (Name reservation certificate) — reserves a company name for a limited period, with alternative names permitted; the simplified joint-stock company is excluded from the service.
  • Constancia de inscripción (Tax registration certificate) — issued free by ARCA and showing the tax identification number, the name, the tax registrations and the fiscal address.
  • Certificado de vigencia de matrícula (Certificate of registration standing) — for cooperatives and mutual societies, issued by the national institute for associativism and social economy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a national company register in Argentina?

No. Registration is provincial. The Inspección General de Justicia acts as the registry for the City of Buenos Aires, each province has its own body, and the National Register of Companies only consolidates data.

Where do sole traders appear?

Not in the company register. A natural person trading alone obtains a tax identification number and registers under the small-taxpayer or self-employed regime; a single-member company can only be a single-member corporation.

What replaced AFIP?

ARCA, the customs collection and control agency, created by decree in October 2024. It issues the tax identification number used to identify companies.

Is the simplified joint-stock company still available?

Yes. The restrictions imposed on it in 2019 and 2020 were removed by IGJ resolutions in 2024, which restored the simplified and deregulated regime.

Is beneficial ownership public in Argentina?

No. Despite its name, the public register of beneficial owners created in 2024 is accessible only to listed authorities and to obliged subjects as to their own beneficial owners; other persons may see only their own record.

Where are Argentine corporate notices published?

In the second section of the Boletín Oficial, which carries company and judicial notices and is freely searchable.

Sources

Keywords

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