Bingo halls in Argentina must now pay the full amount of income tax, according to a recent decision handed down by the Federal Administrative Litigation Chamber.
The court revoked the interim measures which benefited bingo halls that are part of the Argentina Entertainment Entrepreneurs Union (UADEE). Around 20 bingo halls are part of the union, the majority of which are based in the capital of Buenos Aires.
Judges Rodolfo Facio and Carlos Grecco concluded that bingo hall owners had failed to demonstrate that the additional burden that Congress had approved for the gaming industry in general was “confiscatory”, nor did bingo hall owners face a concrete risk of going bankrupt over time.
The decision will also impact the legal measures to try and suspend the income tax increase from 35% to 41.5% for those bingo halls operated by Boca Juniors football club President Daniel Angelici. Angelici, a close friend of President Mauricio Macri, had started his own parallel claim.
The judges ruled that all bingo halls should continue with their claims in courts, where a judge may order accounting surveys necessary to assess the impact of the tax modification and, when the time comes, fix the court’s position in a judgment.
When requesting the suspension of the new tax, bingo hall owners belonging to UADEE argued that the new tax was “confiscatory” and that the increase of 35% to 41.5% in income tax could lead to bankruptcies.
