Argentine Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation Jurisprudence.
On September 10, 2026, the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (the “Court”) issued its judgment in “Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A. v. Municipality of Córdoba, Full Jurisdiction – Appeal on Points of Law” (Banco de Galicia y Buenos Aires S.A. c/ Municipalidad de Córdoba s/ plena jurisdicción – recurso de casación), in which it held that a municipal fee established under the Municipal Tax Code of the City of Córdoba was unlawful, on the grounds that the provision defined both the taxable activity and the municipal services purportedly compensated by the fee in excessively broad terms.
The Court held that a municipal fee must be linked to the provision of a specific, actual, and individualized service to the taxpayer, and that an excessively broad definition of the taxable event and the corresponding service may effectively turn the levy into a mechanism for taxing activities in respect of which no specific municipal service is provided.
The Court noted that the challenged provision employed an “extremely broad tax formula,” by generically encompassing the conduct of any commercial, industrial, or service activity and, as consideration, referring broadly to services involving “oversight, public health, hygiene, social assistance,” and “any other service intended for the general welfare of the population.”
In this regard, the Court reaffirmed its case law on municipal fees, as developed, among others, in “Compañía Química S.A.”, “Laboratorios Raffo S.A.”, and “Syngenta Agro S.A. v. Municipality of Córdoba, Administrative Litigation” (Syngenta Agro S.A. c/ Municipalidad de Córdoba s/ contencioso administrativo).
Why is this important?
The criterion adopted by the Court is particularly relevant to companies conducting business activities across different municipalities, as certain local regulations may establish municipal fees through excessively broad formulas that, in practice, may resemble the structure of a tax.
Accordingly, companies subject to municipal fees should assess not only the applicable rate and tax base, but also the definition of the taxable event, the identification of the service underlying the levy, and whether such service is actually provided. The absence of a specific and individualized service may constitute grounds for challenging the validity of the tax assessment.
