Written by:Marcelo EtchebarneMartín MittelmanJoaquín Eppens EchagüeAugusto Nicolás MancinelliRichard Chesley

The Milei Administration recently submitted to Congress a bill titled Ley de Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones en Nuevas Industrias (Súper RIGI), which aims to promote investments exceeding USD1 billion. The Súper RIGI expands on existing, similar legislation (RIGI), increasing investment size from USD200 million to USD1 billion, and granting tax, labor, foreign exchange (FX), and other benefits to both foreign and domestic investors.

This alert provides a snapshot of the original RIGI pipeline – approved projects, projects pending approval, and major investments announced but not yet formally filed – and a summary of key terms from the Súper RIGI.

The original RIGI (Law No. 27,742; regulated August 2024) offers a minimum USD200 million-investment threshold across strategic sectors with a 30-year tax, customs, and FX stability. The adhesion window was extended by Decree 105/2026 to July 8, 2027. As of May 2026, 16 projects have been approved (approximately USD30 billion) and 22 projects are pending approval (approximately USD68 billion), for a total formal pipeline of approximately USD95 billion. Net FX inflows through March 2026 totaled USD762 million – a fraction of committed amounts, reflecting the long construction timelines. Minister Luis Caputo's oft-cited figure of USD140 billion includes the formal pipeline plus major projects announced but not yet filed, principally YPF's LNG project with ENI and XRG and Chevron's Vaca Muerta expansion.

The following projects have been formally filed and are currently under evaluation by the enforcement authority. Where investment figures have been publicly disclosed, they are included.

Mining

Hydrocarbons and energy

Infrastructure and industry

This list reflects projects publicly identified as pending as of mid-May 2026. Several additional projects may be in the pipeline but have not been individually named in official or press sources. The USD68 billion aggregate figure is according to official Ministry of Economy data.

These two projects account for the bulk of the difference between the formal USD95-billion pipeline and Minister Caputo's projection of USD140 billion in total committed RIGI investment.

The Súper RIGI is a separate, complementary regime – not a replacement for the original RIGI – designed exclusively for projects in industries that do not currently exist in Argentina or exist only at a pilot or experimental scale. The bill (Mensaje No. 181/2026, signed by President Milei, Minister Caputo, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni) was sent to Congress on May 23, 2026.

Eligible activities

Projects must involve new industrial, technological, or strategic digital/technological infrastructure activities that are not currently developed or produced in Argentina. Target sectors include artificial intelligence, semiconductors, copper refining, lithium batteries, electric vehicles, data centers, solar and wind manufacturing, uranium processing, fertilizers, and advanced biotechnology. Expansions or modernizations of existing facilities are expressly excluded from the scope of the Súper RIGI.

Eligible vehicles

Projects must be structured through a Single Project Vehicle (VPU) with exclusive object and ring-fenced assets. Permitted structures include local stock corporations and limited liability companies (S.A.; S.A.U.; and S.R.L.), foreign branches registered locally under Art. 118 of the General Companies Law, joint ventures (UTEs), and other partnership agreements.

Minimum investment and commitment schedule

The minimum investment is USD1 billion minimum per project (compared to USD200 million under the original RIGI). At least 20 percent of the minimum must be invested within the first two years from the adhesion date (compared to 40 percent under the original RIGI). The application window is five years from regulation, extendable once by one year.

Income tax

VPUs pay a flat rate income tax of 15% (compared to 25% under the original RIGI and the 35-percent standard rate). Accelerated depreciation is available and includes movable assets in a minimum of two annual installments and infrastructure at 60 percent in the commissioning year, plus 40 percent over two subsequent years. Net operating losses may be carried forward indefinitely and transferred to third parties after 5 years. All tax losses and adjustments are indexed to CPI.

Debit and credit tax

100% of bank debit and credit tax is creditable against a VPU’s income tax.

Dividend withholding tax

The dividend withholding tax is 7% during the first four years from adhesion; 3.5% from year four onwards (compared to year seven under the original RIGI).

Social security

New employment relationships from the adhesion date are subject to a flat employer contribution rate of 10% (vs. 20.4%–26.4% standard). This benefit is not available under the original RIGI.

Value-added tax

Value-added tax on computable asset purchases is offset through Tax Credit Certificates (Certificados de Crédito Fiscal), freely transferable if the Customs Collection and Control Agency (ARCA) fails to process refunds within 3 months.

Customs duties

There is full exemption from import duties; statistics tax; and all national, provincial, and municipal levies on plan-of-investment assets (including components physically integrated into fixed assets). In addition, there is full exemption from export duties on project products. A VPU may import and export freely without quotas, prior authorizations, or price measures.

FX: Export proceeds

20% of foreign currency generated by VPU’s exports freely available from year 1; 40% from year 2; 100% from year 3 (vs. 100% from year 4 under the original RIGI). Capital contributions, external financings, and service payments are exempt from settlement requirements from the beginning.

Legal stability

Thirty years from the adhesion date in tax, customs, social security, and FX matters. Taxes in force at adhesion are frozen; future increases do not apply. Future decreases in the general regime apply. The burden of proving that a new measure does not increase the investor's tax burden falls on ARCA, not the investor.

Guarantees

The national government guarantees full availability of project outputs without mandatory domestic commercialization (under other local regimes guaranteeing supply to domestic market was mandatory; for example, gas exports), protection against confiscation or expropriation, uninterrupted project operation (absent prior judicial order with due process), and unrestricted access to justice.

Provincial adherence

National incentives only apply to projects in provinces (and municipalities) that expressly adhere. Adhering jurisdictions must 1) cap gross turnover tax (ingresos brutos) at 0.50%  (the single most distortive local tax is up to 5% of gross sales, not including income and applicable at each stage of the local supply chain), 2) exempt all VPU transactions from stamp tax (sellos), 3) waive all royalties and administrative canons, and 4) waive the pay-to-play requirement for VPU legal challenges. Once a province adheres, subsequent withdrawal does not affect previously approved VPUs.

Arbitration

Similar to the original RIGI, disputes are subject to a 60-day amicable negotiation period, after which the VPU may elect the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the International Chamber of Commerce (no abbreviated procedure), or International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes/Additional Facility arbitration. The seat must be outside Argentina in a country that is party to the New York Convention. Proceedings require three-member tribunals, none of which can be nationals of Argentina or of a VPU-controlling shareholder. No exhaustion of administrative remedies is required and there are no limitation periods on arbitral claims. Project rights are treated as protected investments under applicable bilateral investment treaties.

Mutual exclusion with the original RIGI

A VPU may not adhere to the Súper RIGI if it, or a controlled-group entity, has already filed under the original RIGI with a substantially overlapping project. Overlap is defined as sharing 50%  or more of capital expenditure, principal physical assets, or projected production capacity, or having the same value chain or final product. Importantly, the bill provides that corporate reorganizations, spin-offs, transfers, or other restructurings cannot be used to circumvent this exclusion; the enforcement authority may look through any such transaction and apply the overlap test to the economic reality of the project.

OECD Pillar Two

Art. 45 contains a self-limiting clause by which income tax incentives will not apply to the extent that their use would result in a transfer of Argentine fiscal revenues to foreign governments through any global minimum tax mechanism, including GloBE Income Inclusion Rules, Undertaxed Profits Rule, or analogues implementing Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/G-20 Pillar Two. In practice, this means investors whose parent entities are subject to Pillar Two top-up taxes in their home jurisdiction will not receive the full economic benefit of the 15-percent rate – the Argentine incentive will simply be clawed back abroad. Each investor will need to model the net after-Pillar Two benefit of the Súper RIGI based on its specific global tax profile.

III. Key issues to monitor

For more information on conducting business in Argentina, including the RIGI framework or the Súper RIGI bill, please contact Marcelo Etchebarne, Argentina's Managing Partner; Martin Mittleman, Deputy Managing Partner and leader of the Corporate practice; Joaquin Eppens Echagüe, Deputy Managing Partner and leader of the M&A practice; Augusto Mancinelli, leader of the Tax practice; or Richard Chesley, Co-Global Managing Partner.