Argentina and South Korea concluded negotiations for their first bilateral income tax treaty on 31 July 2026. The agreement was reached during a summit between South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Argentine President Javier Milei, held at the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires.
The treaty still requires formal signature and ratification by both countries before it can enter into force. No timetable for those steps has been announced.
The South Korean government described the agreement as a measure that will reduce the double-taxation burden on Korean companies operating in Argentina and improve the predictability of the investment environment. Argentina has long been a challenging jurisdiction for foreign investors, combining high statutory rates with a complex system of provincial and federal levies, so a framework for eliminating double taxation fills a significant gap for cross-border businesses.
The treaty forms part of a broader package of economic agreements concluded at the summit. The two governments also signed a memorandum of understanding on critical minerals cooperation, covering policy and investment-regime information-sharing as well as joint projects across the lithium value chain, from exploration and extraction through to processing. The leaders separately agreed to work towards resuming negotiations for a Korea-MERCOSUR free trade agreement, which would expand Korean companies' access to the wider South American market.
On the energy side, the South Korean National Security Office confirmed that Korean companies had already conducted a pilot import of Argentine crude oil in 2026 and that full commercial imports are planned to begin in 2027. The two governments committed to cooperate on stable oil supply arrangements and to broaden energy collaboration to include natural gas and nuclear power.
The tax treaty, once signed and ratified, will be South Korea's first double-taxation convention with any MERCOSUR member state, and Argentina's network of tax treaties with East Asian economies remains thin. Practitioners advising on Korea-Argentina structures should monitor the formal signature process and the content of the agreed text once it is published.