Hiring your first employee changes your business: agreeing on a salary is no longer enough. You need to define the role, classify the relationship correctly, and complete registration before the person starts working.
To hire your first employee in Argentina, you must register as an employer, correctly determine the type of employment, the applicable collective bargaining agreement and job category, obtain workers’ compensation insurance, register the employee with ARCA before work begins, and organize payroll and employment records from the first month. An accountant can handle much of the registration and calculate payroll taxes, but the decisions that most often create legal exposure—what kind of relationship exists, which duties are being hired, which collective agreement applies, and how the terms are documented—should be legally reviewed in advance.
Key point: registration with ARCA is the end of a series of decisions, not the beginning. If you register first and only later determine the correct category, working hours, or employment arrangement, the relationship may start with inaccurate data that will carry over into payslips, social security payments, and future claims.
1. First decide whether you actually need an employee
The first question is not how much you will pay, but how the services will be performed. An employment relationship exists when an individual voluntarily works for another person or business, receives compensation, and does so under that party’s direction and control. In practice, dependence is usually present when you set working hours, give instructions, supervise performance, integrate the person into your organization, and bear the economic risk of the activity.
If you need someone on an ongoing basis, embedded in the day-to-day operation of the business and subject to your instructions, an employment relationship will normally be appropriate. Asking the person to register under Argentina’s simplified taxpayer regime, known as monotributo, and issue invoices does not by itself turn the relationship into independent contracting. The current text of Argentina’s Employment Contract Act excludes the employment presumption in genuine contracts for independent works or professional services supported by invoices, but it continues to invalidate arrangements designed to simulate or conceal dependent employment.
An independent contractor organizes their own activity, works autonomously, assumes business risk, and delivers a result. An employee makes their labor available to your company. The boundary is not decided by the title of the agreement; it is decided by how the relationship actually operates. Reviewing that distinction before hiring is far less expensive than litigating it years later.
2. Identify the applicable collective agreement and job category
The most common mistake made by a small business hiring for the first time is to look only at the statutory minimum wage or agree on a take-home amount. Pay and many working conditions may be governed by a collective bargaining agreement applicable to the company’s main activity or, in some cases, to the specific duties performed.
The collective agreement may establish job categories, base salaries, additional payments, working time, special leave, attendance bonuses, seniority pay, supplementary hours, and other obligations. Selecting a lower category because it carries a lower base salary will not help if the actual duties fit a different category. In a dispute, what the person really did matters.
Before making an offer, answer five questions: What duties will the person perform? Where will the work be done? What schedule will apply? Who will give instructions? Which category best describes those duties? This basic role profile allows the lawyer to review the legal classification and the accountant to run payroll correctly.
3. Choose an arrangement that reflects a genuine business need
The general rule is indefinite-term employment. There is no need to invent an end date simply to “try out” the person: Argentine employment law already provides a probationary period. A fixed-term contract requires an expressly stated term in writing and an objective reason connected to the work or the activity. Repeated temporary contracts used to fill a permanent position may be treated as indefinite-term employment.
Part-time employment is also available. Following the 2026 reform, it covers schedules shorter than the statutory or collectively agreed working time and requires proportionate pay that cannot be lower than that received by a full-time worker in the same category. It is not a way to register four hours while requiring eight: schedules, payslips, and actual operations must match.
If the work will be remote, you should also review Argentina’s telework rules, equipment, expense reimbursement, information security, and supervision. If the need is exceptional or temporary, an eventual employment arrangement may be considered, but the underlying reason must be genuine and capable of proof.
4. Calculate the total cost, not just the salary
This is where the accountant is essential. The projection should include gross salary, employee withholdings, employer social security contributions, the workers’ compensation insurance premium, mandatory insurance, and collective-agreement items. You should also budget for the statutory 13th salary—known as aguinaldo or SAC—paid vacation, paid leave, and a reasonable reserve for replacements or contingencies.
There is no useful universal percentage because the cost changes with the activity, the employer’s status, the collective agreement, the insurer, the social health insurance scheme, and any incentives in force. A sound estimate is based on the actual job category and hiring date. The difference between gross salary, take-home pay, and total employer cost must be clear before an offer is made.
For hires made in 2026, the Employment Formalization Incentive Regime, known as RIFL, may also be relevant. Law 27,802 provides temporary reductions in certain employer contributions for qualifying new hires, including some individuals who were unemployed, registered as monotributistas, or had no registered employment on the statutory cut-off date. A business that first became an employer on or after December 10, 2025 may also qualify within the regulatory limits. Because eligibility and the election must be checked at registration, ask your accountant to verify the regime expressly rather than assuming that every new hire qualifies.
5. Prepare the business before the first day
The employer must have a CUIT tax identification number, tax credentials, and employer registration. The business must also obtain coverage from an ART—an Argentine workers’ compensation insurer—before work starts, and organize the wage-payment account, social health insurance, and any other required coverage. Depending on the activity, pre-employment medical examinations, safety training, personal protective equipment, or specific protocols may also be required.
A pre-employment medical examination is not a tool for screening people out because of their health. Its purpose is to record fitness and pre-existing conditions in relation to the proposed duties. Medical information must remain confidential and must never be used discriminatorily.
Onboarding records should also include personal and contact details, the employee’s CUIL labor identification number, address, bank account, documentation required for family allowances and social health insurance, and acknowledgment of any internal policies that genuinely apply.
If you are still deciding how to structure the business before your first hire, our comparison of an Argentine SAS and SRL explains the main differences between the two common closely held company forms.
6. Register the employee before work begins
Official guidance states that every employment relationship must be registered, regardless of the arrangement, through ARCA’s Simplificación Registral system. ARCA is Argentina’s federal tax and customs agency. The filing includes information such as the start date, employment arrangement, position, schedule, social health insurance, and collective agreement. Law 27,802 provides that registration with ARCA is legally sufficient and that no other authority may impose an additional labor-registration requirement.
“I will register the employee once I see how things go” gets the order exactly wrong. The probationary period only operates within an employment relationship registered from the start. Failure to register—or late registration—may generate evidentiary presumptions in the employee’s favor, social security debt, penalties, and loss of the probationary period.
Keep the registration confirmation and provide a copy to the employee. If the person ultimately does not start, the filing should be properly cancelled. Do not leave an open relationship in the system or improvise a retroactive termination.
7. Document the agreement even when a long contract is not required
An indefinite-term employment relationship can exist without a lengthy written agreement, but a clear offer letter or short contract is advisable for a first hire. It must match the registration, the payslip, and day-to-day reality. At a minimum, identify the start date, duties, category, collective agreement, working hours, place of work, compensation, employment arrangement, and any equipment provided.
Depending on the role, reasonable provisions may address confidentiality, data protection, system use, return of equipment, and ownership of work product created within employment. These provisions cannot waive mandatory employee rights or impose disproportionate restrictions on future work. Their purpose is to protect specific business interests, not to fill pages with restrictions that cannot be enforced.
If you provide a computer, telephone, keys, vehicle, or access to business accounts, document the delivery. Also state who authorizes expenses, deductions, supplementary hours, remote work, and leave. A simple policy that is known and consistently applied is more valuable than a large handbook that nobody follows.
8. How the probationary period works in 2026
The general probationary period is six months. A collective bargaining agreement may extend it to eight months for businesses with six to 100 employees and to one year for businesses with up to five employees. When hiring your first employee, reading the general rule is therefore not enough: you must check whether the applicable collective agreement has used that option.
The employment relationship is fully effective during probation. The employer must register the worker, pay wages and social security contributions, provide coverage for work-related and ordinary illness and injury, respect leave rights, and recognize seniority. Probation is not authorized informal work. If the employer fails to register the employee from the start, the law treats the employer as having waived the probationary period.
The same person cannot be hired on probation twice by the same employer, and employers cannot rotate successive workers through probation to fill one permanent position. If employment ends during a valid probationary period, statutory seniority severance is not due; the 2026 reform also removed the notice requirement during this stage.
9. Organize monthly administration from the first payslip
Every month, the employer must calculate wages, make employee withholdings, file the social security return, pay employee and employer contributions, and issue a payslip containing all required information. The start date, category, and duties must be consistent with the registration. A bank transfer does not replace the payslip or cure an incorrect payroll calculation.
The 2026 rules changed the contents and operation of several employment records. The specific payroll setup should remain with the accountant responsible for wage calculations and filings.
From a legal perspective, the business should retain personnel files, hiring and termination records, payslips, proof of payment, working-time records, vacation requests and approvals, medical certificates, disciplinary notices, training records, equipment acknowledgments, and relevant communications. The records should reflect a properly managed relationship, not be created only after a conflict appears.
A practical example: the first hire in a design studio
Imagine that an independent designer opens a studio and hires someone to assist clients, prepare quotes, and coordinate deliveries from Monday to Friday. They verbally agree on a take-home salary, and the accountant registers the person as a part-time administrative employee.
Two months later, the employee works eight hours a day, answers messages outside working hours, and also creates design work. The problem is not the absence of a 20-page agreement. It is that the schedule, category, duties, and actual compensation do not match the registration.
The preventive solution was straightforward: define the role first, review the collective agreement, distinguish administrative from creative duties, establish a realistic schedule, budget the gross cost, and document working-time boundaries. The accountant would then calculate payroll from accurate data, and the lawyer would prevent an internally inconsistent arrangement.
What the accountant reviews—and what the lawyer should review
The accountant registers the business as an employer, processes the employee’s filing, calculates wages and payroll taxes, submits returns, and checks contribution incentives. The lawyer determines whether employment dependence exists, which arrangement is legally valid, which collective agreement and category apply, how the documents should be drafted, and which risks arise from the way the work will actually operate.
These roles complement one another. If the lawyer ignores cost, the proposed structure may be financially unworkable. If the accountant receives legally incorrect assumptions, the payroll may be perfectly calculated but still rest on the wrong foundation.
Before making the offer: duties, collective agreement, category, schedule, employment arrangement, and total cost.
Before the start date: employer registration, ART coverage, any required examination, offer letter or contract, and employee registration with ARCA.
From the first month: payslip, bank payment, social security contributions, working-time records, leave, and payroll changes.
Throughout employment: consistency among what is registered, what is paid, and what actually happens.
Frequently asked questions
Can I hire my first employee as a monotributista? Only if the person is genuinely providing independent services. If the person works under your direction and is integrated into your business, invoices do not eliminate the employment relationship.
Do I need a written employment contract? Indefinite-term employment does not always require a written instrument, but documenting duties, working hours, category, and terms reduces ambiguity. Temporary arrangements require additional formalities.
Can I terminate employment during probation? Yes, if the probationary period is still running and the relationship was registered from the start. Seniority severance is not due, but all salary and other amounts accrued through termination must be paid.
How much does it cost to employ someone in Argentina? There is no universal percentage. The cost depends on the collective-agreement salary, additional items, employer contributions, workers’ compensation insurance, social health insurance, mandatory coverage, and available incentives. Ask for an accounting projection based on the actual role and hiring date.
Are you preparing to make your first hire?
We review the arrangement before registration so that the collective agreement, category, working hours, and documents match the way your business actually operates.
Herrera & Flamenco Abogados · Córdoba, Argentina