"How much does ART cost?" is the first question any SME asks before hiring its first employee in Argentina, and it's one of the hardest to answer directly: there is no list price. What there is, is a clear formula and a list of factors that move it. Here is what the premium is made of, what makes it go up or down, and how it's paid once you've contracted it.
What the premium is made of: a variable rate plus a fixed amount
The premium you pay an ART has two parts (Law 26,773, art. 10). The first is a variable rate: a percentage applied to the total wages you declare, your payroll. The second is a fixed amount per worker, which funds the Fondo Fiduciario de Enfermedades Profesionales. Neither part is the same for every company: each ART sets them within a set of shared indicators.
What moves the rate percentage
The national insurance regulator (SSN) and the SRT jointly set the indicators every ART must weigh when fixing its rate. The main ones are your industry's risk level (an accounting office isn't the same as a metalworking shop), your actual and presumed claims history, and whether you comply with workplace health and safety rules. That's why two companies of the same size can pay different premiums.
Why you won't find a public price table
The SRT has an employer rate lookup tool, but it only lets you check, with Clave Fiscal, the rate already contracted for your own CUIT: it does not publish a general table of values by industry. That means any reference percentage circulating without an official source is, at best, an approximation. The only way to know the real number is to get a quote with your industry and payroll.
How and when it's paid
The premium is declared and paid together with the rest of social security contributions, in the monthly sworn Form 931 filed with ARCA, the agency previously called AFIP (Law 24,557, art. 23). The system computes the ART amount within that same filing, alongside the other contributions.
If you fall behind on payment
If your company stops paying one or more premiums, the ART must still give your injured employee every benefit they're owed: the debt does not leave them uncovered. What the ART does is later claim that debt from you, with interest, through a collection action (Law 24,557, art. 28(4)). Keeping payments current avoids that claim and avoids a record of arrears that makes renewing the policy on good terms harder.
If you never enrolled with an ART
Here the risk is different, and bigger: if your company never contracted an ART, you answer directly, with your own assets, for every benefit an insurer would have owed (Law 24,557, art. 28(1)). The Fondo de Garantía of the workers' compensation law only steps in to cover those benefits if a court declares you unable to pay (arts. 29 and 33): until then, the liability is yours, with no insurer behind it.
Conclusion
There is no single ART price because it depends on your industry, your claims history and your payroll, and there is no public table that sums it up. What is fixed is the structure (variable rate plus fixed amount), the payment channel (Form 931 filed with ARCA), and the consequences of not paying or not being enrolled. With those three points clear, getting a quote stops being a mystery: you just need to tell a broker your industry and payroll to get the real number.
Related reading
The complete ART guide for SMEs and monotributistas
Who must carry it, what it covers, how it's paid and what happens with debt or no ART.
Go to the ART guideFrequently asked questions
What's the average ART rate percentage?
The SRT does not publish an average percentage: its rate lookup tool only lets you check, with Clave Fiscal, the rate already contracted for a specific CUIT, not a general table by industry. The real number comes from a quote based on your industry and payroll.
Is the ART premium paid together with other taxes?
It's paid together with social security contributions, in the monthly Form 931 filed with ARCA (Law 24,557, art. 23), not as a separate tax.
What happens if I pay ART late?
The ART must still cover your employee if they have an accident, and then claims the debt from you, with interest, through a collection action (Law 24,557, art. 28(4)).
Does switching ART providers lower the premium?
You can request the switch with a Certificado de No Objeción 6 months after your first enrollment, and after that with a minimum yearly frequency; your current ART can only deny it if you have debt. Whether it's worth it depends on each insurer's proposal for your industry and payroll.
Want to know what your ART would cost?
Tell us your industry and payroll: we compare the authorized insurers and reply within 24 business hours.
Quote my ART