The leadership of the AFA is facing a very serious criminal complaint. The alleged illegal withholding of taxes exceeding $7.6 billion once again calls Tapia's authority into question
The Argentine Football Association (AFA) has been criminally reported by the General Tax Directorate (DGI), an agency under the Revenue and Customs Control Agency (ARCA), for the alleged misappropriation of taxes and social security resources, with a tax loss amounting to $7,593,903,512.23. The legal filing directly targets the leadership of the entity and identifies Claudio Fabián "Chiqui" Tapia, president of the AFA, as the main person responsible.
The complaint was filed by the DGI, headed by Andrés Vázquez, and covers a period from August of last year to the present. According to the document, the AFA allegedly withheld taxes and social security contributions without making the corresponding deposit in a timely and proper manner, committing offenses defined in Articles 4 and 7, second paragraph, of the Criminal Tax Regime (Law 27,430).
Dirección General Impositiva.
The document was signed by Vanina Mariel Vidal, acting head of the Criminal Section of ARCA's Legal Division, and sponsored by attorneys Matías Alejo Gentile Brezigar and Felicitas Achábal. It details that the AFA, in its capacity as withholding agent, failed to remit the withheld amounts to the treasury, far exceeding the threshold of $100,000 per month required by regulations to constitute a criminal tax offense.
According to the complaint, as of December 10, 2025, the tax withholdings remained unpaid, while those related to social security were only deposited on that date, outside the legal deadline. The information provided by the Large Taxpayers Collection Division specifies that the tax withholdings not remitted on time amount to $916,005,301.41, corresponding to VAT, Income Tax, and Income Article 79, for the months of August and September 2025.
Meanwhile, the withholdings related to social security contributions, made but deposited late, total $6,677,898,210.82, corresponding to the period from December 2024 to September 2025. This way, the State's punitive claim totals $7,593,903,512.23, as confirmed by the media.
The complaint clarifies that the AFA is a civil association registered under the activity "NCP Association Services" and that it has no prior criminal record in the DGI systems. However, it identifies Claudio Tapia as the main person responsible, in his capacity as president of the entity, withholding agent, and administrator of the tax code, which directly implicates the current leadership.
AFA.
In the legal analysis, ARCA keeps that the conduct fits the definition of misappropriation of taxes and social security resources, given the effective withholding of funds, the entity's capacity to make the deposit, and the deliberate omission within the legal deadline. In this context, the precedent "Lambruschi" of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation is cited, which defines this offense as one of instantaneous omission, consummated at the very moment the deposit should have been made.
The document is emphatic in stating that the withheld funds "do not constitute funds that may be freely disposed of," and that their improper retention implies illegal financing at the expense of the State. It also keeps that intent is present, since the AFA was fully aware of its legal obligation.
Finally, the complaint warns that these maneuvers put the State's financial activity at risk, given that public spending depends on tax collection. In a context of adjustment, austerity, and the end of impunity promoted by the government of Javier Milei, the almost feudal power of the AFA and its president is beginning to be challenged by the law.
