Electronic invoicing for auto shops in Argentina: ARCA, CAE and your software

The essentials

AFIP is now ARCA (Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero). The name and the portal changed; the electronic invoicing regime didn't.
A receipt without a CAE (Código de Autorización Electrónico) isn't valid. ARCA grants the CAE, receipt by receipt.
Which letter you issue depends on two conditions: yours and your customer's. A monotributista always issues C; a responsable inscripto issues A or B depending on who they're selling to.
There are two paths: entering data by hand in Comprobantes en línea, or having your software request the CAE via web service. Only the second one scales at a shop.
You need to register your own electronic point of sale for the system you use. It's the most common configuration mistake when starting out.

If you run a shop in Argentina, electronic invoicing stopped being news a while ago: it covers monotributistas and responsables inscriptos alike, and it doesn't depend on the amount. What still causes confusion is something else: which letter applies in each case, and above all, how much manual work something the software should handle on its own is costing you.

This guide is about the second part. It's not accounting advice — for your specific situation, talk to your accountant — but rather what your management program has to do so that invoicing doesn't mean entering everything twice.

From AFIP to ARCA: what changed and what didn't

In 2025 AFIP was renamed ARCA, Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero. For a shop, the change is more cosmetic than substantive: the name, the branding and some portal addresses changed, but the electronic invoicing regime, the CAE and the receipt types keep working the same way.

I mention this because it creates noise: you'll find documentation, tutorials and even software that still say "AFIP." That doesn't mean they're out of date on what matters. What is worth checking is that your software provider updated the endpoints if any changed — something that shouldn't be your problem to solve.

Which receipt your shop issues

This is where people get it wrong most, because it doesn't depend only on you. It depends on the intersection between your VAT status and your customer's.

If you are…	And you sell to…	You issue
Monotributista	Anyone	Factura C
Responsable inscripto	Responsable inscripto	Factura A
Responsable inscripto	End consumer, monotributista or exempt	Factura B
Anyone	Customer abroad	Factura E

At a shop this plays out every day: the same day you invoice an individual who brought in their car and a business with a fleet. If you're a responsable inscripto, those two transactions carry different letters and itemize VAT differently. Your software has to decide the letter on its own, based on the status stored on the customer's record. If it makes you pick it by hand on every invoice, it's only a matter of time before something goes wrong.

The fleet case: for a shop, business customers are the ones who pay best and have the least tolerance for a badly issued receipt, because it breaks their tax credit calculation. Having each customer's VAT status correctly on file isn't tidiness: it's what lets you keep them.

The CAE: without it, the invoice doesn't exist

Every receipt you issue needs a CAE, the Código de Autorización Electrónico granted by ARCA. It's what makes it valid. The circuit is: you build the receipt, you request it from ARCA, ARCA responds with the CAE and its expiration date, and only then can you hand it to the customer.

Two practical consequences worth knowing:

If ARCA's service doesn't respond, you can't invoice. It happens. Decent software retries on its own and notifies you; bad software leaves you staring at an error without knowing whether the invoice went through.
The CAE expires. It's not eternal, and there are deadlines for delivering the receipt. Invoicing today something from three weeks ago isn't always as simple as it sounds.

The two paths: by hand or via web service

To get the CAE you have two options, and the difference between them is all the work at the counter.

Comprobantes en línea. ARCA's free web service. You log in with your CUIT and clave fiscal and enter the invoice by hand. It works perfectly if you issue five invoices a month. At a busy shop it means entering every repair twice: once in your management system and once on the portal. Besides wasting time, every re-entry is a chance for an amount not to match.

Electronic invoicing web service. Your program connects directly to ARCA and requests the CAE without you leaving the repair order screen. It requires a digital certificate tied to your CUIT and authorization for the service — a one-time procedure. From there, you close the order and the invoice comes out with its CAE.

If you're evaluating programs, this is the question that saves you the most money: "does it request the CAE on its own, or do I have to go to the ARCA portal?" Many generic systems say they "issue electronic invoices" when in reality they only build a PDF that you then enter by hand.

Point of sale: the most common configuration mistake

Before issuing, you need to register a point of sale associated with the system you're going to use, and of the right type (electronic via web service, or whichever matches the method chosen). It's not optional, and it isn't inherited from your old paper receipt book.

The classic mistake: trying to issue via web service with a point of sale registered for a different mode. ARCA rejects it, the error message isn't especially clear, and a whole morning is lost. If your software provider doesn't walk you through this step, it's a sign of what support will be like afterward.

What to demand from your shop program

Argentina checklist

Does it request the CAE via web service? Put another way: can you invoice without opening the ARCA portal? If the answer is no, it's not integrated.
Does it choose the letter on its own? Based on your status and your customer's, without you choosing it on every receipt.
Does it store the VAT status and the CUIT on the customer's record? That's what makes the above possible.
What does it do if ARCA doesn't respond? Retrying on its own and notifying you is correct. Leaving you not knowing whether the invoice went out is not.
Does it issue credit and debit notes linked to the original receipt? A shop needs more of these than you'd think.
Does it help you with the digital certificate and the point of sale? It's the step where most people get stuck when starting out.
Does the invoice come out of the repair order? If you have to re-enter the parts and labor on another screen, the software isn't saving you the work, it's just moving it around.

Invoicing correctly isn't the same as earning more

Everything above gets you invoicing by the book. That's good, but it's the last step in the chain, and it's not where a shop loses money. It's lost earlier: in the quote that was sent and nobody followed up on, in the customer who wasn't told the car was ready, in the service that was due in six months that nobody remembered.

If you're switching systems because your current one forces you to invoice by hand, use the change to cover the whole journey. It's the same migration effort, and the result isn't comparable. In shop software in Latin America we look at it from a regional perspective.

Sources

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FAQ

Did AFIP stop existing? Do I have to do any paperwork?

AFIP was renamed ARCA (Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero). For a shop there's no paperwork to do because of the name change: your CUIT, your clave fiscal, your points of sale and your certificates stay the same. The only thing to check is that your software provider updated the technical configuration if any service address changed — something they should handle, not you.

Does a small-shop monotributista have to issue electronic invoices?

Yes. The regime covers monotributistas too, and it doesn't depend on the transaction amount. A monotributista issues a factura C to any customer. The difference from a responsable inscripto is that it doesn't itemize VAT.

What happens if I issue the wrong letter?

The one who usually loses out is your business customer: if they're entitled to a factura A and you issue a B, they can't claim the tax credit. For you it means having to issue a credit note and redo the receipt. That's why it's worth having the software choose the letter based on the customer's stored status, instead of leaving it to whoever's at the counter.

Can I invoice without an internet connection?

Not at that moment, because the CAE is granted by ARCA online. What good software can do is let you close the repair order and queue the CAE request for when the service is back, notifying you of its status. What it shouldn't do is hand you a receipt without a CAE as if it were valid.

Do I need a digital certificate to invoice from my program?

Yes, if you want your software to request the CAE directly via web service. It's a certificate tied to your CUIT that you set up with your clave fiscal and authorize for the invoicing service. You do it once. If you use Comprobantes en línea instead, you don't need a certificate, but you'll be entering every invoice by hand on the portal.

My system says it issues electronic invoices, but I still have to go into ARCA. Is that normal?

It's common, and it's worth calling it what it is: that system isn't integrated with ARCA, it just builds the receipt for you to load afterward. Real integration means the invoice comes out with its CAE without you leaving your screen. It's the most concrete question you can ask a provider before signing up.