Travel agency glossary: Your agency's terms, plainly defined
The glossary of a travel agency's back office in Argentina.
Operations, collections, invoicing and VAT: what each term means and where Tripwise uses it.
In short
The Tripwise glossary defines the terms an Argentine travel agency uses every day: operational ones, such as operator, wholesaler or air + land allotment, and tax ones, such as ARCA, A, B and C invoices, non-taxed amounts or IVA Simple. Each term links to the guide or the module that explains it in detail.
- A, B and C invoices
- The letters of an Argentine electronic invoice, set by the tax status of the issuer and of the receiver: a VAT-registered business issues A or B, and a Monotributo taxpayer issues C. The invoicing guide explains which one each customer gets.
- Agency fee
- The agency's own charge on top of what the passenger pays, as a percentage or as an amount per passenger. In Tripwise it is optional and goes into the booking's profit.
- Air + land allotment (cupo aeroterrestre)
- A closed air and land package an agency buys from a wholesaler and sells as one unit, with its operator, its booking code and its option deadline. In Tripwise it is a booking type of its own.
- ARCA (formerly AFIP)
- The Agencia de Recaudación y Control Aduanero, Argentina's national tax and customs agency; it replaced AFIP. It authorizes electronic invoices and receives VAT returns.
- Booking profit
- What the agency charges the passenger minus what it pays each operator, service by service and in each currency. If the agency is VAT-registered, Tripwise shows it net of VAT. The guide to profit, VAT and commission walks through an example.
- CAE
- The electronic authorization code (Código de Autorización Electrónico) ARCA assigns to an electronic invoice when it authorizes it. It is what makes the invoice valid, and it is printed on it with its expiry date.
- Credit note and debit note
- Documents that correct an invoice already issued: a credit note takes off all or part of its amount and a debit note adds to it. They carry the same letter as the invoice they correct.
- Exchange rate (tipo de cambio)
- The rate used to convert a payment between pesos and dollars. In Tripwise you pick the source (Official, Blue, MEP or manual) and it is saved with its date (Multi-currency).
- Homologation (homologación)
- ARCA's test environment for electronic invoicing: what is issued there has no tax effect and serves to check that everything works. Tripwise uses it for the test invoice (ARCA invoicing).
- IVA Simple (form F. 2051)
- ARCA's system for VAT-registered businesses to work out and file VAT in the Portal IVA (RG 5705/2025), with the invoices issued and received already pre-loaded. See what changed with the Libro IVA Digital.
- Libro de IVA Digital
- The electronic register of purchases and sales created by RG 4597. Since RG 5707/2025 it applies to VAT-exempt taxpayers; VAT-registered businesses file through IVA Simple.
- Monotributo
- Argentina's simplified regime for small taxpayers: a single monthly payment covers taxes and contributions, and the taxpayer issues C invoices, which show the total with no VAT broken out.
- Net position
- The balance of the agency's accounts, plus what passengers still owe, minus what is still owed to operators, in each currency. It shows how much of the money on hand belongs to the agency (Cash flow).
- Non-taxed (no gravado)
- The part of an invoice's amount that VAT does not apply to. On a VAT-registered agency's invoice it generally covers the third-party services; Tripwise works out the split from the booking's profit.
- Operator (operador)
- The supplier the agency buys a service from: a wholesaler, a hotel, an airline or a local operator at the destination. Every service in a booking carries its operator and what is paid to it.
- Output and input VAT (débito y crédito fiscal)
- The VAT on sales (output, débito fiscal) and on purchases (input, crédito fiscal). A VAT-registered business pays the difference between the two each period.
- Payment plan
- An agreement for the passenger to pay a booking in instalments, each with its due date. Tripwise alerts the team before each due date (Collections).
- Payment receipt (Recibo de pago)
- A non-fiscal document that records a payment and the passenger who made it. It carries the legend «DOCUMENTO NO VALIDO COMO FACTURA» (not valid as an invoice): the electronic invoice is issued separately, with ARCA (Collections).
- Point of sale (punto de venta)
- The number that identifies each channel a taxpayer issues documents from in ARCA. Invoice numbers run consecutively within each point of sale and document type.
- Receiver's VAT status
- The customer's tax category in the transaction (VAT-registered, Monotributo, final consumer or exempt), which the electronic invoice reports since RG 5616/2024. Tripwise asks for it on every invoice (ARCA invoicing).
- Record locator (localizador)
- The code that identifies a flight booking at the airline (also PNR). The AI import reads it from the wholesaler's confirmation, along with the passengers and the legs.
- Taxed net (neto gravado)
- The part of an invoice's amount that VAT applies to, before the tax: the base the VAT is worked out on. For a VAT-registered agency, Tripwise shows the split between non-taxed, taxed net and VAT before issuing.
- VAT-registered (Responsable Inscripto)
- A taxpayer registered for VAT: it charges the tax on its sales, credits the tax on its purchases and issues A and B invoices.
- Voucher verification (WSCDC)
- ARCA's service that checks that a document received exists and matches what its issuer reported. Tripwise uses it on purchase invoices (VAT books).
- Wholesaler (mayorista)
- A company that puts together travel services and packages and sells them to retail agencies, which in turn sell them to the passenger. For the agency it is one of its operators.
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