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Summary of significant accounting policies (Policies) | 9 Months Ended
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Sep. 30, 2023
Accounting Policies [Abstract] |
Basis of presentation | Basis of presentation The accompanying unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements are prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and include the accounts of the Company, its wholly-owned subsidiaries and consolidated Variable Interest Entities (“VIE”). Investments in entities where the Company holds joint control, but not control, over the investee are accounted for using the equity method of accounting. These unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements are stated in U.S. dollars, except where otherwise indicated. Intercompany transactions and balances with subsidiaries have been eliminated for consolidation purposes.
Use of estimates | Use of estimates The preparation of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires Management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Estimates are used for, but not limited to, accounting for allowance for doubtful accounts and chargeback provisions, inventories valuation reserves, recoverability of goodwill, intangible assets with indefinite useful lives and deferred tax assets, impairment of short-term and long-term investments, impairment of long-lived assets, separation of lease and non lease components for aircraft leases, compensation costs relating to the Company’s long term retention program, fair value of convertible debt, fair value of investments, fair value of loans receivable, fair value of derivative instruments, income taxes and contingencies and determination of the incremental borrowing rate at commencement date of lease operating agreements. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Revenue recognition | Revenue recognition Revenue recognition criteria for the services provided and goods sold by the Company are described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in the Company’s 2022 10-K. The aggregate gain included in “Fintech services” revenues arising from financing transactions and sales of financial assets, net of the costs recognized on sale of credit card receivables, is $1,055 million and $379 million for the nine and three-month periods ended September 30, 2023 and $751 million and $261 million for the nine and three-month periods ended September 30, 2022, respectively. Contract balances Timing of revenue recognition may differ from the timing of invoicing to customers. Receivables represent amounts invoiced and revenue recognized prior to invoicing when the Company has satisfied the performance obligation and has the unconditional right to payment. Accounts receivable and credit card receivables and other means of payments are presented net of allowance for doubtful accounts and chargebacks of $35 million and $25 million as of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, respectively. See Note 6 of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements for information related to the allowance for doubtful accounts with respect to the Company’s loans receivable. Deferred revenue consists of fees received related to unsatisfied performance obligations at the end of the period in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606. Due to the generally short-term duration of contracts, the majority of the performance obligations are satisfied in the following months.
Foreign currency translation | Foreign currency translation All of the Company’s foreign operations have determined the local currency to be their functional currency, except for Argentina, which has used the U.S. dollar as its functional currency since July 1, 2018. Accordingly, the foreign subsidiaries with local currency as functional currency translate assets and liabilities from their local currencies into U.S. dollars by using period-end exchange rates while income and expense accounts are translated at the average monthly rates in effect during the period, unless exchange rates fluctuate significantly during the period, in which case the exchange rates at the date of the transaction are used. The resulting translation adjustment is recorded as a component of other comprehensive income. Net foreign currency transaction results are included in the unaudited interim condensed consolidated statements of income under the caption “Foreign currency losses, net”. Argentine currency status As of July 1, 2018, the Company transitioned its Argentine operations to highly inflationary status in accordance with U.S. GAAP, and changed the functional currency for Argentine subsidiaries from Argentine Pesos to U.S. dollars, which is the functional currency of their immediate parent company.
Income taxes | Income taxes Income taxes’ accounting policy is described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements in the Company’s 2022 10-K. The Company’s consolidated estimated effective tax rate for the nine-month period ended September 30, 2023 increased as compared to the same period in 2022. This was a result of (i) taxable foreign exchange gains accounted for local tax purposes that are not recorded for accounting purposes since, under U.S. GAAP, Argentina’s operations’ functional currency is the U.S. dollar due to the highly inflationary status of the country, (ii) a higher proportion of pre-tax results arising from entities under general income tax treatment regime over the Brazilian segment as compared to the same period in 2022 and (iii) higher non-deductible foreign exchange losses related to the acquisition of our own common stock in the Argentine market. This increase was partially offset by the reversal of the valuation allowances in one of the Company’s Mexican subsidiaries during the third quarter of 2023. The Company’s consolidated estimated effective tax rate for the three-month period ended September 30, 2023 decreased as compared to the same period in 2022, mainly as a result of the reversal of the valuation allowances in one of its Mexican subsidiaries during the third quarter of 2023. This decrease was partially offset by taxable foreign exchange gains accounted for local tax purposes, which are not recorded for accounting purposes given that under U.S. GAAP and due to Argentina’s highly inflationary status, Argentina’s operations’ functional currency is the U.S. dollar. A valuation allowance is recorded when, based on the available evidence, it is more likely than not that all or a portion of the Company’s deferred tax assets will not be realized. In accordance with ASC 740, Management periodically assesses the need to either establish or reverse a valuation allowance for deferred tax assets considering positive and negative objective evidence related to the realization of the deferred tax assets. In its assessment, Management considers, among other factors, the nature, frequency and magnitude of current and cumulative losses on an individual subsidiary basis, projections of future taxable income, the duration of statutory carryforward periods, as well as feasible tax planning strategies, which would be employed by the Company to prevent tax loss carryforwards from expiring unutilized. As of September 30, 2023, the Company’s Management concluded that an amount of $141 million of valuation allowance should be reversed at that date given that is more likely than not that deferred tax assets from DeRemate.com de México, S. de R.L. de C.V., a Mexican subsidiary, will be realized in the foreseeable future. The change in judgment regarding the realizability of the deferred tax assets of the Mexican subsidiary was triggered during the three-month period ended September 30, 2023, as positive trends observed in recent periods became enough evidence to support the conclusion. Knowledge-based economy promotional regime in Argentina In August 2021, the Under Secretariat of Knowledge Economy issued the Disposition 316/2021 approving MercadoLibre S.R.L.’s application for eligibility under the knowledge-based economy promotional regime, established by the Law No. 27,506 and complemented by Argentina’s Executive Power Decree No. 1034/2020, Argentina’s Ministry of Productive Development’s Resolution No. 4/2021 and the Under Secretariat of Knowledge Economy’s Disposition No. 11/2021. As a result, the Company recorded an income tax benefit of $35 million and $14 million, and $19 million and $15 million during the nine and three-month periods ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The aggregate per share effect of the income tax benefit amounted to $0.69 and $0.27, and $0.38 and $0.30 for the nine and three-month periods ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Furthermore, the Company recorded a social security benefit of $49 million and $16 million, and $39 million and $13 million during the nine and three-month periods ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Fair value option applied to certain financial instruments | Fair value option applied to certain financial instruments Under ASC 825, U.S. GAAP provides an option to elect fair value with impact on the statement of income as an alternative measurement for certain financial instruments and other items on the balance sheet. The Company has elected to measure certain financial assets at fair value with impact on the statement of income for several reasons including to avoid the mismatch generated by the recognition of certain linked instruments / transactions, separately, in the unaudited interim condensed consolidated statement of income and unaudited interim condensed consolidated statement of comprehensive income and to better reflect the financial model applied for selected instruments. The Company’s election of the fair value option applies to the: i) Brazilian federal government bonds and ii) U.S. treasury notes.
Recently Adopted Accounting Standards & Recently issued accounting pronouncements not yet adopted | Recently Adopted Accounting Standards On October 28, 2021, the FASB issued the Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2021-08 “Business Combinations (Topic 805): Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers”. The amendments in this update improve comparability for the recognition and measurement of acquired revenue contracts with customers at the date of and after a business combination by specifying for all acquired revenue contracts regardless of their timing of payment (1) the circumstances in which the acquirer should recognize contract assets and contract liabilities that are acquired in a business combination and (2) how to measure those contract assets and contract liabilities. The amendments provide consistent recognition and measurement guidance for revenue contracts with customers acquired in a business combination and revenue contracts with customers not acquired in a business combination. The Company adopted this standard effective as of January 1, 2023 and it did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements. On March 31, 2022, the FASB issued the ASU 2022-02 “Troubled Debt Restructurings (“TDRs”) and Vintage Disclosures (Topic 326): Financial Instruments – Credit Losses”, which eliminates the accounting guidance on TDRs, while enhancing disclosure requirements for certain loan refinancings and restructurings by creditors when a borrower is experiencing financial difficulty. In addition, the guidance requires disclosure of current-period gross write-offs by year of origination for financing receivables and net investment in leases. The amendments should be applied prospectively, except for the transition method related to the recognition and measurement of TDRs, where an entity has the option to apply a modified retrospective transition method, resulting in a cumulative-effect adjustment to retained earnings in the period of adoption. The Company adopted this standard effective as of January 1, 2023 and it did not have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements. On September 29, 2022, the FASB issued the ASU 2022-04 “Liabilities—Supplier Finance Programs (Subtopic 405-50): Disclosure of Supplier Finance Program Obligations”. The amendments in this update require entities that use supplier finance programs in connection with the purchase of goods and services to disclose the key terms of the programs and information about their obligations outstanding at the end of the reporting period, including a rollforward of those obligations. The guidance does not affect the recognition, measurement or financial statement presentation of supplier finance program obligations. The Company adopted this standard effective as of January 1, 2023, except for the rollforward requirement, which is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023. Early adoption is permitted. The guidance should be applied retrospectively to all periods in which a balance sheet is presented, except for the rollforward requirement, which should be applied prospectively. The Company and certain financial institutions participate in a supplier finance program (“SFP”) that enables certain of the Company’s suppliers, at their own election, to request the payment of their invoices to the financial institutions earlier than the terms stated in the Company’s payment policy. Suppliers’ voluntary inclusion of invoices in the SFP does not change the Company’s payment terms, the amounts paid or liquidity. The Company has no economic interest in a supplier’s decision to participate in the SFP and has no financial impact in connection with the SFP. As of September 30, 2023 and December 31, 2022, the obligations outstanding that the Company has confirmed as valid to the financial institutions amounted to $302 million and $227 million, respectively, and are included in the unaudited interim condensed consolidated balance sheets within accounts payable and accrued expenses line. Recently issued accounting pronouncements not yet adopted As of the date of issuance of these unaudited interim condensed consolidated financial statements there were no accounting pronouncements issued not yet adopted expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.

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