Tax Law

Import from Chile and taxes

Taxes: If someone brings to Chile equipment for commercial uses in Chile, all the customs duties and taxes of such equipment should be paid before the devices enter the country, notwithstanding if you bought, leased or just borrowed the equipment. (ingreso definitivo).

If someone wishes to bring equipment for less than 6 months, then temporary entrance of the equipment is advisable, because you pay only a percentage of the duty and taxes you paid in a normal entrance. The downside of the temporary entrance is that if you for whatever reason want to leave the equipment in Chile definitely, the custom duties and taxes paid cannot be credited to the payment due for the definitive entrance of the equipment and also if the equipment remains for longer than 6 months there is no reduction in the number of custom duties and taxes and the company is obliged to return the articles within the period it was declared when the equipment entered the country,

It is also advisable to look if the country of origin of these devices has a Free Trade Agreement with Chile, because in this case most probably the assets that are going to enter the country will be not subject to any customs duties, provided that a certificate of origin is provided.

The taxes that are levied when equipment enters Chile are VAT in the amount of 19% and customs duties, which are on average 6% of the CIF – price. Chile has free trade agreements with a lot of countries including the USA. So, if the equipment is from a country having a Free Trade Agreement with Chile usually custom duties will be 0%, if the equipment complies with the rules of origin agreed in the respective Free Trade Agreement.

In accordance with the Free Trade Agreement with the USA, if the equipment must be sent back to the US to be repaired when it returns to Chile no taxes are levied.

A wise way to import the equipment is via a lease agreement. The advantage of a lease agreement is that the payments can be credited as expenses and deducted from incomes.

Payments of international leasing, however, are subject to a tax levied on every rate paid an amount of 1.8% (Impuesto adicional). These agreements must be informed to the Chilean IRS previously.

Last modified: 24/11/2020