VAT (IVA) and invoicing in Chile (2026): a practical guide

Chile's value added tax is IVA (Impuesto al Valor Agregado), set out in Decree Law 825, the law on sales and services tax. It is one of the simplest VAT systems in Latin America on paper: a single 19% rate, no turnover threshold and one monthly return. It is also one of the most digital: every invoice, credit note and receipt has been an electronic document checked by the tax authority, the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), for years, and the SII pre-fills your purchase and sales records from them. This guide explains the rules as of October 2026, with examples in Chilean pesos.

IVA in Chile at a glance

The 19% rate and what is exempt

Article 14 of Decree Law 825 sets one rate: 19%. There is no reduced rate for food, books or medicines.

Since 1 January 2023 (Ley 21.420), IVA applies to services in general, not only to commercial and industrial ones. The main exemptions that remain:

• Professional fees earned by individuals, and by professional partnerships (sociedades de profesionales) that meet the legal conditions. A company set up as an SpA, SA or EIRL does not qualify.
• Education, limited to the teaching activity itself.
• Health: outpatient services, and services financed by FONASA or an ISAPRE up to the FONASA tariff. Laboratory services are not included.
• Interest and other financial income, and work by individuals where physical effort matters more than capital.
• Exports: exempt, and exporters can recover the IVA they paid on their purchases (article 36).

On top of IVA, some goods carry an additional tax: 15% on luxury items such as jewellery, precious stones and fine furs; 10% on soft drinks (18% if they contain more than 15 g of sugar per 240 ml); 20.5% on wine, beer and cider; and 31.5% on spirits such as pisco and whisky.

Who must register: the RUT and the start of activities

Chile has no small-business threshold for IVA. If you sell taxable goods or services, you charge IVA from your first sale. What you must do is declare the start of activities (inicio de actividades) to the SII, by law within two months of starting (article 68 of the Tax Code). You use your RUT, the tax number of people and companies, written with a check digit from 0 to 9 or K, such as 76.123.456-7.

Since Ley 21.713, others must ask for proof that you declared your start of activities: public bodies and municipalities when they grant permits, banks when they work with companies, and electronic payment providers and digital platforms. An informal start is harder than it used to be.

Professionals and the boleta de honorarios

Individuals who provide professional services are generally exempt from IVA and issue an electronic boleta de honorarios instead of an invoice. When the client is a company, it withholds income tax: 15.25% in 2026, rising to 16% in 2027 and 17% in 2028 (Ley 21.133).

Form 29: the monthly IVA return

Every month you declare on Form 29 (F29) the IVA you charged on sales (débito fiscal) minus the IVA on your purchases (crédito fiscal), together with other monthly taxes and withholdings.

When a deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, it moves to the next business day. If your credit is higher than your debit, the remaining credit carries forward to the next month.

The SII makes this easier than it sounds:

• the Registro de Compras y Ventas (RCV), in place since August 2017, is built by the SII from the electronic documents you issue and receive. Before filing, you complete it with any paper documents and confirm the nature of each purchase
• the SII then offers a proposed F29 (propuesta de F29) based on the RCV
• small and medium-sized businesses with average annual income of up to 100,000 UF over the last three years can postpone paying the IVA by up to two months after the deadline, if they meet the conditions (for example being registered for e-mail notifications and having filed their previous returns). The return itself is still due on time

The annual income tax return (Form 22) is filed in April.

Invoices and boletas: what they must contain

Since Ley 20.727 (2014, phased in by February 2018), invoices, purchase invoices, credit notes and debit notes exist only as electronic documents (documentos tributarios electrónicos, DTE). Paper is allowed only in areas without connectivity or electricity or after a disaster. The electronic boleta, the receipt for consumers, has been mandatory since 1 January 2021 for businesses already issuing electronic invoices and since 1 March 2021 for the rest (Ley 21.210).

Under the SII's DTE format, an electronic invoice (code 33) contains:

• the document type, the folio (number) authorised by the SII and the issue date
• your RUT, legal name (razón social), line of business (giro), activity code, address and comuna
• the customer's RUT, legal name, line of business, address and comuna
• at least one line with the description and amount of what you sell
• the net amount, the IVA rate and amount and the total
• the payment terms (cash or credit)
• the electronic stamp (timbre electrónico), printed as a barcode, which signs the key data together with the folio range (CAF) the SII gave you, plus your digital signature

Each authorised folio can be used only once (SII Resolution 45 of 2003), so numbering is controlled by the SII itself.

Boletas for consumers

• Since 1 July 2023 the minimum amount for a boleta is CLP 1: every sale needs one (SII Resolution 60 of 2023).
• For in-person sales, you must hand over a printed or virtual boleta or the payment voucher, depending on how your system issues them; the old exception when the customer “did not want it” is gone (SII Resolution 53 of 2025, from 1 May 2025 for devices that print and from 1 March 2026 for the rest). A card or electronic payment voucher can count as the boleta when the SII's model allows it.
• Since 1 January 2026, printing the electronic stamp on the printed boleta is optional (SII Resolution 207 of 2025); it stays mandatory in the electronic file.

Corrections: credit and debit notes

An issued DTE is never deleted. Article 57 of Decree Law 825 requires a credit note (code 61) for discounts, rebates and returns, and a debit note (code 56) when the tax invoiced goes up. Both must reference the original document (type, folio and date) and say whether they cancel it, correct text or correct amounts. To reverse the IVA on returned goods, the return must happen within six months of the delivery.

Your customer has eight calendar days from receipt to claim against the content of an invoice; after that, the invoice is irrevocably accepted (Ley 19.983).

Foreign currency and record keeping

Domestic DTEs are issued in Chilean pesos; an optional section can show amounts in another currency with the exchange rate. Export documents (codes 110 to 112) are issued in the foreign currency and also show the amount in pesos at the Central Bank's exchange rate for the issue date.

Keep your books and documents, electronically for DTEs, for as long as the SII can review your returns: generally three years from the payment deadline, and six years if a return was not filed or was maliciously false (articles 17 and 200 of the Tax Code). Keeping six years is the safe choice.

E-invoicing in Chile: the SII's DTE system

Every DTE is generated with folios the SII authorises, signed with your digital certificate and sent to the SII. You can issue them with the SII's free invoicing system or with certified market software. Because the SII receives every document, it builds your RCV and proposes your F29 automatically, and your customers' purchase records match your sales.

A worked example in pesos

A small agency invoices a client CLP 1,000,000 net for a campaign (electronic invoice, code 33):

• net amount: CLP 1,000,000
• IVA at 19%: CLP 190,000
• total: CLP 1,190,000

In a shop, prices include IVA. A product sold for CLP 11,900 contains CLP 11,900 × 19 ÷ 119 = CLP 1,900 of IVA.

For the month, the agency adds up its DTEs in the RCV:

IVA payable on Form 29: CLP 1,520,000 − CLP 950,000 = CLP 570,000, by the 20th of the following month if it files and pays online.

A freelance designer who issues a boleta de honorarios for CLP 1,000,000 gross to a company in 2026 receives CLP 847,500: the company withholds 15.25%, or CLP 152,500, and pays it to the SII.

Late payment: the 30-day law

Chile is one of the few countries in the region with a statutory payment term between businesses. Under Ley 19.983, as amended by Ley 21.131 (2019):

• invoices must be paid within 30 calendar days of receipt
• longer terms are allowed only in exceptional cases, by written agreement that is not abusive and is registered with the Ministry of Economy's registry; small and medium-sized suppliers selling to large companies are generally protected from such agreements
• from the first day of delay, the buyer owes interest at the current rate (interés corriente) for non-indexed peso operations over 90 days
• the buyer also owes a fixed collection fee of 1% of the unpaid balance
• contract clauses that unduly delay payment have no effect

Use the due date on your invoices and remind clients early. Our guide to getting paid faster has more ideas.

Common mistakes

1. 1Assuming services are still outside IVA. Since 2023 most are taxed; check whether your activity is one of the exemptions.
2. 2Not issuing a boleta for small sales. The minimum is CLP 1, and the customer's refusal no longer excuses you.
3. 3Filing Form 29 late because you assumed the 20th applies to you. It only applies if you issue electronic documents and file and pay online.
4. 4Leaving the RCV unchecked. Missing purchases or wrong classifications cost you IVA credit.
5. 5Correcting an invoice by issuing a new one instead of a credit note that references the original.
6. 6Letting large clients pay at 60 or 90 days without a registered agreement. The legal term is 30 days.
7. 7Forgetting the additional taxes if you sell drinks, spirits or luxury goods.

How Clientlly helps

The DTE itself comes from the SII's system or certified software. Clientlly helps with the rest of the work: invoices numbered in sequence per series with Chile's 19% IVA, credit notes linked to the original invoice, the PDF in your client's language, a card payment link, and a view of when the client opened the invoice. If a client does not pay, reminders go out automatically 3, 14 and 30 days after the due date, which helps you enforce the 30-day law. Recurring invoices and multiple currencies are included.

On the purchases side, scan your receipts and Clientlly reads the IVA automatically. It keeps your sales and purchase IVA books, including exports, and prepares tax reports for you and your accountant, with Excel and PDF exports. You can import clients, suppliers, products and opening balances from Excel or CSV, and use the mobile app on the go. See the invoicing module and the accounting module.