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Loan documents pay stamp tax

Last verified: 2026-10-26 · Status: Stable

Abroad, signing a loan agreement or promissory note rarely carries a document tax; in Chile any document containing a money credit operation pays stamp tax. The rate is 0.066 percent of the amount for each month or fraction to maturity, capped at 0.8 percent, and demand loans pay 0.332 percent. The tax also reaches loans from abroad, factoring of invoices with banks and interest bearing deposits with non banks.

USD figures use the Central Bank exchange rate of CLP 986.58 per US dollar published in the Diario Oficial for 23 October 2026 (CVE 2891564). UF amounts use the SII value of CLP 41,221.08 for 26 October 2026 and UTM amounts the SII value of CLP 72,151 for October 2026. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Stamp tax on credit documents, per month	0.066 %DL Nº 3.475, art. 1 Nº 3, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Stamp tax on credit documents, cap	0.8 %DL Nº 3.475, art. 1 Nº 3, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Stamp tax on demand or no maturity credit documents	0.332 %DL Nº 3.475, art. 1 Nº 3, as of 2026-10-26 · in force

The rule

1. Bills of exchange, promissory notes, simple or documentary credits and any other document, including dematerialised ones, containing a money credit operation pay 0.066 percent of their amount for each month or fraction between issue and maturity, with a maximum of 0.8 percent. Documents payable on demand or without maturity pay 0.332 percent, which also applies where repayment is only due after a period of up to five months.
Cost to do it: 0.066 percent a month, capped at 0.8 percent; 0.332 percent for demand loans.
Example: A 12 month intercompany loan of CLP 986,580,000 pays 0.792 percent, CLP 7,813,714; at 13 months or more it pays the 0.8 percent cap, CLP 7,892,640. / About US$7,920 and US$8,000 on about US$1,000,000.DL Nº 3.475 of 1980, Ley de Timbres y Estampillas, Art. 1 Nº 3, first and second paragraphs, 1980-09-04 official text · verified 2026-10-26

2. The same tax applies to delivering invoices or collection accounts to banks and financial institutions, to delivering money at interest except where the depositary is a bank, to money loans, to loans and credit operations made with bills or notes by banks and financial institutions registered with the Central Bank in the case of operations from abroad, and to bank discounting of bills.
Cost to do it: Same rates as above.
Example: A Chilean SpA that receives a 3 year loan from its foreign parent pays 0.8 percent of the principal when the loan is received. / On US$1,000,000, about US$8,000.DL Nº 3.475, Art. 1 Nº 3, fourth paragraph, 1980-09-04 official text · verified 2026-10-26

Term	Rate	Tax (CLP)	Tax (US$)
Demand or no maturity	0.332 %	3,275,446	3,320
3 months	0.198 %	1,953,428	1,980
6 months	0.396 %	3,906,857	3,960
12 months	0.792 %	7,813,714	7,920
13 months or more	0.8 %	7,892,640	8,000

Stamp tax on a CLP 986,580,000 (about US$1,000,000) loan by term.

Worked example

A foreign parent funds a Chilean project company with US$5,000,000 for 5 years: stamp tax at 0.8 percent is about US$40,000 (CLP 39,463,200).

Step by step

Set the maturity in the document; the rate depends on months to maturity.
Pay the tax when the document is signed or the foreign loan is received.
Recompute on extensions and renewals.
Consider equity rather than debt where thin capitalisation and stamp tax costs together are significant.

Common traps

Loan documents with no maturity date pay 0.332 percent at once.
Extending a loan triggers tax on the extension.
The cap of 0.8 percent is per document, so rolling short notes repeatedly can cost more than one long note.

Sources

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