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What is normal abroad but works differently in Chile

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

Chile is an open, rules based market, but several everyday business habits from abroad work differently here, and each has a cost or a deadline. Prices and debts are commonly indexed to the Unidad de Fomento (UF), interest has a legal ceiling, invoices must be electronic and paid within 30 days, and an accepted invoice becomes a tradable, enforceable title after 8 days. Employers must share profits through the legal gratificación, cannot dismiss at will without severance, and above 25 workers must keep at least 85 percent Chilean staff; loans also carry a stamp tax of up to 0.8 percent.

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 CLP 41,057.20 for 30 September 2026 where the law refers to the last day of the previous month. Conversions are for orientation only.

Key facts

Unidad de Fomento (UF) value	41221.08 CLPLey Nº 18.010, art. 3 and art. 25 (readjustable obligations), as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Foreign currency obligations between residents	Valid, but paid in pesos at the bank selling rate of the payment day unless law or the Central Bank authorises payment in the currency textLey Nº 18.010, art. 20 and art. 24, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum conventional interest rate	Greater of 1.5 times the CMF current rate and the current rate plus 2 percentage points textLey Nº 18.010, art. 6 and art. 8, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Maximum invoice payment term	30 calendar daysLey Nº 19.983, art. 2, as amended by Ley Nº 21.131, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Fixed recovery fee on late invoice payment	1 %Ley Nº 19.983, art. 2 ter, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Period to claim against an invoice before irrevocable acceptance	8 calendar daysLey Nº 19.983, art. 3, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Electronic invoices and receipts mandatory	Yes, save legal exceptions textDL Nº 825, art. 54, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Legal gratificación cap per worker (art. 50 route)	4.75 minimum monthly incomes a yearCódigo del Trabajo, art. 50, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Severance per year of service	30 days of payCódigo del Trabajo, art. 163, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Severance cap	11 years (330 days)Código del Trabajo, art. 163, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Monthly pay cap for severance	90 UFCódigo del Trabajo, art. 172, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
Minimum share of Chilean workers (employers above 25 workers)	85 %Código del Trabajo, art. 19 and art. 20, as of 2026-10-26 · in force
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

The rule

1. Abroad, long term contracts are usually priced in a currency and adjusted by a separate inflation clause. In Chile, parties to a money credit operation in local currency, where neither is a bank or other mass lender, may freely agree any form of readjustment, and the inflation indexed Unidad de Fomento (UF) is the market standard for leases, loans and real estate; a court collecting a readjustable debt liquidates it in pesos at the readjusted value. Obligations expressed in a foreign currency are valid but, unless the law or the Central Bank authorises payment in that currency, they are paid in pesos at the bank selling rate of the payment day (or of the due date if higher when the debtor is late), and no other readjustment may be added to them.
Cost to do it: No fee. The cost is economic: a UF price moves daily with inflation, and a US dollar price between residents is normally settled in pesos at the selling rate.
Example: An office lease of 100 UF a month costs CLP 4,122,108 at the UF value of CLP 41,221.08 for 26 October 2026, and rises automatically as the UF rises. / About US$4,178 a month at CLP 986.58. A lease written at US$4,000 a month between two Chilean residents would be paid in pesos at the bank selling rate of each payment day.Ley Nº 18.010 on money credit operations, Art. 3, art. 20, art. 24 and art. 25, 1981-06-27 official text · verified 2026-10-26

2. Abroad, commercial parties usually agree any interest rate. In Chile, interest may not exceed the maximum conventional rate, which is the greater of 1.5 times the current rate set and published monthly by the Comisión para el Mercado Financiero (CMF) for that type of operation, and that current rate plus 2 percentage points a year. Any interest above the cap is treated as not written and is cut to the current rate. Interest may be compounded, but never for periods under 30 days. The cap does not apply to loans from foreign or international banks and financial institutions, to foreign currency loans for foreign trade, or where the debtor is a bank.
Cost to do it: No fee. A clause above the cap loses the excess, cutting the lender's return to the current rate.
Example: Illustration only: if the CMF current rate for a segment were 10 percent a year, the cap would be the greater of 15 percent and 12 percent, that is 15 percent, so a 16 percent clause between two Chilean companies would fall back to 10 percent. / On a CLP 986,580,000 loan (about US$1,000,000), one year of interest at 10 percent instead of 16 percent is CLP 98,658,000 rather than CLP 157,852,800, a difference of about US$60,000.Ley Nº 18.010, as amended by Ley Nº 20.715 (DO 13 December 2013) and Ley Nº 21.314 (DO 13 April 2021), Art. 5, art. 6, art. 8 and art. 9, 1981-06-27 official text · verified 2026-10-26

3. Abroad, buyers often impose 60, 90 or 120 day payment terms. In Chile, the unpaid balance of an invoice must be paid within 30 calendar days of receiving it. A longer term is allowed only exceptionally, in a signed written agreement that is not abusive and is entered in the Ministry of Economy registry within 5 business days, and it is barred where a smaller company sells to a company with annual sales above the highest small and medium company threshold (100,000 UF), save narrow cases that benefit the smaller seller. Unregistered extensions are void and the 30 day term applies. Late payment accrues the current rate for non readjustable peso loans of over 90 days between 200 and 5,000 UF, plus a fixed recovery fee of 1 percent of the unpaid balance. Clauses that count the term from any date other than receipt, or that set lower late interest, have no effect.
Cost to do it: Paying late costs the legal late interest plus 1 percent of the unpaid balance; registering an exceptional term is a filing with the Ministry of Economy.
Example: A large buyer receives an invoice for CLP 11,900,000 (CLP 10,000,000 plus 19 percent VAT) and pays it on day 45. It owes 15 days of late interest at the legal rate plus a fixed fee of CLP 119,000. / The invoice is about US$12,062 and the fixed fee about US$121, before late interest.Ley Nº 19.983, as amended by Ley Nº 21.131 (DO 16 January 2019, establishing payment at thirty days) and Ley Nº 21.217 (DO 3 April 2020); Ley Nº 20.416 on smaller companies, Ley 19.983 art. 2, art. 2 bis and art. 2 ter; Ley 20.416 art. 2, 2019-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26 · changed: Ley Nº 21.131 of 16 January 2019 replaced freely agreed payment terms with a 30 day maximum, late interest and the 1 percent recovery fee, in force from the fourth month after publication; Ley Nº 21.217 of 3 April 2020 tightened the exceptions for sales by smaller companies to large buyers.

4. Abroad, an invoice is usually just a payment request. In Chile, an invoice is irrevocably accepted unless the buyer returns it on delivery or claims against its content or the delivery within 8 calendar days of receipt; once accepted, the buyer cannot raise against an assignee the defences it had against the seller, nor credit notes. The invoice copy marked as assignable can be sold to factoring firms and banks, and it can be enforced in executive proceedings. Any clause or practice that limits or bans the free assignment of an invoice is prohibited, and withholding the assignable copy or the receipt can lead to an indemnity of two to five times the invoice value set by the local police court.
Cost to do it: No fee to accept; a buyer that misses the 8 day window loses its defences against a factoring assignee. Indemnity for blocking assignment: two to five times the invoice value.
Example: A supplier invoices CLP 50,000,000; the buyer says nothing for 8 days, and on day 9 the supplier sells the invoice to a factoring company, which can demand full payment from the buyer at maturity even if the buyer later disputes quality. / About US$50,680. A clause banning assignment would be void, and blocking it could cost US$101,360 to US$253,400 in indemnity.Ley Nº 19.983, regulating the transfer of invoices and granting them executive force, Art. 3, art. 4 and art. 5, 2004-12-15 official text · verified 2026-10-26

5. Abroad, paper or PDF invoices are often still accepted. In Chile, invoices, purchase invoices, dispatch guides, sales and service receipts, and debit and credit notes must be issued exclusively as electronic documents under the law, save legal exceptions such as areas without data coverage or electricity, and where a sale is paid by electronic means the payment system and the electronic receipt must be integrated as the SII requires.
Cost to do it: The SII offers a free invoicing system; private electronic invoicing providers charge market fees.
Example: A new Chilean SpA must be authorised as an electronic issuer and issue its first sale invoice through the SII system or a certified provider; a paper invoice would not support the buyer's VAT credit. / No direct cost beyond software; the risk is the loss of the buyer's 19 percent VAT credit on non compliant documents.DL Nº 825 of 1974, Ley sobre Impuesto a las Ventas y Servicios, as amended by Ley Nº 20.727 (DO 31 January 2014) and later laws, Art. 54, 2014-01-31 official text · verified 2026-10-26

6. Abroad, profit sharing with staff is voluntary. In Chile, profit making businesses that keep accounting books must pay a legal gratificación every year: either at least 30 percent of the year's net profit as determined for tax purposes, shared in proportion to pay, or 25 percent of each worker's monthly pay for the year, capped at 4.75 minimum monthly incomes per worker, whatever the profit. Most employers choose the second route and pay it in monthly advances.
Cost to do it: Up to 4.75 minimum monthly incomes per worker a year under the art. 50 route.
Example: With the minimum monthly income at CLP 553,553 from 1 May 2026, the art. 50 cap is CLP 2,629,377 a year per worker, so an engineer earning CLP 3,000,000 a month receives the capped amount rather than CLP 9,000,000 (25 percent of annual pay). / The cap is about US$2,665 a year per worker.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Código del Trabajo; Ley Nº 21.830 (minimum income from 1 May 2026), Código del Trabajo art. 47, art. 48 and art. 50; Ley 21.830 art. 1, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

7. Abroad, dismissal at will is common in some jurisdictions. In Chile, an employer may end a contract without fault only for the needs of the company, such as restructuring, lower productivity or changed market conditions, with 30 days written notice copied to the Labour Inspectorate or one month's pay instead; only managers with general powers of administration and roles of exclusive trust can be dismissed by simple notice. After one year of service the employer pays severance of 30 days of the last monthly pay per year of service and fraction over six months, capped at 330 days, that is 11 years, with monthly pay counted up to 90 UF. A court that finds the cause improper raises severance by 30 to 100 percent; the worker has 60 business days to sue.
Cost to do it: One month's pay per year of service up to 11 years, plus one month's pay instead of notice, with a monthly base capped at 90 UF.
Example: A manager with 5 years and 4 months of service earning CLP 3,000,000 a month (below the 90 UF cap of CLP 3,695,148) is dismissed for company needs without notice: severance of 5 months, CLP 15,000,000, plus CLP 3,000,000 instead of notice, CLP 18,000,000 in total. If a court found the cause improper, severance would rise 30 percent to CLP 19,500,000. / About US$18,245 in total, or about US$19,765 for severance alone with the 30 percent surcharge.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Código del Trabajo, Art. 161, art. 162, art. 163, art. 168 and art. 172, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

8. Abroad, an employer can usually hire any nationality it can get work authorisation for. In Chile, at least 85 percent of the workers of a single employer must be Chilean, unless it employs 25 workers or fewer. The count covers all workers in Chile, not each branch; specialised technical staff are excluded, and foreigners with a Chilean spouse, civil partner or children, widowed of a Chilean spouse, or resident for more than five years count as Chilean.
Cost to do it: No fee; the cost is planning headcount and documenting technical specialist exclusions.
Example: A subsidiary with 40 workers in Chile, 3 of them foreign technical specialists, counts 37 workers; at least 32 of them (85 percent, rounded up) must be Chilean, so it can have up to 5 other foreign workers. / Not a money rule; fines for labour breaches are set in UTM under the Código del Trabajo.DFL Nº 1 of 2002, Código del Trabajo, Art. 19 and art. 20, 2003-01-16 official text · verified 2026-10-26

9. Abroad, a loan agreement is rarely taxed as a document. In Chile, promissory notes, bills, loans and any other document containing a money credit operation bear stamp tax of 0.066 percent of the amount for each month or fraction between issue and maturity, capped at 0.8 percent; demand loans or loans without maturity pay 0.332 percent. The tax also applies to loans from abroad.
Cost to do it: 0.066 percent a month, up to 0.8 percent of principal; 0.332 percent for demand loans.
Example: An intercompany loan of CLP 986,580,000 for 12 months pays 0.792 percent, CLP 7,813,714; at 13 months or more the 0.8 percent cap applies, CLP 7,892,640. / On US$1,000,000, about US$7,920 for 12 months and US$8,000 at the cap.DL Nº 3.475 of 1980, Ley de Timbres y Estampillas, Art. 1 Nº 3, 1980-09-04 official text · verified 2026-10-26

Common practice abroad	Chilean rule	Cost or limit	Rule
Price in a currency plus an inflation clause	UF indexation freely agreed; foreign currency debts paid in pesos	UF moves daily with inflation	Ley 18.010 art. 3, 20, 24
Any agreed interest rate	Cap of the greater of 1.5 times or plus 2 points over the CMF current rate	Excess cut to the current rate	Ley 18.010 art. 6, 8
60 to 120 day payment terms	30 days from receipt of invoice	Late interest plus 1 percent fee	Ley 19.983 art. 2 to 2 ter
Invoice is a payment request	Accepted after 8 days, assignable, enforceable	Ban on assignment void; 2 to 5 times indemnity	Ley 19.983 art. 3 to 5
Paper or PDF invoices	Electronic documents only	Free SII system available	DL 825 art. 54
Voluntary profit sharing	Legal gratificación	Up to 4.75 minimum incomes a year (CLP 2,629,377, about US$2,665)	Código del Trabajo art. 47, 50
Dismissal at will	Cause required; severance after one year	30 days per year, 11 years, 90 UF base	Código del Trabajo art. 161 to 172
Hire any nationality	85 percent Chilean staff above 25 workers	Technical specialists excluded	Código del Trabajo art. 19, 20
Untaxed loan documents	Stamp tax on credit operations	0.066 percent a month, cap 0.8 percent	DL 3.475 art. 1 Nº 3

Normal abroad, different in Chile: quick reference (CLP at 986.58 per US dollar; UF at CLP 41,221.08).

Worked example

A US group sets up a Chilean SpA with 30 staff and an intercompany loan of US$1,000,000 for 2 years. Stamp tax: 0.8 percent cap, CLP 7,892,640 (about US$8,000).
Office rent of 100 UF a month: CLP 4,122,108 today (about US$4,178), indexed daily through the UF.
Legal gratificación at the art. 50 cap for 20 staff earning above about CLP 877,000 a month: 20 times CLP 2,629,377, CLP 52,587,540 a year (about US$53,302).
Headcount: with 30 workers the 85 percent rule applies; at least 26 must be Chilean unless the foreign staff are specialised technicians.

Step by step

Write leases, supply and loan contracts in UF or pesos, or in US dollars with a clear peso settlement mechanic under Ley 18.010 art. 20.
Check any intercompany or vendor financing rate against the CMF current rate for its segment, unless the lender is a foreign bank or another art. 5 exception applies.
Set payables processes to pay invoices within 30 days of receipt; register any exceptional longer term with the Ministry of Economy within 5 business days.
Review incoming invoices within 8 calendar days and claim in writing if goods or services are missing or wrong.
Become an authorised electronic issuer with the SII before the first sale.
Choose the gratificación method in employment contracts and budget monthly advances.
Budget severance from day one for indefinite contracts and document the cause and the 30 day notice to the Labour Inspectorate.
Track the 85 percent Chilean worker ratio once headcount passes 25.
Pay stamp tax when a loan document is signed or a foreign loan is received.

Common traps

A loan between Chilean companies at a rate above the cap loses the excess interest, and compounding for periods under 30 days counts as interest for the cap.
A 90 day payment term in a global supply agreement with a Chilean smaller supplier is void unless it fits the narrow exceptions and is registered.
Ignoring an invoice for 8 days makes it irrevocably accepted; disputes about delivery cannot then be raised against a factoring company.
A clause banning assignment of invoices is void and can trigger an indemnity of two to five times the invoice value.
Gratificación is due even if the parent books no group profit when the art. 50 route is used.
Severance does not apply in the first year of service, but notice or one month's pay does, and an improper cause adds 30 to 100 percent.
Renewing or extending a loan triggers stamp tax again on the extended term.

Sources

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