Services · Company formation

How to start a business in Chile as a foreigner

Updated 29 September 2026

One day and zero pesos in state fees to register, but without a representative in Chile the company cannot start trading. The law lets foreigners own companies, while the tax authority requires a citizen or resident to represent them. We cover company types, steps, fees, taxes and banking.

Is it worth opening a company in Chile

Chile is one of the few countries where you can set up a company online in a day and pay the state nothing. Since 2013, Law 20.659 has let founders incorporate through the government portal RES (Registro de Empresas y Sociedades - the Companies Register run by the Ministry of Economy), better known as Tu Empresa en un Día - "Your company in a day". By law the register is free, and companies formed there do not need to be published in the official gazette (Diario Oficial) or entered in the commercial register.

The catch: before the company can operate, its legal representative must register it with the tax authority SII (Servicio de Impuestos Internos - Internal Revenue Service). According to RES, only a Chilean citizen or a foreigner with permanent residence or a temporary residence permit that allows any lawful activity can act as that representative.

The second uncomfortable truth is tax. The standard corporate income tax rate is 27%, and Chile taxes a company's worldwide income, not just local profits. That is almost three times Paraguay's 10%. Smaller businesses get relief: the Pro Pyme regime cuts the rate to 12.5% for 2025-2027.

A good fit for people moving to or living in Chile, founders building a real local business, participants in Start-Up Chile and companies serving Latin America. Not a fit for anyone seeking low tax on foreign income or wanting to run the company remotely with no one in the country.

Which company to open in Chile: SpA, Ltda. or S.A.

Chile has no minimum capital for any company type, RES states plainly. The choice comes down to the number of owners and how flexible the bylaws should be. For a foreign founder, the SpA is almost always best.

The SpA was introduced by Law 20.190 in 2007 as a flexible vehicle: under Article 424 of the Commercial Code one person can form it, and the bylaws set shareholder rights and management. The name must end in "SpA". Where the bylaws are silent, closely held corporation rules apply, so draft them in detail.

The Ltda. under Law 3.918 of 1923 needs at least two partners and suits family businesses or partners not planning to raise investment. The S.A. is heavier: Law 18.046 requires a board and the annual appointment of account inspectors or an external auditor, although the bylaws of a closely held S.A. can waive this. The EIRL under Law 19.857 can only be formed by an individual, so it does not work in a foreign holding structure.

A foreign company can also use a branch (agencia), but a branch is not a separate legal entity: the parent is liable for its debts.

Can a foreigner open a company in Chile without residency

A foreigner can own a Chilean company without residency, but cannot run it alone from abroad.

Owner. A founder only needs a tax number, the RUT (Rol Único Tributario - Single Tax Roll number). For Chileans and residents it matches the national ID number, the RUN (Rol Único Nacional). According to RES, a foreigner without a RUN obtains a foreign investor RUT from the SII using form 4415.1 for non-resident individuals and foreign entities, filed online since June 2020. A representative can file it under a power of attorney, which must be apostilled if issued in a Hague Apostille Convention country.

Legal representative. To file the start-of-business notice (inicio de actividades) with the SII, the company's representative - administrator, manager or director - must be a Chilean citizen or a foreigner with permanent residence or a temporary residence permit that allows any lawful activity. Holders of work-contract, student or dependant permits cannot represent the company. A non-resident owner needs someone in the country: a partner, manager or professional representative.

Address. The company needs a registered address (domicilio) in Chile. A home address is allowed, but RES warns that the municipality must permit your activity there, or it will not issue the municipal business licence (patente municipal), and recommends getting the zoning certificate (Certificado de Informaciones Previas) first. The SII may also inspect the address.

Secretary and resident director. The SpA and Ltda. need no corporate secretary of the kind found in Cyprus or Hong Kong, and the SpA rules in the Commercial Code do not require a Chilean or resident administrator.

Do you need to travel? Not for registration. The RES form is signed with an advanced electronic signature (firma electrónica avanzada) or before a Chilean notary, and a representative can sign for the founder under a power of attorney. The bank is another matter, so we build a trip to Santiago into the plan.

How to register a company in Chile: steps and timeline

Incorporation on RES takes a day, but it is the shortest stage: the time goes into tax numbers for foreigners, powers of attorney, address checks and the bank. A typical path for a non-resident owner:

The traditional route. You can still incorporate outside RES, with a notarial deed (escritura pública) or a private document with notarised signatures. Within 60 days an extract must be entered in the commercial register (Registro de Comercio) kept by the property registrar (Conservador de Bienes Raíces) and published once in the Diario Oficial, as Article 426 of the Commercial Code requires for an SpA. Here you pay the notary and the registry at their rates instead of zero. Such a company can later migrate to RES.

How much does it cost to open a company in Chile

Registering on RES costs nothing: Law 20.659 calls the register free, and RES confirms incorporation is free of charge. Mandatory payments come later, in Chilean units of account.

The UF (Unidad de Fomento - a unit of account indexed daily to inflation) is worth about 41,000 pesos in 2026, roughly 43-45 US dollars. The UTM (Unidad Tributaria Mensual - monthly tax unit) is reset every month and in 2026 has ranged between 69,600 and 72,200 pesos, about 75 dollars.

Notary fees for electronic signing on RES are set by Ministry of Economy Exempt Decree No. 11 of 2019. Each municipality sets its rate within that band; for a new company it applies to the capital declared at start-up.

Example calculation. An SpA with declared capital of 10 million pesos (about 10,500 dollars). 0.5% of capital is 50,000 pesos, below the minimum, so the company pays 1 UTM, about 72,000 pesos a year. With capital of 100 million pesos the licence would cost 250,000-500,000 pesos depending on the municipality.

Budget separately for the notary and apostille at home, translations, an address and accounting; we quote the cost of our support after reviewing the documents.

What taxes does a company pay in Chile

The main company tax is the IDPC (Impuesto de Primera Categoría - First Category Tax, in effect corporate income tax). The standard rate is 27% on worldwide profits. Uruguay and Paraguay tax mainly local income, so for international sales Chile loses out.

Pro Pyme (from Pyme - pequeña y mediana empresa, small and medium-sized enterprise) is available under Article 14 D of the Income Tax Law if start-up capital is at most 85,000 UF (about 3.5 billion pesos), average revenue over three years is at most 75,000 UF (about 3.1 billion pesos), and passive income such as interest and dividends is at most 35% of revenue.

Example calculation for a non-resident owner under the general regime. On 100 pesos of profit the company pays 27. On distribution, 35 is due. A resident of a treaty country such as Russia credits the full 27 and pays 8 more: 35 in total. A resident of a non-treaty country such as Belarus credits only 65% of 27, and the total comes to 44.45%. Under Pro Pyme the total is 35% in both cases.

What is changing. In April 2026 the government sent Congress a national reconstruction bill (Boletín 18.216-05, the bill number). The original text cuts the standard rate to 25.5% in 2027, 24% in 2028 and 23% from 2029. In August 2026 Congress completed its votes and sent the text to the Constitutional Court. For 2026 the rate stays at 27%, and the cut applies only once the law is published in the Diario Oficial.

Personal taxes are covered on the taxes in Chile page. If the owner is a Russian tax resident, Russian controlled foreign company rules apply too: see CFC filings.

What a company files each year and whether Chile has a beneficial ownership register

A Chilean company reports monthly, not yearly, which drives accounting costs.

• Every month - Form 29 (Formulario 29): VAT and PPM (pagos provisionales mensuales - monthly advance payments of corporate income tax).
• Every year by 30 April - the annual income tax return (Formulario 22) for the previous calendar year. From March to June the SII also collects sworn statements (declaraciones juradas).
• July and January - payment of the municipal licence, in full or in two instalments.
• Shareholder register. An SpA or closely held S.A. formed on RES keeps its shareholder register only in electronic form on the RES portal.
• Account inspection. Under Article 51 of Law 18.046, a closely held S.A. appoints two account inspectors (inspectores de cuentas) or an external auditor every year unless its bylaws exempt it. An SpA follows these rules if its bylaws are silent, so settle this upfront.

Beneficial ownership register. Chile does not yet have a single national register of ultimate owners. A bill to create one (Boletín 16.475-05) was sent to the Senate in December 2023 and is still at the first stage. You will still disclose your owners: under Circular 62 of February 2025 issued by the financial intelligence unit UAF (Unidad de Análisis Financiero - Financial Analysis Unit), banks and other obliged entities ask companies for a beneficial ownership declaration. A beneficial owner is an individual with a stake of 10% or more or with effective control of the company.

Bank accounts and citizens of Russia and Belarus

The fastest way to open a Chilean bank account is closed to most non-residents. RES offers a business account application straight from the portal, but only for companies under 30 days old, already registered with the SII and owned only by individuals. The account is opened online with the SII tax password and the Clave Única, a digital key for government services issued to holders of a Chilean ID.

Everyone else takes the usual route: a bank application, an in-person check of the representative and a full compliance package. Under UAF Circular 62 the bank must obtain a beneficial ownership declaration and, if the owner is a foreign company, details of its top manager abroad and its representatives with an address in Chile. We assume the bank will want to meet the signatory in person.

More on the business account in Chile and personal account in Chile pages.

Citizens of Russia and Belarus. The RES requirements for founders do not mention nationality: you need only be of age and hold a RUT. Chile and Russia have a double tax treaty in force, so the company's tax is fully credited against the dividend tax. There is no treaty with Belarus, and the dividend burden is higher. The main hurdle for both passports is the bank: be ready to document the source of funds, business history and ties to other countries. Both countries, like Chile, are parties to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille replaces consular legalisation. For RES to accept a foreign document, it is also entered in a Chilean notary's records (protocolización).

What we do

• we choose the form and model taxes and mandatory payments in advance, and say plainly if Chile does not suit you;
• we prepare bylaws, powers of attorney, translations and apostilles;
• we obtain RUTs for foreign founders, register the company on RES and file the start-of-business notice with the SII;
• we help with the address: finding premises where municipal rules allow your activity and that suit the SII verification;
• we handle the municipal licence application;
• we bring in Murblz accounting and tax specialists for monthly and annual filings;
• we prepare the bank compliance package and support the account opening.

Legal representation - acting as the company's legal representative before the SII, notarisation, and representation before government bodies and courts - is handled by Murblz specialists together with partners licensed in Chile.

Planning to live in Chile? See the Start-Up Chile programme and the country overview at Chile: citizenship, residence, taxes. To compare with Paraguay and its 10% corporate tax, see company registration in Paraguay. Other countries are listed under company formation by jurisdiction and company formation abroad.

See also

Business account · Personal account · Investment property · Country taxes · All country programs

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