Before you start

A RUT
Chilean tax residency
A ClaveÚnica or SII credentials for the online system
An application to the SII, if you want the extension

Step-by-step

1
Get your RUT
Provisionally from the SII with form F4415 before your cédula, or permanently alongside your cédula. Everything tax-related keys to it.
In personWho: You
2
Understand your first six months
For the first six months of stay a foreigner is taxed under the Additional Tax at 20% as a unique tax on income. From the seventh month, employees fall under the Second Category Tax like everyone else.
Via employerWho: Your employer
3
Confirm you have the three-year exemption
New tax residents are taxed only on Chilean-source income for three years under Article 3 of the income tax law. Verify your position rather than assuming — how you entered affects it.
OnlineWho: You
4
Apply to the SII for the three-year extension
The extension to six years is not automatic and must be requested from the SII. Diary it well before the third anniversary of becoming tax resident, because it cannot be applied for retrospectively.
OnlineWho: YouBefore the initial 3 years expire
5
File your annual return in April
Chile's Operación Renta runs each April through the SII's online system, which pre-populates much of the return.
OnlineWho: YouApril annually

Documents you’ll need

RUT
ClaveÚnica or SII credentials
Employment contract or contractor invoices
Evidence of foreign income sources, for the exemption

Things most newcomers don’t know

Three tax-free years on foreign income, extendable to six — and the extension is the part people miss.

Under Article 3 of the income tax law, new residents are taxed only on Chilean-source income for three years. The extension to six is available but must be applied for at the SII before the first period ends. Nobody prompts you, and it cannot be claimed retrospectively — so a calendar reminder in year two is worth a great deal of money.

Source: Chilean income tax law, Article 3; SII extension application

Chile has no digital nomad visa, but the tax runway is the real offer.

There is no dedicated remote-work visa here. What Chile has instead is up to six years during which foreign-source income is untaxed, which for a remote worker on foreign salary is worth far more than a visa category. The constraint is the residency route, not the tax.

Source: Chilean income tax law; SERMIG has no nomad subcategory

Your first six months are taxed differently from everything after.

Foreigners are subject to the Additional Tax at 20% as a unique tax for the first six months of stay, moving to the ordinary Second Category Tax from the seventh month if employed. A payslip that looks wrong in month two is often just this, and it resolves itself.

Source: SII — taxation of foreign individuals

The exemption ends, and worldwide taxation at up to 40% follows.

It is a runway, not a permanent regime. Plan the transition — particularly around foreign investments and pensions — before year six rather than discovering the change in an April return.

Source: SII — Impuesto Global Complementario

Common mistakes to avoid

Letting the three-year window lapse without applying to the SII for the extension.
Assuming the extension is automatic. It is not, and it cannot be backdated.
Reading the first-six-months 20% Additional Tax as a payroll error.
Relying on a published bracket table without checking sii.cl — Chile's tax settings were being reformed through 2026.
Failing to plan for worldwide taxation when the exemption ends.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.