The professional partnership is the only corporate form taxed under Second Category and which, since VAT reached services in 2023, keeps its supplies exempt. In exchange, the SII requires five cumulative conditions and a registration that can be lost.
En breve
La diferencia son 19 puntos sobre el honorario. Donde más se cae la calificación es en la forma jurídica: una SpA no califica, porque el ejercicio de una profesión es un atributo de las personas y la ley exige sociedad de personas. El segundo punto de quiebre es el objeto exclusivo: basta un giro comercial adicional para perderla.
En este artículo
- Qué es, exactamente: los cinco requisitos
- Where the classification falls apart
- Registration with the SII
- The option for First Category
- Withholding and PPM
- Incorporation: a practical warning
- A new risk worth naming
- Sources
Since 1 January 2023 services in Chile are subject to VAT. Law 21,420 removed from article 2 No. 2 of Decree Law 825 the requirement that the remuneration derive from the activities in numbers 3 and 4 of article 20 of the Income Tax Law, and with that most supplies of services became a taxable event.
That change left professional teams facing a decision that did not exist before: either be subject to VAT, or qualify as a professional partnership. The difference is 19 points on the fee.
What it is, exactly
Article 42 No. 2 of the Income Tax Law classifies employment income under Second Category, and includes professional partnerships within it. The SII set out the conditions in Circular No. 50 of 2022 and repeated them in Exempt Resolution No. 82 of 2024. There are five, and they are cumulative:
| # | Requisito | Qué lo rompe |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Debe ser sociedad de personas: responsabilidad limitada o colectiva civil | Sociedad anónima, SpA, comandita por acciones, EIRL y empresario individual. El ejercicio de una profesión es un atributo de las personas |
| 2 | Objeto exclusivo: prestación de servicios o asesorías profesionales | Cualquier giro comercial adicional. Sí se admiten inversiones ocasionales de tesorería —depósitos a plazo, fondos mutuos— sin desnaturalizar el giro |
| 3 | Los servicios se prestan por intermedio de los socios, con colaboración de dependientes que coadyuven | La subcontratación pura, sin ejercicio profesional de los socios |
| 4 | Todos los socios ejercen su profesión para la sociedad | El socio que solo aporta capital |
| 5 | Profesiones idénticas, similares, afines o complementarias | Profesiones sin relación entre sí |
| + | Quiénes pueden ser socios: individuals or professional partnerships ya inscritas | El socio persona jurídica que no tenga la calidad de sociedad de profesionales |
A point that is often quoted wrongly: Exempt Resolution No. 115 of 2022 requires all the partners to be individuals or professional partnerships. In other words, a professional partnership may indeed be a partner in another. What is rejected is the corporate partner that does not have that status.
Where the classification falls apart
The SII has been deciding specific cases for decades, and the criteria are consistent.
| Oficio SII | Caso | Resultado |
|---|---|---|
| N° 697 de 2008 | Sociedad integrada por un médico y una enfermera | Aceptada: profesiones afines o complementarias. Además admite incorporar dependientes u otros profesionales de especialidades relacionadas sin perder la clasificación |
| N° 2832 de 2009 | ¿Puede un contribuyente quedar clasificado en Primera y en Segunda Categoría a la vez? | No: ambas normas son incompatibles y excluyentes. No hay régimen mixto |
| N° 1947 de 2012 | Sociedad de personas dedicada al corretaje de propiedades | Rechazada: la excepción alcanza a quienes obtienen rentas exclusivamente de su trabajo o actuación personal, sin emplear capital |
| N° 3433 de 2012 | Medicina, obstetricia e ingeniería comercial, con objeto que además incluía comercializar equipos médicos | Rechazada por doble incumplimiento: profesiones no afines y objeto no exclusivo. Resultado: Primera Categoría |
Diverse professions plus a commercial line of business. In Ruling No. 3433 of 2012 it rejected the classification of a partnership made up of medicine, midwifery and business engineering, whose purpose also included trading in medical equipment. A double failure: unrelated professions and a non-exclusive purpose. Result, First Category.
Capital prevailing over work. In Ruling No. 1947 of 2012 it held that a partnership-type company engaged in real estate broking does not meet the conditions, because the exception covers those who earn income exclusively from their work or personal activity, without employing capital.
What does count as related. In Ruling No. 697 of 2008 it expressly accepted a partnership made up of a doctor and a nurse, as related or complementary professions, and allowed the partnership to take on employees or other professionals in related specialities without losing the classification. That is the line between legitimate collaboration and pure subcontracting.
There is no mixed regime. In Ruling No. 2832 of 2009 the SII made clear that the First and Second Category rules are incompatible and mutually exclusive: a taxpayer cannot be classified under both.
Registration with the SII
La Resolución Exenta N° 115 de 2022 creó el registro. Tuvo un procedimiento extraordinario, por única vez, que la Resolución Exenta N° 63 de 2023 extendió hasta el 31 de diciembre de 2023 y que hoy está caducado. Lo que rige a septiembre de 2026 es el ordinary procedure.
| Trámite | Sociedad nueva | Sociedad ya constituida | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Inscripción en el Registro de Sociedades de Profesionales | Dentro de los 2 meses siguientes a aquel en que inicia actividades | Entre el 01-01 y el 31-03 del año comercial, por petición administrativa en sii.cl | Res. Ex. SII N° 115 de 2022 |
| Opción por declarar en Primera Categoría (irreversible) | Dentro de los 2 meses siguientes al inicio de actividades, manifestándolo en la declaración jurada de inicio | Entre el 01-01 y el 31-03 del año comercial en que se pretende comenzar a declarar así | LIR art. 42 N° 2; Circular SII N° 50 de 2022 |
| Aviso de incumplimiento sobreviniente | Hasta el último día del mes calendario en que ocurrió el incumplimiento. La exclusión rige desde el primer día del mes siguiente | Res. Ex. SII N° 82 de 2024 | |
| Inicio de actividades tras constituir por Empresa en un Día | 2 meses. El RUT se asigna automáticamente al constituir; el inicio de actividades not | Código Tributario, art. 68 | |
The public deed of incorporation and its amendments are attached, together with the partners’ professional qualifications.
It is worth understanding the effect of registration properly. Resolution 63 of 2023 says so itself in its second operative paragraph: mere inclusion in the register does not turn a business into a professional partnership. The SII keeps its verification powers intact. The register is the operational gateway —without it the partnership is classified with taxable activities and cannot issue exempt documents—, but it shields nothing.
And it can be lost. Exempt Resolution No. 82 of 2024 governs exclusion for subsequent non-compliance: if the partnership stops meeting any of the conditions, it must notify the SII by the last day of the calendar month in which the non-compliance occurred; the exclusion takes effect from the first day of the following month. If it does not notify, the SII excludes it of its own motion, reclassifies it under First Category and assigns it activity code 829900. Failure to comply with the duty to notify is penalised under article 97 of the Tax Code.
The option for First Category
Article 42 No. 2 allows these partnerships to opt to declare their income under the First Category rules. There are three things to know.
Deadline. Existing partnership: between 1 January and 31 March of the commercial year in which it intends to start declaring that way. New partnership: within the two months following the start of activities, stating it in the start-of-activities filing.
It is irreversible. Circular 50 of 2022 says so without qualification: once exercised, there is no going back to the Second Category provisions. It is not a decision you try out for a year.
The VAT exemption is not lost. This is the point that causes the most confusion. Article 12 subparagraph E No. 8 of Decree Law 825, as currently worded, covers the income of the professional partnerships of article 42 No. 2 even where they have opted to declare their income under the first category rules. The exemption remains fully in place.
What changes is the paperwork. Under Second Category an electronic fee receipt is issued. Having opted for First Category, what is issued are electronic invoices or receipts that are non-taxable or VAT-exempt. The transitional regime that allowed fee receipts to continue being issued expired on 31 December 2023.
Withholding and PPM
If the partnership is taxed under Second Category and issues fee receipts, the withholding and provisional monthly payment rate for commercial year 2026 is 15.25%, within the gradual increase that Law 21,133 set until it reaches 17% in 2028.
Who pays that amount over depends on who is paying: if the payer is a legal entity, a government or municipal institution, or a First Category taxpayer required to keep accounting records, the payer withholds. In all other cases, the partnership itself pays a PPM.
Si la sociedad optó por Primera Categoría, no procede la retención del artículo 74 N° 2 ni el PPM del artículo 84 letra b): declara PPM bajo el régimen general de Primera Categoría (Oficio N° 1793 de 2011). Puedes estimar el efecto mensual con nuestro simulador del Formulario 29.
Incorporation: a practical warning
The SII accepts both the limited liability company and the civil general partnership as a professional partnership. But the Companies Register —the simplified regime of Law 20,659, «Empresa en un Día»— contains an exhaustive list of eight corporate types, and the civil general partnership is not on it: the list contemplates the commercialgeneral partnership. In practice, if you want to use the simplified route, the way to go is the Ltda.
Two further points that avoid surprises: the regulations in force for Law 20,659 are Decree No. 83 of 2021, published on 25 August 2022 —the old Supreme Decree No. 45 of 2013 is repealed, and is still cited as if it were in force—; and when you incorporate through the portal, the tax ID is assigned automatically, but the start of activities is not: it is a separate filing with the SII, with a two-month deadline under article 68 of the Tax Code.
A new risk worth naming
Law 21,713 on tax compliance did not amend article 42 No. 2 of the Income Tax Law or article 12 subparagraph E No. 8 of Decree Law 825. But it did change the general landscape.
Circular No. 31 of 2025 gives instructions on the new general anti-avoidance rule: the reference to good faith was removed —the analysis becomes objective—, the review period is six years, and abuse expressly extends to accessing tax benefits and special tax regimes. Classification as a professional partnership is precisely that. A prior administrative procedure was added, with a mandatory summons and a minimum threshold of 1,000 UTM.
Translated: a structure put together to access the exemption without a real professional practice behind it now has a longer review horizon and a stricter standard of analysis than it did two years ago.
How we help at C&C
We assess whether your team meets the five conditions before incorporating, we choose the right corporate type, we handle the incorporation and the start-of-activities filing, we manage the registration with the SII and we assess with you whether or not it is worth exercising the option for First Category —which, remember, has no way back—. Find out about our our legal & corporate service.
Keep reading: the business salary to optimize your taxes. Si tu firma es de ingeniería, revisa también cómo aplica todo esto a una consultora de ingeniería.
Sources
Norma y doctrina administrativa. Contenido revisado el 02-09-2026.
- LIR, art. 42 N° 2 — sociedades de profesionales y opción por declarar en Primera Categoría.
- Ley N° 21.420 — modifica el art. 2° N° 2 del DL 825: desde el 01-01-2023 la generalidad de los servicios es hecho gravado con IVA.
- DL N° 825, art. 12 letra E N° 8 — exención, que se mantiene aun habiendo optado por Primera Categoría.
- Circular SII N° 50 de 2022 — los cinco requisitos copulativos e irreversibilidad de la opción.
- Resolución Ex. SII N° 115 de 2022 — crea el Registro de Sociedades de Profesionales y define quiénes pueden ser socios.
- Resolución Ex. SII N° 63 de 2023 — procedimiento extraordinario, extendido hasta el 31-12-2023 y hoy caducado; su resolutivo segundo aclara que el registro no constituye por sí la calidad.
- Resolución Ex. SII N° 82 de 2024 — exclusión por incumplimiento sobreviniente, aviso y código de actividad 829900.
Jurisprudencia administrativa, constitución y antielusión.
- Oficios SII N° 697 de 2008, N° 2832 de 2009, N° 1947 de 2012 y N° 3433 de 2012 — criterios sobre profesiones afines, incompatibilidad de categorías y predominio del capital.
- Oficio SII N° 1793 de 2011 — PPM de la sociedad que optó por Primera Categoría.
- Ley N° 21.133 — escala de retención y PPM de honorarios: 15,25% para el año comercial 2026, hasta 17% en 2028.
- LIR, arts. 74 N° 2 y 84 letra b) — retención y pago provisional en Segunda Categoría.
- Ley N° 20.659 y Decreto N° 83 de 2021, publicado el 25-08-2022 — régimen «Empresa en un Día»; el DS N° 45 de 2013 está derogado.
- Código Tributario, arts. 68 y 97 — plazo de inicio de actividades y sanción por incumplimiento del deber de aviso.
- Ley N° 21.713 y Circular SII N° 31 de 2025 — norma general antielusiva: análisis objetivo, plazo de revisión de seis años y umbral mínimo de 1.000 UTM.
Shall we set up your professional partnership? Talk to us. We'll take care of it. You can also message us on WhatsApp.
Este artículo tiene fines informativos y refleja la normativa vigente al 02-09-2026. No sustituye una asesoría particular: cada caso depende de los antecedentes específicos del contribuyente.
Claudio Cortés is a founding partner of C&C Contadores Auditores, a Chilean accounting, audit and tax advisory firm. Chartered Accountant-Auditor and holder of a Master's in Taxation from the University of Chile. About us · LinkedIn