Input VAT credit in Chile: 7 e-invoicing mistakes that cost you money

Published on July 30, 2026. Reviewed by Lorena Carrasco Núñez, Public Accountant and Auditor.

Input VAT credit is lost bit by bit, through small things: an invoice nobody acknowledged in time, fuel for the pick-up that is really a passenger car, the pre-filled Form 29 you accepted exactly as it came. In Chile the rules are spread across Decree Law 825, its Regulations, Law No. 19,983 and a couple of decrees, and almost none of them applies on its own.

These are the seven mistakes we see most often when reviewing clients. Each one comes with the rule behind it and what can be done once it has already happened.

---

Contents

1. Summary: how input VAT credit is lost
2. Acknowledgment of receipt: the month in which the credit arises (mistake 1)
3. Objecting to an invoice: the 8-day deadline under Law No. 19,983 (mistake 2)
4. Late invoices: out-of-period credit and amended returns (mistake 3)
5. Purchase and Sales Register: the pre-filled Form 29 (mistake 4)
6. Purchases that carry no credit: vehicles, supermarkets and line of business (mistake 5)
7. Apportionment of input VAT credit: article 43 of the Regulations (mistake 6)
8. False or unreliable invoices: the safe harbor in article 23 No. 5 (mistake 7)
9. Form 29 due dates: the 12th, the 20th and the 28th
10. Deferring VAT payment: requirements and the 100,000 UF cap
11. What Law No. 21,713 changed and what it did not
12. How we review input VAT credit at C&C
13. Sources and regulations

---

Summary: how input VAT credit is lost

• The credit on an electronic invoice arises in the month of the acknowledgment of receipt, not in the month of issuance. If the document reaches the SII in the last eight days of the month, the automatic acknowledgment falls in the following month and the credit goes with it. The rule does not apply to services or to invoices paid in cash.
• You have eight calendar days to object to an invoice that is not correct. Once the deadline passes, the invoice is irrevocably accepted, may be assigned to a factoring company and is eligible for enforceable-instrument status. And an invoice that has been objected to carries no input VAT credit.
• An invoice recorded late can be claimed within the month of issuance plus two more — for electronic invoices, counted from the month of the acknowledgment — provided the delay is not attributable to you. After that, the SII only allows an amended return for a transcription error in the form.
• VAT on passenger cars, station wagons and similar vehicles, including their lease with or without a purchase option, and on their fuel, lubricants, spare parts and repairs, carries no input VAT credit, unless your ordinary line of business is selling or leasing those goods.
• If you have exempt or non-taxable sales, VAT on mixed-use purchases is claimed on a pro-rata basis, at a percentage that accumulates month by month until the calendar year closes.
• Paying an invoice in cash leaves you without the safe harbor in article 23 No. 5 if the SII challenges it.
• Form 29 is due on the 20th if you file and pay online and you are an electronic issuer. The 12th is the general statutory deadline, and the 28th applies to online returns filed without payment.

---

Acknowledgment of receipt of the electronic invoice: the month in which the credit arises (mistake 1)

The input VAT credit on an electronic invoice is claimed in the month of the acknowledgment of receipt, not in the month of issuance (article 23 No. 7 of Decree Law 825). Because the SII issues the acknowledgment automatically eight calendar days after it receives the document, every invoice that reaches it in the last eight days of the month shifts its credit to the following month. This is the most expensive of the seven mistakes and the one fewest people have on their radar.

In cash terms: a supplier invoice dated March 27 that nobody acknowledged manually is of no use for your March Form 29. It shows up in April. The SII itself warns about this: invoices received by the Service in the last eight days of the month are acknowledged automatically in the following month, and if you want the credit in the month of receipt, you have to acknowledge it yourself.

How do you acknowledge receipt manually at the SII?

Log in to sii.cl with your tax PIN and follow the path Servicios online → Factura electrónica → Consultas DTE → Registro de aceptación o reclamos de un DTE. Find the document by issuer tax ID, folio number or date, and choose the option «Acuse Recibo de Mercaderías Entregadas o Servicios», which is the one that unlocks the credit. Confirm, and the status changes immediately.

The other options in the register are objections, they leave the document pending, or they relate to dispatch notes from the previous month. It takes five minutes. Make it a month-end routine for everything that arrived after the 20th.

Is «Acepta contenido DTE» the same as the acknowledgment of receipt?

No. «Acepta contenido DTE» leaves the document in a pending status until the automatic acknowledgment kicks in after eight days, and it does not bring the input VAT credit forward. It is the most common confusion in this whole area, because the name of the option suggests the opposite of what it does.

When does the acknowledgment rule not apply?

The rule does not apply in three situations: the supply of services, invoices paid in cash, and invoices preceded by a dispatch note that has already been acknowledged.

Services. The restriction in article 23 No. 7 does not apply to the supply of services, nor to acts or contracts where, under article 55, the invoice must be issued before the service is completed or delivery takes place. For services, the credit does not depend on the acknowledgment. Watch out for the practical friction: the SII system still shows those documents as pending until the automatic acknowledgment.

Cash payment. Invoices paid in cash are deemed acknowledged at the very moment of payment. There is nothing for you to do there.

Prior dispatch note. If you acknowledged a dispatch note in August and the supplier issues the electronic invoice within the first ten days of September, you may acknowledge the invoice referencing the date of the dispatch note acknowledgment, and claim the input VAT credit in August. The SII makes that option conditional on three requirements that must all be met together: the invoice must bear an August issue date, it must reference that month's dispatch note, and it must be on credit terms (guide to the Acceptance or Objection Register). This is a credit recovery that is lost every month for lack of awareness.

Up to what day is an electronic tax document useful for that month's Form 29?

In months with 31 days the cut-off is the 23rd; in months with 30 days, the 22; in February, the 20, or the 21st in a leap year. It follows from the automatic acknowledgment rule: the date of receipt by the SII plus eight days cannot fall past the last day of the month.

Leave yourself a day of slack and treat the 20th of each month as your operating cut-off. Anything that arrives after that, acknowledge manually before you close.

What to do: treat the 20th of each month as your operating cut-off and manually acknowledge, before closing, everything that arrives after that date.

---

Objecting to an electronic invoice: the 8-day deadline under Law No. 19,983 (mistake 2)

You have eight calendar days to object to an invoice that is not correct. Article 3 of Law No. 19,983 deems it «irrevocably accepted» if you do not object within that period, and an invoice that has been objected to carries no input VAT credit: acknowledgment and objection are mutually exclusive.

An invoice arrives for a service that was never supplied, for an amount other than the one agreed, or on terms nobody accepted. You file it away «to look at later». That later almost never arrives before day eight.

How many days do I have to object, and when do they start running?

Eight calendar days, not business days. The law counts them from receipt of the invoice. For electronic invoices the SII counts them from the moment the document was received by the Service, not from the moment it landed in your inbox. Using the SII's own example: an electronic tax document received on January 1 at 8:00 p.m. expires on January 9 at 11:59 p.m.

How do you object?

By registered letter or any other reliable means addressed to the issuer, together with the return of the invoice and the dispatch notes, or with a request for a credit note. An internal rejection is not enough.

An email may qualify as a reliable means if there is verifiable evidence of its sending and content, but the registered letter remains the safe evidentiary standard. The objection is deemed made on the date the communication is sent.

If it is an electronic invoice, you must also record it in the SII's Acceptance or Objection Register, using one of the three objection options: to the content of the document, for partial failure to deliver, or for total failure to deliver.

What happens if I do not object in time?

The wording is not accidental: the law says «irrevocably accepted», not «tacitly accepted». Once the deadline passes, several effects follow one after another, and you are better off knowing each of them.

Delivery is presumed and the invoice becomes assignable without a receipt (article 4, fourth paragraph, of Law No. 19,983). This is the gateway to factoring.

It becomes eligible for enforceable-instrument status (article 5, letter c). This is often told wrong: enforceable-instrument status is not automatic. Article 5, letter d) further requires that the invoice be brought to the debtor's attention through judicial notice and that the debtor fails to allege, immediately or within three days, the material forgery of the document, or that such allegation is rejected. There is a preparatory court proceeding in between.

Against the assignee, the following become unenforceable: personal defenses that could have been raised against the assignor and those based on total or partial failure to deliver (article 3, third paragraph). And with respect to invoices already assigned and irrevocably accepted, subsequent credit and debit notes are also unenforceable, under the rule that Law No. 21,131 added to the final paragraph of that same article.

All of the above applies to the electronic invoice by virtue of article 9. Against the original issuer you retain your civil and criminal actions, but that is a different fight and a considerably more expensive one.

Can a longer objection period than eight days be agreed?

Not since November 1, 2016. Until October 31 of that year the parties could agree on up to thirty calendar days, and an objection could only be made «against the content» of the invoice. Law No. 20,956 removed that option and extended the grounds to total or partial failure to deliver the goods or supply the service (SII Circular No. 4 of 2017). If you have contracts that still invoke the thirty days, that clause is no longer valid.

What to do: object within the 8 calendar days by registered letter (the safe evidentiary standard) and record it in the SII's Acceptance or Objection Register.

---

Late invoices: out-of-period input VAT credit and amended Form 29 (mistake 3)

You can indeed claim the credit on a late invoice. Article 24, third paragraph, of Decree Law 825 allows it to be claimed within the two following tax periods — the month of the document plus two — provided the invoice is received or recorded late for reasons not attributable to the taxpayer. Outside that window things get considerably tighter than what circulates online.

The November invoice turned up in March. The usual reaction is to assume the VAT is lost and book it as an expense. Neither of those is correct.

Can I claim the input VAT credit on an invoice that arrived late?

Yes, within the month of issuance plus two periods, and only if the delay is not attributable to you. That requirement is in the law and it is audited: the window exists for involuntary delay, not for managing the credit at your convenience. It covers invoices, credit notes, debit notes and import tax payment receipts (SII Circular No. 26 of 2021).

The period does not start running from the day the invoice landed on your desk. The law anchors it to «the one indicated in those rules», that is, the period in which the credit should have been claimed under articles 23 and 24. On paper that coincides with the month of issuance: an August document works in August, September or October.

For electronic invoices you have to cross-check this against mistake 1. If the acknowledgment fell in September, that is the period in which the credit arises, and the real margin turns out to be shorter than the date printed on the document suggests.

And if the two periods have already passed?

The SII's position is narrower than is usually claimed. The Service has held that, once the article 24 deadline has passed, an amended return whose only purpose is to increase the input VAT credit or the carry-forward balance may not be authorized (Ruling No. 76 of 2005). The only exception allowed is a transcription error in the form, in respect of invoices that were in fact received and recorded in due time.

Another route remains open, on one condition: that the omission resulted in an actual overpayment of VAT. In that case you can request a refund of the amount unduly paid under article 126 of the Tax Code, within three years counted from the payment, attaching the amended return as support for the excess (Ruling No. 1,430 of 2008).

The uncomfortable corollary: if the period closed with a carry-forward input VAT credit balance and not with a payment, there is no undue payment to recover and the credit is effectively lost. That is why controlling the deadline is not a formality.

One operational detail: amended returns that increase the carry-forward balance or generate a refund cannot be filed online. They require an administrative claim before the SII.

Can unrecovered VAT be booked as an expense?

No. In Circular No. 53 of 2020 the SII stated that input VAT credit is not a deductible expense, and that VAT charged may only be deducted as an expense when the taxpayer has no right to an input VAT credit: exempt transactions, apportionment, the cases in article 23. Having had the right and not exercised it in time is a different matter, and there is no expense there.

What can you do depending on how much time has passed?

Situation	Deadline	Route	Is it recoverable?
The invoice is not correct	8 calendar days from receipt by the SII	Objection in the Acceptance or Objection Register, plus reliable communication to the issuer	Not applicable: the invoice is rejected
Electronic tax document received after the monthly cut-off	Before month-end	Manual acknowledgment of receipt on the portal	Yes, in the month of receipt
Received or recorded late for reasons not attributable to you	Month of issuance plus 2 periods	Direct claim on Form 29	Yes
Not claimed within those 3 periods and there was an overpayment of VAT	3 years from the payment	Administrative claim under art. 126 of the Tax Code	Yes, by way of refund
Not claimed within those 3 periods and the period closed with a carry-forward balance	—	—	No
Non-electronic document missing from the pre-filled return	Before filing Form 29	Supplement the Purchase Register	Yes
Non-electronic document provided after filing	Month of issuance plus 2 periods	Amended return	Yes. Outside that window, the rows above apply

What to do: claim the credit within the month of issuance plus two periods; if the deadline has passed and there was an overpayment of VAT, request the article 126 refund through an administrative claim (not online).

---

Purchase and Sales Register: why you should not accept the pre-filled Form 29 without reviewing it (mistake 4)

The SII's pre-filled Form 29 only contains what is in the Purchase and Sales Register. Paper invoices, non-electronic credit and debit notes and import VAT payment receipts are not included automatically: you have to supplement the Register before filing, a task handled by our accounting service. If you accept the pre-filled return without reviewing it, you end up under-reporting your own input VAT credit.

Until when can the Purchase Register be supplemented?

You have to supplement it within the statutory deadlines for that period's Form 29, and always before filing the return. You can do it on the same day, but that leaves zero margin to spot discrepancies.

After the deadline there is no carry-over: information provided later is not taken into account at the time of filing, and you have to file an amended return (Purchase and Sales Register FAQs, Nos. 26 and 27; the register is governed by article 59 of Decree Law 825 and instructed in SII Circular No. 50 of 2020).

What to check before accepting the pre-filled Form 29

Reconcile the Purchase Register against your accounting purchase ledger before filing. And bear in mind that the timing gap from mistake 1 shows up precisely here: the register will propose the credit in the month of the acknowledgment of receipt, not in the month of the invoice. That mismatch against the accounting records is to be expected and is not an error.

What to do: reconcile the Purchase Register against your accounting purchase ledger and supplement whatever is missing before filing Form 29.

---

Purchases that carry no input VAT credit: vehicles, supermarkets and expenses unrelated to the line of business (mistake 5)

Four groups of purchases carry no input VAT credit even if they have a valid invoice and have been paid: those allocated to exempt or non-taxable transactions, those that bear no direct relation to the line of business (article 23 No. 2 of Decree Law 825), passenger cars, station wagons and similar vehicles together with their fuel, lubricants, spare parts and repairs (article 23 No. 4), and supermarket expenses that do not meet article 31 of the Income Tax Law.

Does VAT on a company car carry an input VAT credit?

No. Article 23 No. 4 is the one that costs the most money. No credit is available on the import, the lease with or without a purchase option and the acquisition of passenger cars, station wagons and similar vehicles, nor on the fuel, lubricants, spare parts and repairs for their upkeep. The same subsection also denies the credit on products or components that benefit from consumer subsidies under article 48.

The classic mistake is the knock-on effect: the company accepts that VAT on the car cannot be recovered, but keeps claiming VAT on the fuel, the workshop and the tires. And leasing is no way out either; the rule says so in plain words.

The rule has two exits, and neither is freely available. The first: that the taxpayer's ordinary line of business or activity is the sale or leasing of those goods, such as car dealerships or rent-a-car companies. The second: cases where the Director of the SII exercises the power in the first paragraph of article 31 of the Income Tax Law and previously qualifies those expenses, at his sole discretion, as necessary. That qualification is requested from the Service; it is not settled internally.

Do pick-ups, vans and jeeps carry an input VAT credit? And SUVs?

Article 23 No. 4 does not mention pick-ups, vans or jeeps: the prohibition covers «passenger cars, station wagons and similar vehicles». On that basis the SII has accepted the input VAT credit on vans, pick-ups and jeep-type vehicles, a position set out in Circular No. 130 of 1977 as referred to in Ruling No. 465 of 2015. For the double-cab pick-up allocated to fixed assets, the SII's current answer relies on Circular No. 5 of 2018 and Ruling No. 4,269 of 1987.

Careful before treating this as settled. In that same Ruling No. 465, of February 2015, the Service narrowed the scope of the term jeep and excluded vehicles with automatic transmission, on the view that such equipment is incompatible with the functions of a work vehicle. An automatic jeep, on that criterion, carries no input VAT credit.

The classification depends on whether the vehicle is a «passenger car, station wagon or similar vehicle» under the administrative criteria in force, not on the brand or the use you give it. For modern categories that did not exist when those instructions were issued, such as SUVs and crossovers, there is no general SII pronouncement. If you have one you are unsure about, document the vehicle's technical classification and ask your accountant before claiming the credit.

Does it carry an input VAT credit or not? Reference table

Item	Input VAT credit?	Legislation	Note
Passenger car, station wagon or similar vehicle	No	Art. 23 No. 4 of Decree Law 825	Unless the ordinary line of business is selling or leasing them
Car lease, with or without a purchase option	No	Art. 23 No. 4 of Decree Law 825	The rule expressly covers leasing
Fuel, lubricants, spare parts and repairs for a passenger car	No	Art. 23 No. 4 of Decree Law 825	The most frequent knock-on effect
Pick-up, van or jeep-type vehicle, and its fuel and upkeep	Yes	Circular No. 130/1977, as referred to in Ruling No. 465/2015	Consumables follow the treatment of the vehicle
Jeep with automatic transmission	No	Ruling No. 465/2015	The SII excludes it from the category
SUV or crossover	Gray area	—	No general pronouncement. Document the classification
Supermarket purchase	It depends	Art. 23 No. 4 of Decree Law 825	Yes, if it meets art. 31 of the Income Tax Law; no, if it does not
Purchase allocated to an exempt or non-taxable transaction	No	Art. 23 No. 2 of Decree Law 825
Purchase with no direct relation to the line of business	No	Art. 23 No. 2 of Decree Law 825
Mixed-use good or service	Partial	Art. 23 No. 3 of Decree Law 825, art. 43 of the Regulations	Accumulated apportionment. See the example below
Invoice objected to within the 8 days	No	Art. 23 No. 7 of Decree Law 825, Law No. 19,983	Acknowledgment and objection are mutually exclusive
Electronic invoice with no acknowledgment of receipt in the month	Yes, the following month	Art. 23 No. 7 of Decree Law 825	It is deferred, not lost
False or unreliable invoice paid in cash	No	Art. 23 No. 5 of Decree Law 825	No safe harbor from a named-payee payment
False or unreliable invoice paid by bank transfer quoting the tax ID and invoice number	Yes	Art. 23 No. 5 of Decree Law 825	Requirements apply together and without knowledge of the falsity
Invoice from a supplier that is not a VAT taxpayer	No	Art. 23 No. 5 of Decree Law 825

What to do: do not carry over the credit on fuel, workshop services or spare parts for a passenger car; if you are unsure about an SUV or similar vehicle, document its classification before claiming the credit.

---

Apportionment of input VAT credit: the article 43 calculation in the Regulations (mistake 6)

When a company has both taxable sales and exempt or non-taxable sales, VAT on mixed-use goods and services only carries a credit on a pro-rata basis (article 23 No. 3 of Decree Law 825). The percentage is the ratio of net taxable sales to total net sales recorded in the books, accumulated month by month until the calendar year closes, under article 43 of the VAT Regulations.

If your company only makes taxable sales, the credit is full. If it only makes exempt sales, there is no credit. The problem starts when it does both and buys inputs that serve both.

How is the apportionment of input VAT credit calculated?

You divide net taxable sales by total net sales recorded in the books, accumulating both from January, and you apply that percentage to the month's mixed-use VAT. Article 43 sets it out in three steps:

1. The credit on fixed assets, inputs, raw materials or services in mixed use is calculated separately from the credit on items allocated exclusively to taxable transactions.
2. For those mixed-use goods and services, the percentage ratio established between the net transactions recorded in the books applies.
3. That ratio is determined by taking net taxable sales and services over total net sales and services recorded in the books for the first period with mixed transactions, and in the following periods the same ratio applies, accumulating the amounts month by month, until the relevant calendar year is completed.

What gets overlooked:

• The percentage is cumulative, not based on the month in isolation.
• It is calculated on net sales recorded in the books: not on gross amounts, and not on what has been invoiced if it has not been recorded.
• It accumulates until the calendar year closes and, in administrative practice, the count starts again in January. Article 43 does not say so in those words — it speaks of accumulating «until the relevant calendar year is completed» — so leave the position documented in your workpapers.

Worked example: cumulative apportionment from January to March

A consulting firm invoices taxable services and also leases out a property without furniture, which is not subject to VAT. The rent on its office, electricity, accounting fees and software serve both lines: they are mixed-use, and add up to $2.000.000 of VAT per month.

Its net taxable sales are CLP 60, 40 and 20 million in January, February and March; the non-taxable ones, CLP 40, 60 and 80 million. Cumulative taxable sales over the cumulative total give each month's percentage.

Month	Credit % (cumulative)	Mixed-use VAT	Creditable	To cost or expense
January	60 %	2.000.000	1.200.000	800.000
February	50 %	2.000.000	1.000.000	1.000.000
March	40 %	2.000.000	800.000	1.200.000
Total		6.000.000	3.000.000	3.000.000

Had this company applied January's 60% for all three months, it would have claimed $3.600.000 of credit instead of $3.000.000. That is a $600.000 difference in a single quarter.

The cumulative percentage applies to the period's mixed-use VAT: what has already been claimed is not recalculated backwards. And the $3.000.000 with no right to credit is not lost: it is a cost or expense of the period, because here the taxpayer never had a right to that credit. That is the exact difference from mistake 3, where the right existed and was not exercised in time.

What happens if I claim 100% of the credit while having exempt sales?

Article 43 itself spells out the penalty: if the taxpayer deducted the full amount of the credit on mixed-use goods or services, the Treasury may demand the repayment of the tax with inflation adjustments, interest and penalties, in the proportion allocated to generating exempt or non-taxable transactions.

It is the mistake that shows up most often in audits of companies that started with a taxable line of business and later added an exempt one (leasing, education, healthcare) without adjusting the calculation.

What to do: apply the percentage accumulated since January (not the one for the month in isolation) to net sales recorded in the books, and put the position in writing in the workpaper.

---

False or unreliable invoices: the safe harbor in article 23 No. 5 (mistake 7)

Article 23 No. 5 of Decree Law 825 denies the input VAT credit on a false or unreliable invoice even if the transaction was real and the buyer knew nothing about it. The same rule provides the safe harbor: paying by check made out to a named payee, a named bank draft (vale vista) or an electronic transfer in the name of the issuer, from the company's checking account, recording the issuer's tax ID and the invoice number. This mistake does not depend on you, but on your supplier turning out to be a problem.

How should I pay an invoice so as not to lose the input VAT credit?

By check made out to a named payee, a named bank draft (vale vista) or an electronic transfer in the name of the invoice issuer, drawn on the company's bank checking account, and recording on the back of the check or bank draft the issuer's tax ID and the invoice number. For electronic transfers, that same information — including the amount — must be recorded in the supporting documentation of the banking transaction. Both requirements apply together.

In practice: pay your suppliers by transfer from the company's checking account, never from a shareholder's personal account. Put the tax ID and the invoice number in the reference field, and keep the receipt. Payment in cash or by bearer check leaves the company without the safe harbor even if the transaction is impeccable.

What happens if the SII challenges an invoice I have already paid?

If the Service requests supporting evidence, you have one month from the notice to provide it. Once that deadline passes, subject to certification by the Regional Director, the invoice is presumed false or unreliable and carries no credit until the contrary is established.

And if the invoice is challenged after being paid, to keep the credit you have to prove four things to the SII, something an external audit leaves documented:

• the issuance and payment of the check, bank draft or transfer, with the original document, a photocopy or a bank certification;
• the recording of the relevant checking account in the accounting records, if the taxpayer is required to keep them;
• the invoice's compliance with the formal obligations set out in laws and regulations;
• the material occurrence of the transaction and of its amount, through the means of proof established by law.

There is also a final safety valve: the credit is not lost if it is established that the tax was charged and actually paid into the Treasury by the seller. And there is an exclusion that overrides all of the above: none of this protects anyone who knew of or took part in the falsity of the invoice.

What to do: pay by transfer from the company's checking account, record the tax ID and invoice number in the reference field, and keep the receipt.

---

Form 29 due dates: the 12th, the 20th and the 28th

Form 29 is due on the 20th of the following month for anyone who files and pays online and is authorized as an issuer of electronic tax documents, which today is practically every VAT taxpayer. The 12th is the general statutory deadline in article 64 of Decree Law 825, and the 28th applies only to online returns filed without payment. None of the above helps if Form 29 is filed late.

When is Form 29 due?

What governs the due date is the channel you use to file and pay, not the type of document you issue.

Due date	Legislation	Who it applies to
20th of the following month	Supreme Decree No. 1,001 of 2006, Ministry of Finance, art. 1	Files and pays online and is also an authorized issuer of electronic tax documents, or issues only electronic professional-fee receipts
12th of the following month	Decree Law 825, art. 64, first paragraph	General statutory deadline. It applies to anyone who does not file and pay online
28th of the following month	Administrative deadline set by the SII under art. 36, fifth paragraph, of the Tax Code	Returns filed online without payment, including «no activity» returns

The two conditions for the 20th apply together: filing online is not enough, and being an electronic issuer is not enough either. Operational source: SII FAQs on Form 29 deadlines.

What happens if the due date falls on a Saturday, a public holiday or December 31?

It is extended to the next business day, under article 36 of the Tax Code. Sunday is covered because it is a holiday.

Watch out for the 28th: it is a deadline to file, not to pay. If there is tax assessed and you do not pay it, inflation adjustments, interest and penalties run all the same.

---

If you want to estimate how much your F29 form will cost this month before filing—net VAT, PPM, and withholding tax on professional fees—you can use our F29 simulator, one of the free calculators of the site.

Deferring VAT payment: requirements and the 100,000 UF cap

Deferral allows you to postpone for up to two months the full payment of the VAT accrued in the month. It is set out in article 64 of Decree Law 825, remains in force in 2026, and applies to taxpayers under the Pro Pyme regime of article 14, letter D, of the Income Tax Law or under the general regime with full or simplified accounting, whose average annual operating income over the last three calendar years does not exceed 100,000 UF.

Watch that figure: it is not the 75,000 UF cap for being in the Pro Pyme regime, which is a different thing and gets confused all the time.

Who can defer VAT payment?

Taxpayers under article 14, letter D, or under the general regime with full or simplified accounting, with three-year average income below 100,000 UF. On top of the cap there are three requirements that apply together:

• being registered to receive notices by email under article 11 of the Tax Code;
• having no repeated arrears in VAT or income tax (three or more VAT periods owed in the last 36 months, or one income tax year in the same period), unless the debt has been paid or is covered by a payment agreement in force;
• having filed, in due time and form, the monthly VAT returns for the preceding 36 periods and the annual income tax returns for the preceding 3 tax years.

You request it in the corresponding box on Form 29 itself, online, and it covers the whole period: partial deferral is not allowed. The instructions are in SII Circular No. 25 of 2020.

Does deferring VAT payment release me from filing Form 29?

No. It defers payment, not the return, and article 64 itself says so. On top of that comes an operational requirement from the SII: the benefit is flagged on the Form 29 filed online within the statutory deadlines, so a late Form 29 leaves you without the deferral box for that period.

---

What Law No. 21,713 changed and what it did not

The Law No. 21,713 on compliance with tax obligations did touch Decree Law 825, but not the rules covered in this article. It added article 3 bis, amended articles 4, 5, 8 letter m), 12, 20 and 83, and broadened Paragraph 7 bis — originally added by Law No. 21,210 — to extend the simplified regime to remote sales of goods (SII Circulars No. 12 and No. 39 of 2025). It did not amend articles 23, 24 or 64, which are the ones underpinning the seven mistakes above.

One point in force since October 25, 2025 is worth keeping in mind: digital platforms registered with the SII charge, withhold and pay over the VAT on remote purchases of goods located abroad of up to USD 500 when the buyer is not a VAT taxpayer in Chile. If your company buys supplies through that channel, it has to declare its status as a VAT taxpayer: that way the tax is paid on importation and carries an input VAT credit. If it does not, and the platform charges VAT on the sale, that tax carries no input VAT credit.

---

Credit note: the 6-month deadline under Law No. 21,398

This point is the flip side of the seven mistakes above: it looks at the seller's output VAT rather than the buyer's credit, but it concerns the same transaction. A credit note for the return of goods or for the mutual rescission of a service has a deadline of six calendar months counted from the date of the invoice. It was set by Law No. 21,398, in force since March 24, 2022; before that the deadline was three months, and that outdated figure is still going around.

The distinction matters: credit notes for discounts or rebates are not subject to that six-month deadline. The limit runs only for the return of goods and the mutual rescission of services.

The effect is concrete: a credit note issued after that deadline no longer allows the output VAT to be reduced on Form 29. That is why the counterparty — the buyer — and the seller have to coordinate their timing: the same transaction that shifts the buyer's input VAT credit shifts the seller's output VAT.

How we review input VAT credit at C&C

In our monthly tax compliance reviews these seven points are on the checklist, before we form a view on anything else. We reconcile the VAT close against the Purchase and Sales Register while there is still time to correct it. We handle the acknowledgment of receipt as a month-end routine for everything received from the 20th onwards. And we recalculate the apportionment on a cumulative basis, with the position written into the workpaper.

An example of what turns up: in one review we found close to CLP 2.2 million of input VAT credit on fuel and upkeep claimed over more than two years on an SUV that the company treated as a work vehicle. Nobody had questioned it, because the fuel invoice was impeccable.

If you would like us to look at where your company stands on these seven points, request an input VAT credit review. Three months of Form 29 filings and the Purchase and Sales Register are enough for us to get started.

---

---

Claudio Cortés Ríos is founding partner of C&C Contadores Auditores, a Chilean accounting, audit and tax advisory firm. Public Accountant and Auditor, and holder of a Master's in Taxation from Universidad de Chile. About us · LinkedIn

Reviewed by Lorena Carrasco Núñez, Public Accountant and Auditor — July 30, 2026.

---

Legal notice. This article is for information purposes only and reflects the regulations in force and the administrative positions known as of the date indicated at the top. It does not constitute tax, accounting or legal advice, nor does it replace the analysis of a specific situation. The application of these matters depends on each taxpayer's facts, and the rules may change after this publication. Before making any decision, we recommend verifying the information against official sources — the Chilean Internal Revenue Service (SII) and the National Congress Library — and consulting a professional. C&C Contadores Auditores accepts no liability for decisions taken on the basis of this content without prior advice.