Property holding companies
Setting up and maintaining Chilean companies that buy or hold property, including when the owners live abroad
A foreign national can hold property in Chile personally or through a Chilean company, usually an SpA, which can have a single shareholder. The company is formed through the Registry of Companies and Partnerships or by public deed, and each foreign shareholder needs a Chilean tax ID (RUT), obtained through an attorney in fact domiciled in Chile. The company files a tax return every year even with no activity, and its legal representative before the tax service must be Chilean or a foreign national with a residence permit.
A company can be the right way to hold property in Chile when there are several owners, several properties or an estate to plan. It also has a cost: the company is a taxpayer in its own right, files a tax return every year even with no activity and needs someone to represent it in Chile. Before we set one up, we tell you whether it suits you or whether you are better off buying in your own name.
We handle the whole cycle: we form the company, obtain its tax ID (RUT) and those of the foreign shareholders, register the start of activities with the tax service (SII), can act as its representative in Chile and keep it up to date with amendments, powers, minutes, capital increases and share transfers.
What this area covers
- Formation of SpA and limited liability companies
- Tax ID (RUT) for the company and its foreign shareholders
- Start of activities with the SII
- Representation of the company in Chile
- Amendments, powers, minutes and capital increases
- Share transfers
- Good standing reviews of the company and its property
A company or buying in your own name
This question comes first, because the answer is not always a company. Chilean law reserves for individuals two benefits that matter a great deal with property: the 8,000 UF of gain on a sale that is not taxed, and the DFL 2 benefits for housing, which since Law 20,455 cannot be used by legal entities. A company, by contrast, pays first category tax on the gain, and its shareholders are taxed again when they receive the profits.
A company is justified for other reasons: several owners who need clear rules among themselves, several properties, an organized rental business or an estate worth planning during your lifetime. We compare the two in detail in our guide to holding Chilean property personally or through a company.
How it is formed without traveling to Chile
The usual form is the sociedad por acciones (SpA), which can have a single shareholder and does not require any shareholder to be Chilean or resident in Chile. It can be formed through the Registry of Companies and Partnerships, which is public and free and replaces registration in the Commercial Registry and publication in the Official Gazette, or by the traditional route: a public deed whose abstract is registered and published within sixty days. If that deadline is missed, the company is exposed to nullity.
Someone living abroad signs through an attorney in fact. A power of attorney granted abroad must be apostilled or legalized, and each foreign shareholder first needs their own RUT, which the SII processes through an attorney in fact domiciled or resident in Chile, with documents no more than a year old. When the company is formed through the Registry of Companies and Partnerships, the SII assigns its RUT at the same time, and the start of activities can be requested on the same form.
Who represents the company in Chile
This is the point that most surprises owners who live abroad. Before the SII, the company's legal representative must be its manager, administrator or president, and a foreign national in that role must hold a residence permit that allows them to carry out activities in Chile. The Registry of Companies and Partnerships requires the same: being Chilean or a foreign national with a visa.
In practice, a shareholder who lives in the United States or elsewhere cannot be their company's legal representative before the SII. Someone in Chile has to fill that role, and we can do it, with exactly the powers the company needs and nothing beyond what is essential.
Keeping it up to date and checking it
The company must file its annual income tax return every year, whether or not it had any activity, and it remains subject to its obligations until it gives notice of the end of its business. A company that stops filing does not disappear: the SII can close its tax registration on its own initiative, and the problem surfaces when you want to sell the property or move the money.
In an SpA formed through the Registry of Companies and Partnerships, the shareholder register is kept in the Registry itself and share transfers are recorded there. We check that the company is in good standing, who represents it, who its shareholders are and the status of the property in its name; we explain how in our guide to checking a Chilean company and its property.
Taxes for the company and its shareholders
The company pays first category tax on its profits: 27% in 2026 under the general regime. Law 21,850, published on October 17, 2026, lowers it to 25.5% in 2027, 24% in 2028 and 23% from 2029. A company that lives on rental income usually cannot use the Pro Pyme small business regime, because income from real estate cannot exceed 35% of its revenue.
When profits are distributed to a shareholder living abroad, the 35% Additional Tax applies, with a credit for the first category tax the company paid. For a shareholder resident in the United States, the tax treaty in force since December 19, 2023 matters; we explain it in our guide to the tax treaty between the U.S. and Chile.
- An upfront assessment: a company or buying in your own name
- Formation and RUT without traveling to Chile
- A representative in Chile and a company kept up to date, year after year