Chile Tax Residence: the rule, how days are counted, examples

Summary

You are a tax resident of Chile when you are in the country for more than 183 days inside any period of 12 months. The days can be in a row or spread over several visits, and the period does not follow the calendar year. You become resident on your 184th day. The rule is in article 8, number 8, of the Tax Code, in force since 1 March 2020. The Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), Chile's tax authority, applies it. A domicile in Chile makes you taxable as a resident from your first day, with any number of days.

Limit: 183 days. You become resident on day 184
Period: Any 12 months in a row, moving, not the calendar year
A day counts when: You are physically in Chile, entry and exit days included
Law: Tax Code (Código Tributario), article 8, number 8
Run by: Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII)

Who it applies to

Remote workers who stay in Chile for a season and come back in the same 12 months.
Foreign employees and contractors on projects in Chile, for example in mining or energy.
People with a partner or family in Chile who visit several times a year.
Chileans who live abroad and return for long visits.
People who leave Chile and want to know when their tax residence ends.

The rule

Article 8, number 8, of the Tax Code defines a resident as any person who stays in Chile, without interruption or not, for a period or periods that in total are more than 183 days, inside any span of 12 months. Law 21.210 wrote this definition, and it has applied since 1 March 2020.

The SII explained the rule in Circular 63 of 2021. The test is objective: your intention does not matter, only the number of days you are physically in Chile. You become resident on the day you complete 184 days of presence. The 12 months are consecutive and moving. They can start in any month and can cross from one calendar year into the next.

Chile's income tax applies to people who are resident or domiciled. Domicile is a separate idea, taken from article 59 of the Civil Code: living in a place with the real or presumed intention to stay there. The SII looks mainly at economic facts, such as where you do the work that gives most of your income and where your main business interests are. A person who gets a domicile in Chile is treated as domiciled from the first day of entry.

Residence is lost in the mirror way. The Circular says you lose it when you are outside Chile for at least 184 days, in a row or not, inside a period of 12 consecutive months. Losing residence does not mean losing domicile: under article 4 of the Income Tax Law, absence alone does not end your domicile while you keep the main seat of your business in Chile.

Why it exists

Chile taxes residents and domiciled people on income from every country and taxes other people only on income from Chile. A fixed number of days gives the state and the person a clear test that does not depend on intention. A moving 12-month period stops people from avoiding the rule by placing a long stay across the end of a calendar year.

Counting the days

You count the days you are physically in Chile inside any 12 months in a row. Every visit in that period is added together.

List every entry into Chile and every exit, with dates, from your passport stamps or the border records.
Count each day you were in Chile, including the day of entry and the day of exit.
Leave out days when you were only in transit in Chile on a journey between two places outside the country.
Take any 12 months in a row and add up the days inside it.
Move the 12-month period forward and backward. If any such period has 184 days, you are resident from the 184th day.
Check separately if you have a domicile in Chile, because that makes you taxable from the day you entered.

How Countr counts it. Countr counts every day on which you were in Chile for any part of the day, over the 12 months that end today, and shows the total against the limit of 183 days. This matches the SII's way of counting entry and exit days. The card shows the last 12 months only, so open the tracker to see past periods in which you went over, because those stay on your record. Countr cannot tell a transit day from a normal day, so a pure transit stop is counted. It also cannot see domicile: if you live in Chile with the intention to stay, you are taxed as a resident with any number of days.

Track Chile Tax Residence on your phone.

Countr finds your past trips in your photos and keeps counting from there.

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Examples

One stay of six months

Greta lands in Santiago on 10 January 2026 and does not leave. Her 183rd day in Chile is 11 July 2026. She is still not a resident on that day. On 12 July 2026 she completes 184 days and becomes a tax resident of Chile from that date.

Under 183 days in each calendar year

Dev is in Chile from 4 August to 31 December 2025, which is 150 days, and stays on from 1 January to 9 February 2026, which is 40 more days. In 2025 he has 150 days and in 2026 he has 40 days, so each calendar year is under 183. But the 12 months that start in August 2025 contain 190 days. He is a resident, and his 184th day was 3 February 2026.

Stopping at exactly 183 days

Nora spends 100 days in Chile in spring and 83 days in autumn inside the same 12 months. Her total is 183 days. The law says more than 183, so she is not a resident by days. One more day in Chile inside those 12 months, even a few hours on an arrival day, would be her 184th day and would make her resident.

Exceptions

Days in transit through Chile on a journey between two places outside the country are not counted.
Domicile makes you taxable from your first day in Chile, without any day count. A sworn statement that you intend to stay is enough for the SII to treat you as domiciled.
A foreigner who becomes resident or domiciled pays tax only on income from Chilean sources for the first three years, counted from entry, under article 3 of the Income Tax Law.
If you are also resident in a country that has a tax treaty with Chile, the treaty's tie-breaker rules decide your residence for the treaty.
During those first three years a foreigner is not treated as a resident of Chile for treaty purposes, because Chile does not tax their worldwide income in that time.

Common misconceptions

“Chile counts the 183 days inside the calendar year.”: No. Since 1 March 2020 the law uses any span of 12 months. The period can start in any month and can cross into the next calendar year.
“I am not a resident because I never planned to stay.”: For residence, intention does not matter. The SII says the test depends only on the number of days of physical presence. Intention matters for domicile, which is a second and separate way to be taxed.
“The days must be in a row.”: The law says without interruption or not. Days from all visits inside the 12 months are added together.
“Once I leave Chile, my residence ends that day.”: Residence ends when you have been outside Chile for at least 184 days inside 12 months. Domicile can continue after that if your main business stays in Chile.

Questions and answers

Do the days I arrive in and leave Chile count?

Yes. The SII's Circular 63 of 2021 says the count runs from the day of arrival to the day of departure, and both of those days are included.

Do transit days in Chile count towards the 183 days?

No. Days spent in transit in Chile during a journey between two points outside the country are left out. Countr cannot see that a day was transit, so it counts it.

From which date am I a tax resident of Chile?

From the day you complete 184 days of presence inside a 12-month period. Income you earn before that day is taxed under the rules for non-residents.

Does a foreigner pay Chilean tax on foreign income straight away?

No. For the first three years from entry, a foreigner who becomes resident or domiciled is taxed only on income from Chilean sources. After that, Chile taxes income from all countries.

How do I lose tax residence in Chile?

You lose it when you are outside Chile for at least 184 days, in a row or not, inside 12 consecutive months. You must also not keep a domicile in Chile, which the SII judges mainly from where your main business and income are.

Can I be resident in Chile and in another country at once?

Yes, under each country's own law. If the two countries have a tax treaty, its tie-breaker rules choose one residence for the treaty. The SII looks at the whole situation.

Sources

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This page explains the rule and how the days are counted. It is not legal or tax advice. The authority decides each case on its own facts.