Chile now charges VAT on imports up to 500 dollars

Until October 2025, low-value goods bought abroad by Chilean consumers arrived without VAT. That gap closed on 25 October 2025, and the change matters to any European brand whose Chilean plan was direct-to-consumer parcels rather than an importer and a distributor.

What changed

VAT now applies to goods purchased abroad for values up to 500 US dollars, and the collection mechanism moved onto the selling platforms rather than sitting at the border with the customs service. The underlying instrument is Ley 21.713, and the Servicio de Impuestos Internos operates the registration and quarterly declaration regime for foreign sellers and platforms.

The Servicio de Impuestos Internos reported on 27 January 2026 that the first quarterly declaration and payment period raised over 41 million dollars. That figure is worth noting for two reasons: it is real money, and it tells you the regime is being complied with rather than ignored, which is not always the safe assumption with a new digital collection rule.

Why the collection mechanism is the interesting part

Taxing low-value imports is not novel; the EU did the equivalent in 2021 and the UK in 2021. Where these regimes differ is in who collects.

Collecting at the border on every parcel is expensive and slow and creates exactly the customer experience nobody wants, which is a courier demanding payment at the door. Moving collection onto the platform means the tax is charged at checkout, the customer sees a final price, and the parcel moves.

For a seller, that means a registration and filing obligation rather than a customs one. If you sell to Chilean consumers through a marketplace, the marketplace is generally the party in the regime. If you sell direct from your own website at scale, the obligation is likely to be yours, and it needs checking against the Servicio de Impuestos Internos rules for your own volumes and model.

What it means commercially

Your price to the Chilean consumer went up by 19 per cent, or your margin did. There is no third option. Decide which, deliberately, rather than discovering it in the conversion rate.

The arbitrage against local retail narrowed. Part of the appeal of buying from abroad was that it was untaxed while the domestic equivalent was not. That advantage is gone, and what remains is selection and brand rather than price.

It changes the case for a proper import route. If direct parcels no longer carry a tax advantage, the comparison against a Chilean importer or distributor gets more favourable for the importer, because at that point you gain consolidated freight, local returns, local customer service and local marketing, and you no longer pay for it in tax.

That is the actual decision this rule forces. For a European consumer brand with meaningful Chilean volume, the parcel model was often chosen because it avoided a partner and a tax. One of those reasons is now gone.

What to check

1. Whether your sales model puts the registration and filing obligation on you or on a marketplace.
2. Whether your checkout is showing a Chilean customer a VAT-inclusive price, because a surprise at delivery is worse than a higher price at checkout.
3. Whether the volumes now justify a Chilean importer, given that you are paying the tax either way.
4. Whether any of your products carry certification requirements that a parcel route was quietly avoiding, which is a separate exposure: see CE marking is not enough.

Chile is not the only market moving this way. Treat a de minimis exemption anywhere as a temporary feature of your business model rather than a permanent one, and build the plan that works without it.

For the wider Chilean position, our Chile market page sets out the trade agreement, the permitting picture and where the industrial demand actually is.

The customs side did not disappear

One thing worth being precise about, because the two rules get conflated. Charging VAT at checkout changes who collects the tax and when. It does not remove the goods from the customs process, and it does not create an exemption from anything else.

Product compliance still applies. A parcel containing an electrical product still needs the certification the product requires, and a parcel containing food or cosmetics still meets whatever the applicable rules are for that category. A direct-to-consumer model does not carve you out of technical regulation; it just means nobody was checking at your volumes.

Nor does the change affect goods above the threshold, which continue through the ordinary import route with duty and VAT assessed on clearance. If your typical basket sits near 500 dollars, you now have two regimes and a boundary, and the boundary is worth modelling rather than discovering.

Common questions

Does Chile charge VAT on goods bought from abroad?

Yes. Since 25 October 2025, VAT applies to goods purchased abroad by Chilean consumers for values up to 500 US dollars, with collection moving onto the selling platforms rather than being taken at the border.

Who pays the VAT on low-value imports into Chile?

The consumer bears it, and the collection obligation sits with the selling platform or, depending on the model, the foreign seller, through registration and quarterly declaration with the Servicio de Impuestos Internos.

Has the Chilean de minimis regime actually been enforced?

On the available evidence, yes. The Servicio de Impuestos Internos reported on 27 January 2026 that the first quarterly declaration and payment period raised more than 41 million dollars.

Should I still ship direct to Chilean consumers?

It depends on volume. The change removes the tax advantage that made the parcel model attractive against a local importer, so at meaningful volume the comparison now favours a Chilean import route, which also brings consolidated freight, local returns and local service.