The short answer: yes, Chile has an inheritance tax. Each heir pays on their own share, at rates from 1% to 25% expressed in annual tax units (UTA). A spouse, civil partner, descendant or ascendant inherits the first 50 UTA of their share tax-free. The tax is ordinarily declared and paid within two years of the death.
Who pays, and on what
The tax is levied under Law 16.271 and administered by the Chilean Internal Revenue Service, the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (article 1). It is not a tax on the estate as a whole. It is charged on the net value of each heir's share (article 2), so two siblings who inherit a house between them each pay on their own half, and each gets their own allowance.
That has a consequence families tend to miss: the same estate can produce very different tax bills depending on how it is divided and among whom.
The rates
The scale is progressive and works by slices: each rate applies only to the part of the taxable share that falls inside its band, never to the whole amount (article 2).
| Slice of the taxable share | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to 80 UTA | 1% |
| From 80 to 160 UTA | 2.5% |
| From 160 to 320 UTA | 5% |
| From 320 to 480 UTA | 7.5% |
| From 480 to 640 UTA | 10% |
| From 640 to 800 UTA | 15% |
| From 800 to 1,200 UTA | 20% |
| Over 1,200 UTA | 25% |
The UTA is the Chilean annual tax unit, a unit of account whose value in pesos changes over time. The one that counts is the value in force when the inheritance passes to the heirs, ordinarily the date of death. The tax is then fixed in monthly tax units at that date and paid at their peso value on the day of payment (article 2), so waiting does not shrink it.
Allowances and surcharges by relationship
How much of each share is taxed, and at what rate, depends on how the heir was related to the deceased (article 2):
- Spouse, civil partner, descendants and ascendants, including adoptive parents and adopted children: the first 50 UTA of each share is exempt, and the scale applies from its first band to the rest.
- Collateral relatives of the second to fourth degree — brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces, uncles and aunts, first cousins: the first 5 UTA is exempt, and the scale is surcharged by 20%.
- More distant relatives, and people with no family relationship: the scale is surcharged by 40%.
An heir registered in Chile's National Disability Registry is entitled to a 30% reduction of the tax, up to 8,000 UF a year.
Lifetime gifts at half the tax (2026–2027): Law 21.850 halves the gift tax, once per donor, for gifts by public deed to forced heirs signed within one year from 1 December 2026. For parents who plan to pass Chilean property to children abroad, it can be cheaper than waiting for the inheritance. See what Law 21.850 changes.
A worked example
A daughter inherits a share with a net value of 300 UTA. The first 50 UTA are exempt, which leaves 250 UTA taxable:
| Slice | Tax |
|---|---|
| First 80 UTA at 1% | 0.8 UTA |
| Next 80 UTA at 2.5% | 2.0 UTA |
| Remaining 90 UTA at 5% | 4.5 UTA |
| Tax on the share | 7.3 UTA |
That is about 2.4% of what she inherits. A nephew inheriting the same 300 UTA would have only 5 UTA exempt and the scale surcharged by 20%: about 11.5 UTA. And if the estate passes to three children instead of one, each of them starts again from the first band with their own 50 UTA allowance.
The two-year deadline
The tax is declared and paid at the same time, within two years of the date the inheritance passes to the heirs (article 50). Unless the heir was called conditionally, that is the moment of death (article 956 of the Civil Code).
After the two years, penal interest accrues under article 53 of the Tax Code. Heirs who need time can ask, within the same two years, to pay in annual instalments over three years, adjusted for inflation and with interest; whoever chooses that cannot later ask for the interest to be waived. Each instalment is due by 31 December. Each heir answers for their own: an heir who misses one must pay their outstanding tax by 30 March of the following year, and the others are not affected.
For heirs abroad, the deadline is the real danger. The two years run from the death, not from the day someone overseas finds out about the house — and getting the estate granted from another country takes time of its own.
Heirs and assets abroad
Living abroad does not take an heir outside the tax. It is charged on the share inherited, under the same rules, whether the heir lives in Santiago or in Sydney.
An estate opened abroad still needs a Chilean grant. If the deceased lived abroad, the estate is opened there — but for property located in Chile, article 27 requires the grant of the estate to be obtained in Chile, so the tax can be applied. It is requested in the place of the deceased's last domicile in Chile or, if they never had one, in the domicile of the person applying.
Foreign assets and foreign tax. The Chilean inventory includes assets located abroad, although in the estate of a foreigner they are only included if they were acquired with resources from Chile. Tax paid abroad on assets that enter the Chilean inventory is credited against the Chilean tax — but the Chilean tax can never be lower than it would have been on the Chilean assets alone (article 1).
Getting the RUT, the grant and the tax return in order from another country is where most files stall. Our guide to inheritance in Chile sets out the whole sequence, and the RUT guide covers the first step.
The tax depends on who inherits, how the estate is divided and how the property is valued. Send us a name, an approximate address and a date of death, and we will tell you where the file stands. That first search costs you nothing.
By Felipe Andrés Solar Rojas, partner · Published 2 October 2026 · Last reviewed 2 October 2026
Heads the real estate, wealth structuring and company advisory practice at Iriarte & Solar. His work runs through Chilean notaries, the Conservadores de Bienes Raíces, the Internal Revenue Service and municipal works departments. Full profile (in Spanish).
Sources: Law 16.271 on inheritance, assignment and donation tax, articles 1, 2, 27 and 50, at Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional · LeyChile. Chilean Civil Code, article 956, at Biblioteca del Congreso Nacional · LeyChile.
This guide states the general rule in force at the date of last review. It is not legal advice for a specific matter, and it is not a substitute for advice on your own documents. Amounts expressed in UF move daily. Every transaction has features that can change the conclusions set out here.