Chile Forum

patx, I guess it means that the tourists should enjoy the grapes?

I can understand that it isn't allowed for a tourist to work for someone in Chile either directly or online. But what if they are working online for someone in another country and their pay goes into a bank outside of Chile? Well that's a given, since the norm is that a tourist can not open a bank account in Chile.

Just curious. Not trying to rearrange any furniture by throwing it around.

mlightheart wrote:patx, I guess it means that the tourists should enjoy the grapes?

I can understand that it isn't allowed for a tourist to work for someone in Chile either directly or online. But what if they are working online for someone in another country and their pay goes into a bank outside of Chile? Well that's a given, since the norm is that a tourist can not open a bank account in Chile.

Just curious. Not trying to rearrange any furniture by throwing it around.

I appreciate the concern for the furniture.

In all the answers I got back from PDI and Extranjería, the "what if pay goes into a bank outside of Chile" didn't make any difference. If the work is done while in Chile, it is subject to the local immigration law. For a permanent resident, the SII as well.

I think the reason for the forum furniture arrangement is limited personal experience with people who have been caught, and the wish to believe in something. This is how urban legends are maintained. There are so few people seriously injured by snakes in Chile that the myth grew up and was published in the English language guide books that there are no venomous snakes in Chile. Turns out they are all venomous. Low probability of fatal attack doesn't alter the venom.

And there is still an open invitation for anyone to publish an official exemption from Extranjería that would substantiate the preferred belief related to online work. In fact the first legitimate one with Extranjería letterhead probably deserves a beer.

mlightheart wrote:patx, I guess it means that the tourists should enjoy the grapes?

I can understand that it isn't allowed for a tourist to work for someone in Chile either directly or online. But what if they are working online for someone in another country and their pay goes into a bank outside of Chile? Well that's a given, since the norm is that a tourist can not open a bank account in Chile.

Just curious. Not trying to rearrange any furniture by throwing it around.

I don’t think any country would give up sovereignty over taxation of any person “working” in their country. That said working over the internet and being paid outside the country though taxable is not easy to catch. In the US and Canada they use the “we confiscate all your property and cars, until you prove you made the funds to acquire them legally” then they hit you with back taxes (in Canada) and income tax evasion in the US or if the property was acquired with illicit gains you get to cry as they tow the 40 foot cigarette away ;(
Chile has no way to deal with this outside of closing down the repeat, 90 day residents and when applying for the residency visa scrutinize your source of income and if appropriate tax it. My advice (and I’m no lawyer) is buy a couple of properties in the country, rent them out and have that as your source of income, while continuing to do whatever

nwdiver wrote:
I don’t think any country would give up sovereignty over taxation of any person “working” in their country.

In this case it is mostly a matter of immigration policy and not revenue. Notice that the applicable statutes are related to the Ministry of the Interior and Extranjeria, not the tax statutes and authorities. FWIW

Everyone is welcome to speculate on what might be considered "working." Sending a couple of emails and making of couple of calls and puts? Probably not. Coming on a visitor visa for two weeks to oversee a branch setup here? PDI says that's working. Doing a long stay on a visitor visa and setting up a spare-bedroom office and running an online business from that ? Ask your attorney

patagoniax wrote:

eeuunikkeiexpat wrote:And then there is the cryptic

de gestión de negocios

which I assume applies to investors with investments in Chile.

So take your pick, management of above allowed but online with nothing to do with Chile is not?

The work I do online while in Chile, working as a translator for agencies outside of this country, is subject to Chilean law and taxation. The law apparently does not agree that such online foreign work "has nothing to do with Chile." The law required that I sign up with the SII for this category of work. Evidently remunerative work is remunerative work, regardless of where it is paid, and whether it involves a computer or a shovel. To argue that working on a computer in one's private guarida has "nothing to do with Chile" would be tantamount to insisting that viewing kiddie-porn in that same guarida "has nothing to do with Chile." Your chances of flying beneath the radars in both cases may be pretty good. But lax enforcement is a question separate from the issue of legality.

Regarding radars: but you are a permanent resident (or more) and are on the radar wether you like it or not. Official residence changes one's profile and visibility no doubt. Working for the government I'm sure adds even more CYA structuring.

So what is your point? Scare the one time or partial year visitor to Chile? Try to instigate PDI and Extranjería and maybe even SII to launch a new campaign at the behest of a seemingly bitter official resident? Shouldn't you be on a Start-up Chile forum admonishing those checking Chile out that they better have their paperwork in order?

Again, why does Tomkins remain unsanctioned?

Still waiting for an applicable case record based on these scenarios. Anyone?