September 9, 2020 Chile enacts new COVID-19 tax incentives package The law allows the immediate amortization of 100% of certain intangibles and extends the depreciation incentive enacted as part of the tax reform. On September 2, 2020, Chile enacted a second COVID-19 package (Law 21.256), which includes tax measures aimed at giving relief to those economically affected by COVID-19, promoting investment growth and accelerating the economic recovery. This Tax Alert highlights the provisions affecting foreign investments. Amortization of intangibles Under current regulations, intangibles are not subject to tax amortization in Chile (notwithstanding that the Chilean IRS has interpreted the regulations as allowing certain intangibles to be amortized under particular circumstances). Law 21.256 allows immediate tax amortization of 100% of intangibles acquired from June 1, 2020 to December 31, 2022, for corporate income tax purposes. Thus, this may be an incentive for some to acquire intangibles in Chile so the Chilean acquirer could claim 100% immediate amortization for tax purposes. The law, however, limits the amortization to industrial and intellectual property rights and a variety of plant rights (i.e., rights over certain types of registered plants or seeds). Local registration of the intangibles may be required. The law grants the tax authorities a special appraisal power to ensure that the acquisition of an intangible is carried out by following the fair market parameters. Full depreciation of fixed assets Law 21.256 expands and simplifies the requirements for claiming the transitory incentive to depreciate fixed assets as enacted as part of the comprehensive tax reform under Law 21.210. The law makes the following changes to the depreciation incentive:
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