Chile’s lower house approves budget restriction on online betting tax administration
Regulation2 min read
Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a budget provision preventing the Internal Revenue Service from using funds to administer tax declaration and payment mechanisms for online betting platforms not authorised to operate in the country. The measure passed with 133 votes in favour, two against and one abstention, and now goes to the Senate for review.
Chile’s Chamber of Deputies approved a proposal to prevent the SII from spending funds on tax declaration and payment mechanisms for unauthorised online gambling platforms. The proposal, considered during debate on the finance ministry’s allocation in the 2027 budget bill, passed by 133 votes to two, with one abstention.
The provision added to the SII budget also covers other activities not authorised to operate in Chile. The chamber’s secretariat had initially ruled the proposal inadmissible because it considered it contrary to constitutional provisions. The chamber overturned that ruling in a vote, allowing the proposal to be debated and approved.
In October, deputies Eduardo Cretton and Marco Antonio Sulantay said they would use the budget debate to stop taxes being collected from the platforms, after questioning an SII resolution issued in June that established a digital VAT payment mechanism from October. The deputies argued that collecting taxes from the activities could be interpreted as legitimising them, despite their operation in Chile having been questioned by the courts.
The Senate must now review the budget provision. Separately, the Senate’s economy committee recently approved two bills seeking to permanently prohibit online betting platforms in Chile. The vote was three in favour, one against and one abstention. The bills contrast with the executive’s proposal to regulate and tax the activity, presented at the end of October.
Senate president Paulina Núñez and senators Gastón Saavedra and Diego Ibáñez brought the approved bills. The texts are to be combined at the next session because their objectives coincide.