What Chile actually pays
The state pays cash against qualified spend. No tax liability needed, no broker, no discount — the cleanest structure for an independent production.
New to the mechanics? Tax credit vs rebate vs grant and What counts as qualified spend.
How to apply
Register at corfo.cl, lodge the bid bond with the agency's custody office, and file the online application with the co-execution agreement, proof of financial capacity and the budget in Chilean pesos. Feature films, television series and internet distributed content qualify; news reporting, reality shows, pornography and commercials do not. Projects run up to 24 months from approval of the funding agreement, and an operating agent administers reporting and payment.
The rule to remember
A competitive call, not an entitlement: projects are scored and funded while money lasts. A foreign company applies directly or with a Chilean co-executor but must hold the majority investment share, posts a CLP 10,000,000 bid bond and is paid through an operating agent. Calls run in rounds: the last national call closed April 28, 2025, and regional calls such as Los Rios (May to July 2026) pay up to 40%.
Common questions
- What is the Chile film tax incentive rate?
- Chile offers 30% to 40% on qualified in-state spend through the High Impact Audiovisual Investment Support (IFI Audiovisual). It is a cash grant. The state pays cash against qualified spend. No tax liability needed, no broker, no discount — the cleanest structure for an independent production.
- What is the minimum spend for the Chile film incentive?
- USD 1,000,000 net of relevant expenses in Chile for a national call. Regional calls set a USD 200,000 minimum and pay up to 40% for spend in the calling region.. Falling under the minimum is a total loss of the benefit, not a partial one — it is worth confirming the threshold before locking a budget.
- Is the Chile film incentive transferable or refundable?
- Refundable — the excess over your state tax liability is paid out in cash.
Verify before you budget. These figures come from our own incentives database and each shows when it was last reviewed — but programs change between funding cycles and legislative sessions. Confirm with the film office, or ask us, before a number goes into a budget.
Compare with
Programs in a similar rate band. The mechanism matters as much as the percentage — a transferable credit at 30% is not the same money as a cash grant at 30%.
British Columbia
40%Refundable creditBelgium
38%up to 40%Non-transferable creditCalifornia
35%up to 40%Refundable creditEstonia
30%up to 40%Rebate
STAY CURRENT
Tracking changes to this program?
We re-verify Chile against the film office and the statute, and write when something moves that would change a budget. One email, no cadence you didn't ask for.