2017’s US taxes got borked and the IRS sent me back a notice that I owed them A LOT OF MONEY™ the reason for which THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU™ so you simply have to figure it out yourself and redo everything, paying interest penalties on money you never owed in the first place because it took them 9 months to get back to you because they are slow and they suck.
Anyways, in dealing with the fallout, I found a neat thing called the US/Chile Social Security Totalization Agreement which pretty much absolves you of the need to pay self-employment tax if applicable.
There is no official tax treaty (yet) between the USA and Chile, but fortunately this agreement, in combination with the FEIE, should help eliminate a good deal of your tax burden if you are a self-employed vagabond in Chile.
Dear Mr Bob I am in the process of buying a property in Chile. The notary is saying that they do not provide escrow services but I should use only a lawyer. You had recommended using a notary to do the escrow work instead of a lawyer. I wanted to see if you could help me out by suggesting a notary that can provide escrow service
Most notaries should provide the escrow service as part of doing the paperwork (in terms of holding both the vale vista and the signed compraventa and other seller papers).
The Notaria at San Sebastian 2750 in Santiago is a good and reputable place, I can recommend it.
Dear Mr Bob thank you for taking time to respond to me as it is very helpful to get your insight with regards to Chile. Based on reading your article about the buying process as I do not have a bank account in Chile the notaria would set up an escrow bank account. I would wire the money from outside Chile to use to buy the property. While I do have a lawyer to assist with the transaction he is telling me to send money to Banco Estado even though I do not have an account there and can use later there. This is what he is saying but I am not sure it would work so if you have a chance to reply it will be great. Thanks a lot and have a good holiday
“Respecto al hecho que no tiene cuenta en chile, no es problema , Ya como le indique en el correo anterior lo primero que debe hacer es relixar la [orden de pago o Transferencia bancaria] entre el banco local donde usted se encuentra actualmente y el banco local donde usted se encuentra actualmente Y el Bnaco destinatario aqui en chile[Banco de estado de Chile] Una vez que envia el dinero a su propio nombre usted retiara los dineros en Chile en la opportunidad de retirar el dinero se debe pedir sacar los fondos con un vale vista endosable
Dear Mr Bob if you can share the information of the lawyer that you can recommend it will be a fabulous help. thank you again for this blog and sharing information to help newbies like me with regards to Chile