While at least two shareholders are necessary in order to incorporate as an SA or SRL, single-shareholder companies can incorporate as a sociedad por acciones, or SpA. Incorporating as an SpA is the best way for individuals who are running their own company to protect their liability, raise capital, and maintain the flexibility to allow other shareholders to join in the future.
How to Incorporate as an SpA
To incorporate as an SpA, the shareholder(s) must sign either a public deed (escritura publica), containing the following information:
- The company name, which must end in SpA
- The company’s “social objective”
- The amount of capital
- How the SpA will be governed
- The life-span of the company
Importing & Exporting
Many companies that open branches in Chile or incorporate in Argentina as an SRL, SA, or SpA will perform some sort of importing and/or exporting activity.
Even though Chile is famously open to foreign markets, with little to no export or import tariffs, the processes for exporting and importing can be complicated, and almost always require professional assistance in the form of an agente de aduana (customs official) assigned to your company.
Agentes de aduana are registered professionals who specialize in official and legal importing and exporting in Chile. The process for becoming an agente de aduana is fairly rigorous, and Chilean agentes constitute a sort of professional guild. It is very difficult to export or import without the help of an agente de aduana, so it is best to contract and befriend one as soon as possible.
