DTE — the Chilean e-invoice

The DTE (Documento Tributario Electrónico) is Chile's electronic tax document, governed by the SII (Servicio de Impuestos Internos). Chile is the world pioneer: the system has been operational since 2003, before any other country — Europe followed fifteen years later.

What is the DTE?

The DTE covers the full set of Chilean tax documents — invoices, credit and debit notes, dispatch guides (guía de despacho), consumer receipts (boleta) — under one signed XML format and one circuit. The issuing company must first be certified by the SII (the certificación process); each document is then transmitted to the SII and to the recipient.

CAF and folios: authorisation by ranges

Chile's originality is the CAF (Código de Autorización de Folios): instead of authorising each document one by one, the SII issues cryptographically signed ranges of numbers (folios) in advance. The issuer consumes its folios locally — including offline — and the electronic stamp (TED, rendered as PDF417) proves the folio comes from an authorised range. It is a model of decentralised clearance by pre-authorisation, distinct from Italy's transactional gateway or Mexico's timbrado.

The DTE types

<DTE version="1.0">
  <Documento ID="F4127T33">
    <Encabezado>
      <IdDoc>
        <TipoDTE>33</TipoDTE>      <!-- 33 = factura electronica -->
        <Folio>4127</Folio>        <!-- folio drawn from a CAF range -->
        <FchEmis>2026-07-05</FchEmis>
      </IdDoc>
      <Emisor><RUTEmisor>76123456-7</RUTEmisor>
        <RznSoc>Proveedora Digital SpA</RznSoc></Emisor>
      <Receptor><RUTRecep>96789012-3</RUTRecep>
        <RznSocRecep>Cliente Ejemplo SA</RznSocRecep></Receptor>
      <Totales><MntNeto>10000</MntNeto><IVA>1900</IVA>
        <MntTotal>11900</MntTotal></Totales>
    </Encabezado>
    <Detalle><NroLinDet>1</NroLinDet>
      <NmbItem>EDI service</NmbItem><MontoItem>10000</MontoItem></Detalle>
    <TED version="1.0"><!-- electronic stamp (PDF417): folio signed via CAF --></TED>
  </Documento>
  <!-- Issuer XML-DSig signature -->
</DTE>

The circuit: SII, receiver, acceptance

1. The issuer signs the DTE, embeds the TED (folio + CAF) and sends it to the SII, which validates and acknowledges.
2. The DTE is also sent to the receiver (over the agreed electronic channel), which acknowledges receipt.
3. The receiver can accept or claim (aceptación/reclamo) within a legal window — decisive for using the invoice in factoring (electronic assignment via AEC).
4. The SII automatically feeds the purchase/sales register — the VAT return pre-fills from the DTEs.

The DTE in the global CTC landscape

• vs CFDI / NF-e: three pioneers, three mechanisms — range pre-authorisation (Chile), PAC certification (Mexico), transactional authorisation before movement (Brazil).
• Legacy: VAT pre-filling from cleared documents, inaugurated in Chile, is exactly what Europe targets with ViDA by 2030.

Further reading

• SII — Factura electrónica.
• The country page: Chile.
• The cousins: CFDI, NF-e.