Suprema - Rol N° 26878-2024

The Supreme and Appellate Courts analyzed the tax deductibility of legal costs for ISAPREs in protection actions, ruling they are not necessary expenses under LIR Article 31 if arising from arbitrary conduct, upholding the SII's rejection of deductions.

• ISAPRE Banmédica S.A. appealed a tax assessment (Liquidación Nro. 3, 2019) from the Servicio de Impuestos Internos (SII), disputing the rejection of legal costs incurred in protection actions as necessary expenses for income generation under Article 31 of the Ley de Impuesto a la Renta (LIR).
• The SII's argument was that costs from protection actions, particularly those stemming from alleged arbitrary conduct regarding health plan adjustments, do not meet the criteria of Article 31 LIR as they are not necessary for generating income but serve to compensate the winning party in judicial proceedings.
• ISAPRE Banmédica contended that these legal costs were necessary for producing income, that the SII applied a new, retroactive criterion, and that courts had not previously declared their l...