Banco del Desarrollo joins e-billing system

Chile's Banco del Desarrollo (BDD) will be the first local financial institution to join the country's electronic tax billing system after receiving authorization from the tax office (SII), local daily La Tercera reported. The incorporation of Banco del Desarrollo brings the number of companies within SII's billing system to 26, representing over five million electronic invoices. The SII is considering whether to allow BDD subsidiary Bandesarrollo Servipyme to offer e-billing services to small- to mid-sized enterprises. The tax agency expects that about a third of all invoices issued by Chilean companies will be handled electronically by the middle of 2004, SII information technology manager and e-billing project coordinator Fernando Barraza told BNamericas in October last year. One of the barriers to uptake is the fact that more than 40% of Chilean businesses do not even have a computer, let alone an Internet connection, Barraza added.