Job Discussion Forums

[Wolfbluez]

I start teaching in Santiago in a week and am looking to avoid the 13% deduction from my salary for national pensions. I understand that I can get this money back when I leave but that it's a long bureaucratic process.
I've been told there are ways around this, but could anyone tell me them??

Also, how is internet access outside of internet cafes? Is it expensive to get it hooked up in an apartment? Does it make sense to bring my wireless router?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[matttheboy]

You can have it waived as part of your contract as long as you state in your contract that you are adhered to a pension scheme in your home country (can be a state pension). Even if that's not true, no one's ever going to find out. The pension deduction is not taken from your wages at all so there's no need to claim it back. No idea if a school will know exactly how to do this, i have a contract with a (non-teaching) company here-the accountants deal with it all.

If you're in a VTR area then they're offering free wi-fi with new connections. Don't know if telefonica has the same deal. Better to bring a wifi router with you as they're outdated and expensive here. I brought a couple of apple airports with me and they work fine here.

Triple pack internet, phone and cable costs us$100 a month for a 2 mega connection and less for slower speeds. telefonica has a terrible reputation in Santiago- VTR is better-but it's luck of the draw which one you get as one company services one part of the city and the other the other part of the city.

[Wolfbluez]

Thanks for the info! Can you explain a little more what the "adhered pension scheme in your home country" is? I'm coming from the states. Is it similar to a 401K or retirement plan that I contribute to, or is it similar to monthly health insurance payments? I guess I'm just not positive what I need to prove to avoid the tax.

Thanks for the advise on the internet!

[matttheboy]

If you pay into any form of pension scheme, either state or private in your home country you can avoid the pension deduction here in chile. In england it's Social Security, no idea what it is in the States. It's nothing to do with health insurance, purely pension.

[Wolfbluez]

Ahh, that makes much more sense. We definitely have social security in the states. It'll be gone before I ever get to see the benifit of it, but I have paid into it this year and can hopefully prove it to avoid the 13%.

Thanks for the help!

[Ai]