KPMG Payroll Insights February 2026 Highlights Chile Wage Hike, Draft Form 941

The Chilean Congress has enacted Law Nº21.751, which increases the minimum wage in Chile from CLP 529,000 to CLP 539,000, gross, for workers aged 18 to 65, effective 1 January 2026. The change is accompanied by adjustments to company payroll obligations and statutory benefit calculations that will touch HR, payroll, and accounting teams across Chile operations.

Legal gratification - described in KPMG’s alert as "Legal gratification cap (“profit sharing”) Calculated as (minimum monthly wage x 4.75) / 12; new cap is CLP 213,354 as of January 2026" - is a direct operational consequence of the wage lift. The bulletin provides the formula and the resulting cap value, which payroll teams must apply when computing monthly legal gratification liabilities and accruals for affected staff.

KPMG’s Chile guidance also flags family and maternity allowance changes, noting "Family and maternity allowances Increased for employees earning less than CLP 1,412,957." That threshold will determine which employees see allowance adjustments and which require changes in payroll calculations. The alert highlights direct reporting and system impacts, stating "Payroll and tax implications Changes affect taxes reported on Form 29 and require updates to payroll, accounting, and ERP systems." Employers are urged to update employment contracts, payroll systems, and legal gratification clauses and to review communications to employees and stakeholders to avoid compliance issues, penalties, and disruptions for local and international assignees.

Across the Atlantic, the IRS released draft Form 941, Employer‘s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and instructions for tax year 2026, a development that changes employer reporting in the United States. The draft "will include additional spaces on Line 15 for employers to enter bank account information to receive refunds via direct deposit. However, employers will still have the option to apply overpayments to their next return. The IRS noted that if a direct deposit is rejected, a paper [...]", the draft includes a truncated operational note in KPMG’s excerpt that employers should monitor for the final instructions.

The Form 941 draft also summarises tax-year 2026 benefit and exclusion updates relevant to payroll: "Educational Assistance: The OBBBA has permanently extended the $5,250 exclusion introduced in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for employer-provided educational assistance, which includes payments of principal or interest on an employee‘s qualified education loan." The draft lists "Adoption Assistance: The maximum amount that can be excluded from an employee‘s gross income for qualified adoption expenses is $17 ,670 for 2026." It also sets QSEHRA limits: "For 2026, the total amount of payments and reimbursements for a qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement (QSEHRA) cannot exceed $6,450 for self-only coverage or $13,100 for family coverage."

Payroll and mobility leaders should prepare Chile payroll, accounting, and ERP systems to reflect the CLP 539,000 minimum wage, the CLP 213,354 legal gratification cap, and the CLP 1,412,957 allowance threshold, while U.S. payroll teams should plan process and security changes to collect Line 15 bank-account data if electing direct-deposit refunds and to implement the 2026 educational, adoption, and QSEHRA limits. For KPMG Payroll Insights contacts on these items, see John Montgomery, National Employment Tax Lead Partner, T: 212-872-2156, E: jmontgomery@kpmg.com; Mindy Mayo, Senior Managing Director, Employment Tax, T: 408-367-5764, E: mindymayo@kpmg.com; Samantha-Jo Marciliano, Managing Director, Employment Tax, T: 212-954-3841, E: smarciliano@kpmg.com; Manan Shah, Partner, Employment Tax, T: 404-739-5247, E: mananshah@kpmg.com; Reagan Aikins, Managing Director, Employment Tax, T: 703-286-6596, E: raikins@kpmg.com.