Brazil
Brazil: 8 company types, its taxes, banking and business environment, and what it is known for.
Forming a company
Company types in Brazil
The 8 forms a founder can choose here, each with its own figures. Open one for its sources.
What it is known for
Where Brazil is in the world’s top 10 on a measure anyone can check, the best rank first. Only the top is shown; a low rank is never stated.
- World’s1stWorld-leading exports Soya beans, whether or not brokenUS$43.2 bn · 53.7% of world exports of 138 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s1stWorld-leading exports Cane or beet sugarCane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in solid formUS$20.5 bn · 47.5% of world exports of 167 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s2ndWorld-leading exports Iron oreIron ores and concentrates, including roasted iron pyritesUS$31.3 bn · 19.6% of world exports of 130 exporters · 2024 CEPII BACI, January 2026 release See the top 10
- World’s5thForeign investment Foreign direct investment received, a year on averageUS$71.5 bn of 182 economies · 2023–2025 World Bank, World Development Indicators See the top 10
A rank is among everything the source reports for that year, so it moves when the source adds or drops economies. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. Nothing here is a recommendation.
Doing business here
Business accounts
Providers whose own published list of countries names Brazil. A listing means a company formed here may apply, not that it will be accepted.
Not in our records No provider's country list has been read for Brazil.
EU listings
Two lists a bank checks when it opens an account for a company or its owner.
- EU high-risk third countries (AML)
- Not listed
- EU non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
- Not listedOfficial EUR-Lex, 52026XG01465, Annex I as of 2026-02-17
Official sites
The authorities’ own sites for Brazil: where to register, file and check.
Blocs and agreements
The trade arrangements Brazil belongs to, as each arrangement’s own texts state them: since when, and what each covers. What a membership means for a business is for you to judge.
- Mercosur
- Customs union · since 29 November 1991
Covers goods, services, a common external tariff.
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El presente Tratado estará abierto a la adhesión, mediante negociación, de los demás países miembros de la Asociación Latinoamericana de Integración
- Andean Community
- Associate member
As above.
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La Comunidad Andina, integrada por Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador y Perú es un organismo internacional líder en integración en el continente
Regional and customs arrangements only, 36 of them; bilateral trade agreements are not yet in our records.
Tax
Company tax
Tax, and what the company owes the registry each year.
- Corporate income tax
- 34%
- Distributions
- Not in our records
- Audit
- Not in our records
- Small-company relief
- Not in our records
- Annual obligations
- Not in our records
- Annual registry fee
- Not in our records
VAT
The tax on what the company sells in Brazil, and when it must register, as the tax authority states it.
- The tax
- Consumption taxes: ICMS (state), ISS (municipal), and the new CBS/IBS dual VAT
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Art. 346. Em relação aos fatos geradores ocorridos de 1º de janeiro a 31 de dezembro de 2026, a CBS será cobrada mediante aplicação da alíquota de 0,9% (nove décimos por cento).
- Standard rate
- Not in our records
No single standard rate is published: ICMS is set by each state and ISS by each municipality, and from 2026 the federal CBS is charged at a test rate of 0.9% while the new IBS is introduced. The full dual-VAT rates apply from 2033.
- Other rates
- Not stated
- Registration threshold
- Not in our records
- Voluntary registration
- Yes
Persons outside the regular IBS/CBS regime by default (unincorporated entities such as the condomínio edilício, consórcio and sociedade em conta de participação, the nanoempreendedor, rural producers and independent cargo carriers) may opt into it (LC 214 art. 26 §1).
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Poderão optar pelo regime regular do IBS e da CBS, observado o disposto no § 6º do art. 41 desta Lei Complementar:
- A foreign company
- See the note
A company domiciled outside Brazil registers with the CNPJ only in the cases the Receita Federal lists — holding Brazilian real estate, vehicles, vessels or aircraft or a bank account, or entering certain contracts and investments. No turnover threshold is stated, and no page read covers a representative or the consumption-tax filing duty.
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Pessoas jurídicas domiciliadas no exterior que estão obrigadas à inscrição no CNPJ: I - Aquelas que possuem no Brasil: a) imóveis;
- Returns filed
- Monthly
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O período de apuração do IBS e da CBS será mensal.
- Tax authority
- Registration page read 2026-10-22
Tax calendar
When the main returns and payments fall due in Brazil, tax year 2025, as the tax authority states it.
- Corporate tax return
- 7 months after the end of the calendar year · each year
in normal circumstances the ECF must be filed by the last business day of July of the year following the calendar year to which it relates — for ano-calendário 2025, the last business day of July 2026. The ECF replaced the DIPJ and is the annual fiscal bookkeeping return on which IRPJ and CSLL are determined. Special situations (merger, spin-off, incorporation or extinction) have their own dates.
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Para as situações normais, a data-limite regular de entrega é até o último dia útil do mês de julho do ano subsequente ao ano-calendário a que se refira a escrituração.
- Corporate tax, final payment
- 3 months after the end of the calendar year · each year
where the company pays monthly by estimate and determines the taxable profit on 31 December, any positive balance of IRPJ is paid in a single amount by the last business day of March of the following year (with Selic interest). Companies that compute the tax quarterly instead pay the quarter's tax by the last business day of the month following the quarter, in one amount or in up to three equal monthly quotas.
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se positivo, será pago em quota única, até o último dia útil do mês de março do ano subsequente
- Corporate tax, instalments
- 1 month after the end of the month · each month
the IRPJ computed monthly by estimate, together with the additional, must be paid by the last business day of the month following the month of the apuração; the December amount is paid by the last business day of January of the following year. Companies that compute the tax quarterly pay by the last business day of the month following the quarter's end, in one amount or up to three monthly quotas.
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O imposto apurado, juntamente com o adicional (se for o caso), deve ser recolhido até o último dia útil do mês subseqüente ao da apuração.
- Personal income-tax return
- Set each year by decree · each year
the annual individual income tax return (DIRPF) is filed within a window the Receita Federal fixes each year by Instrução Normativa; for exercício 2026 (ano-calendário 2025) the window ran from 23 March 2026 to 29 May 2026, under IN RFB nº 2.312/2026. The rule lists the closing date published for the current year.
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2026 23/03/2026 a 29/05/2026 IN RFB nº 2.312/2026
- Personal income tax, final payment
- Set each year by decree · each year
the tax shown to be due on the annual return is paid by the closing date of the filing window (29 May 2026 for exercício 2026); the taxpayer may pay in a single amount or in up to eight equal monthly quotas, the first by that date and the following by the last business day of each later month, with Selic interest on the deferred quotas.
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2026 23/03/2026 a 29/05/2026 IN RFB nº 2.312/2026
- Personal income tax, instalments
- 1 month after the end of the month · each month
carnê-leão is the monthly income tax owed by a resident individual on income received from another individual or from abroad; it must be paid by the last business day of the month following the month the income was received (DARF code 0190). The amounts paid as carnê-leão are an advance of the tax computed on the annual return.
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O imposto deve ser pago até o último dia útil do mês subsequente ao do recebimento do rendimento.
- VAT return
- Set by the states or provinces
Brazil levies no federal VAT. The general consumption tax on goods and communication/transport services (ICMS) is set and collected by the 26 states and the Federal District, and the tax on services (ISS) by the municipalities; their returns and deadlines are set by each state or municipality (state VAT regimes, e.g. São Paulo's ICMS, are typical). The federal indirect taxes that exist — IPI (excise, on manufacturers) and the PIS/COFINS social contributions — are not a canonical VAT/GST return, so this obligation is recorded as devolved rather than stated.
- Payroll withholding
- Day 20 of the following month · each month
the Manual do IRRF states that the tax withheld on income from work must be paid by the last business day of the second decêndio (the ten-day period running from the 11th to the 20th) of the month following the month in which the taxable events occurred — for an ordinary employee, in practice on or before the 20th; for a domestic employee, by the 20th day itself. The record uses day 20 of the following month with the business-day shift.
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Até o último dia útil do 2º (segundo) decêndio do mês subsequente ao mês de ocorrência dos fatos geradores.
Running the company
Running a company here
Not in our records The authorities’ pages on running a company have not been read for Brazil yet.
Economy and trade
What it exports
Goods Brazil exported, by product, as a share of its goods exports each year. Exports include goods passing through for re-export. A share describes Brazil’s own trade; it does not compare places.
| Product (HS heading) | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Value, 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, crude HS 2709 | 12.5% | 12.5% | 13.1% | US$45.9 bn |
| Soya beans, whether or not broken HS 1201 | 14.0% | 15.3% | 12.3% | US$43.2 bn |
| Iron ores and concentrates, including roasted iron pyrites HS 2601 | 8.8% | 9.0% | 8.9% | US$31.3 bn |
| Cane or beet sugar and chemically pure sucrose, in solid form HS 1701 | 3.6% | 5.2% | 5.8% | US$20.5 bn |
| Coffee, whether or not roasted or decaffeinated; coffee husks and skins; coffee substitutes containing coffee in any proportion HS 0901 | 2.6% | 2.2% | 3.4% | US$11.7 bn |
| Petroleum oils and oils obtained from bituminous minerals, other than crude; preparations not elsewhere specified or included, containing by weight 70 % or more of petroleum oils or of oils obtained from bituminous minerals, these oils being the basic constituents of the preparations; waste oils HS 2710 | 3.7% | 3.0% | 3.2% | US$11 bn |
| Chemical wood pulp, soda or sulphate, other than dissolving grades HS 4703 | 2.6% | 2.3% | 3.0% | US$10.5 bn |
| Meat of bovine animals, frozen HS 0202 | 3.2% | 2.4% | 2.9% | US$10.1 bn |
| Oilcake and other solid residues, whether or not ground or in the form of pellets, resulting from the extraction of soya-bean oil HS 2304 | 3.0% | 3.3% | 2.8% | US$9.7 bn |
| Meat and edible offal, of the poultry of heading 0105, fresh, chilled or frozen HS 0207 | 2.6% | 2.6% | 2.6% | US$9.2 bn |
Total goods exports, 2024: US$350.3 bn. The ten largest headings are shown.