CLM Controller · International Business Desk
Doing Business in Brazil: what changed for foreign investors in 2026
100% foreign ownership is allowed. Profits sent abroad are now taxed at source. Five consumption taxes are being replaced between now and 2033. A 31-page guide to setting up and running a company in Brazil — every rule referenced to Brazilian law.
Get the guide. Free, instant download.
What is inside
Six sections. 31 pages. Written for the person who has to decide.
Not a brochure, and not a legal opinion. Every page states its sources, and where a rule still depends on regulation the page says so instead of presenting an estimate as settled law.
Entering the market
Four routes into Brazil compared: a subsidiary, a company held by individuals, a branch, or selling through a local distributor. What each one costs you in tax, control and time — and why the choice belongs before any document is signed.
Setting up
The four phases of incorporation through Redesim, the documents each investor type needs, and why legalisation and sworn translation abroad — not Brazilian bureaucracy — are what usually move the date.
Taxation today
Federal, state and municipal taxes at the same time. Lucro Real and Lucro Presumido compared on how profit is measured and what compliance each carries, plus why Simples Nacional is normally closed to foreign-owned companies.
The tax reform
CBS, IBS and the Selective Tax, the 2026–2033 transition year by year, and why broad credit recovery changes what a cheap supplier is actually worth to your operation.
Operating in Brazil
Imports, exports and cross-border services under destination taxation. What an employee costs beyond salary, and the monthly federal, state and municipal filings a Brazilian entity carries from day one.
Getting it right
The eight mistakes international groups repeat in Brazil, and a 90-day market entry checklist in the order the work actually happens — from pre-incorporation decisions to ongoing compliance.
Why now
Three things most foreign groups still have wrong
Each of these changed recently enough that the advice circulating abroad has not caught up with it.
Dividends are no longer tax-free
Law No. 15,270/2025 introduced a 10% withholding tax on profits and dividends remitted abroad, applicable from 2026. Holding structures and remittance timing designed before that were built on a treatment that no longer applies.
Simples Nacional is not on your menu
The simplified regime is blocked where a partner is a legal entity or is domiciled abroad. Any comparison that includes it is comparing a regime a foreign-owned company cannot elect.
2026 is a rehearsal, and the only one
CBS and IBS already appear on electronic invoices at test rates of 0.9% and 0.1%. Errors this year cost reporting penalties. The same errors from 2027 cost tax, rejected invoices and lost credits.
Who wrote it
A São Paulo firm that files this every month
CLM Controller handles accounting, tax, payroll, financial management and corporate services in-house, for Brazilian companies and for international groups operating in Brazil.
Experience with groups from the United States, the Netherlands and Norway, across industry, technology, telecommunications, healthcare, foreign trade, professional services and financial technology.
Get the 31-page guide
Information current as of September 2026, referenced to Brazilian legislation, the Receita Federal, the Central Bank of Brazil and the official business registries.
DOWNLOAD THE GUIDEThis material is intended for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. Several aspects of the Brazilian tax reform remain subject to further regulation.
© 2026 CLM Controller · São Paulo, Brazil