Brazil targets $4B in taxes from digital assets stored overseas

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Brazilian investors holding digital assets on overseas platforms must now pay a 15% tax after the country announced a new income taxation law.

The bill was recently signed into law by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and takes effect on January 1, 2024. It taxes income from any asset held on overseas platforms, investment funds, real estate, and trusts.

The Lula government first introduced the bill in May to add 3.2 billion Brazilian real ($650 million) to the country’s coffers in 2024. It targets $730 million in 2025 and $1.36 billion the year after.

The bill was pushed through Congress by Senator Alessandro Vieira and received the support of a majority of the lawmakers. He described the bill as being “in line with international recommendations.” President Lula signed it into law last week.

According to local reports, the only veto by the leftist president is the definition of OTC markets as those operating as “centralized multilateral trading systems.” He wants this definition expanded to include as many players as possible.

The bill demands a 15% tax on investments held abroad by Brazilian residents. Short-term funds will attract a slightly higher tax at 20%, while longer funds will be subject to lower levies. Only those earning more than $1,200 will be affected.

The local digital asset market has welcomed the new taxes, recognizing that they are industry-wide and not just targeting “crypto.” João Carlos Almada, from Brazilian stablecoin
firm Transfero, views the taxes as a positive for the industry but believes that regulators should clarify some aspects, such as “compensation for losses in the tax period.”

“I believe that with regulation evolving in the country, we will go through new discussions on this topic, aiming to provide even greater transparency to the market, thus generating more credibility,” he told one outlet.

However, politicians allied with the opposition Liberal Party have criticized the bill. The vocal Senator Rogério Marinho said the government has managed the formulation and implementation of the bill poorly.

Digital asset adoption has soared in Brazil. According to one report, there was a 44% spike in investment in the first eight months of the year.

Watch Unbounded Capital Summit NYC 2023: Running a whole economy on scalable blockchain