 |
 |
Fernando
Giacobbo |
Ruben
Gottberg |
Tax authorities release guidance on the disclosure of final
beneficiaries in Brazilian corporate taxpayer register
The Brazilian tax authorities (RFB) issued Normative
Instruction (NI) No. 1729/2017 on August 15 2017, which updates
the obligation to disclose the final beneficiaries in the
corporate taxpayer register.
By way of background, NI No. 1634/2016 established the
obligation to disclose information related to final
beneficiaries in the corporate taxpayer register (CNPJ).
According to the legislation, the term "final beneficiary"
refers to:
- An individual who ultimately, either
directly or indirectly, holds, controls or significantly
influences an entity; or
- An individual on whose behalf a
transaction is undertaken.
A shareholder is deemed to have significant influence if the
individual:
- Owns, directly or indirectly, more than
25% of the entity's capital stock; or
- Has the ability to influence the
decision-making and elect or appoint members of the entity's
management.
NI No. 1.729/2017, recently issued, clarifies that the
disclosure of the final beneficiaries can be made up to 90 days
from the date of the register in the CNPJ (this term may be
extended for another 90 days upon request) and that the
supporting documentation should be submitted online.
Foreign entities registered in Brazil before July 1 2017
will have until December 31 2018 to comply with the disclosure
obligation and submit the supporting documents. Note that if an
entity updates its CNPJ before December 31 2018 for any other
reason, the disclosure obligation will arise at the date of
such a change.
BRICS sign memorandum of cooperation in tax matters
The heads of the tax authorities of the five countries that
form the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa)
signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in Tax Matters on July 27
2017.
This landmark document shows the commitment of the countries
to implement the G20 tax agenda, including the BEPS project and
the automatic exchange of information, in order to foster
economic growth and counteracting tax avoidance and aggressive
tax planning.
Note that, over the past year, Brazil has introduced tax
rules to comply with the BEPS minimum standards and it has
recently filed a request to become a member of the OECD.
Brazil discusses comprehensive tax reform bill
The Brazilian Representative Luiz Carlos Hauly presented to
the President and his ministers a bill for a comprehensive tax
reform on August 22 2017 that foresees the end of 10 taxes in
Brazil.
According to the bill, the ICMS (state VAT on sales and
certain services), ISS (municipal service tax), IPI (federal
excise tax), COFINS (federal social contribution on billing),
PIS/PASEP (federal contribution to the social integration
programme), CIDE (federal contribution for intervention in the
economic domain), IOF (tax on financial operations) and the
Salário-Educação (educational
allowance) will be consolidated into a new tax (a VAT), whereas
the CSLL (federal social contribution on net income) will be
absorbed by the IRPJ (Brazilian corporate income tax).
In addition, a selective tax will be created to be levied on
products of seven industries: electric power, fuels, telecoms,
tobacco, beverages, automobiles, tires and auto parts.
This comprehensive project of tax reform is expected to
involve approximately 11 bills and a proposal for an amendment
to the Constitution.
The bill is expected to be presented for debate in the
Congress shortly.
Fernando Giacobbo (fernando.giacobbo@pwc.com)
and Ruben Gottberg (ruben.gottberg@pwc.com)
PwC
Website: www.pwc.com.br