Brazil: Payments for trademark use to French entity subject to withholding tax

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Brazil: Payments for trademark use to French entity subject to withholding tax

Sponsored by

sponsored-firms-pwc.png
wood-copyright 320 x 215

The Federal Brazilian tax authority (RFB) has confirmed that payments for the right to use trademarks and know-how to a French entity should be subject to income withholding tax and CIDE.



The RFB published Solução de Consulta – Cosit 180/2018 (dated September 28 2018) on October 2 2018, confirming that remittances abroad in relation to the right to use a trademark and know-how should be classified within the meaning of Article 12 of the double tax agreement between Brazil and France (DTA). As such, this transaction would be subject to withholding tax at a rate of 15%. Further, the payment should be subject to the contribution for the intervention in the economic domain (CIDE) at a rate of 10%.

The opinion confirmed the RFB’s understanding of the operation of the application of the DTA in relation to royalty payments on the right to use the trademark and know-how. More specifically, such remittances should be subject to an income withholding tax rate of 15% under the ‘catch all’ paragraph of Article 12(2)(c), the RFB stated. Similarly, the decision confirmed the application of the CIDE rules on the remittances of such royalties abroad.

While a Solução de Consulta does not represent law or a legal precedent, it does provide further support and guidance for Brazilian entities in relation to how the RFB are treating these types of remittances.



giacobbo.jpg
Conomy

Fernando Giacobbo

Mark Conomy

Fernando Giacobbo (fernando.giacobbo@pwc.com) and Mark Conomy (conomy.mark@pwc.com)

PwC

Website: www.pwc.com.br

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The event comes at an important moment for professionals dealing with practical realities related to this practice area
Germany’s dogmatic restriction of third-party investment in tax advisory firms will only serve to slow down innovation and access to justice
The Irish government has been told that it’s spending too much of its corporation tax receipts and should instead focus on running bigger surpluses; plus, the IRS is set to merge tax practitioner offices
A company risks double taxation, penalties and inquiry cost if it submits a form with anomalies under the new system, Asker Ali also tells ITR
Arindam Mitra and Robin Hart examine how aggregate TP rules clash with transaction-level customs rules, creating compliance risks and requiring granular, SKU-level pricing strategies
The scandal has come just three years after the PwC tax leaks controversy and has prompted KPMG’s Australian chief executive to resign
In the first of a two-part series on capital v revenue in R&D, Jayne Stokes explores these key concepts and where UK companies need to tread carefully
Magnus Pantzar is set to join as managing director after spending nearly a decade as EQT’s global head of tax
The OECD’s project was up for debate as Matt Williams spoke to ITR following BDO’s tax strategist survey, which uncovered increased complexity and costs among multinationals
The recent spree of firm mergers and acquisitions proves that geographic scale is the name of the game
Gift this article