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

PwC Australia’s response to its tax leaks scandal could give KPMG a useful case study, but so far there’s little sign of positive lessons learned
Tom Goldstein’s attempt to overturn his tax conviction was shot down; in other news, Deloitte promoted several tax partners in Italy
The tax advisory firm becomes the latest member of the Andersen Global network, which has more than 50,000 professionals worldwide
A revised Chapter VII signals a move away from mechanical TP approaches, stressing transaction understanding, functional analysis and context-driven documentation requirements
HMRC’s growing focus on evidencing tax decisions is shifting attention from technical accuracy to governance, requiring businesses to demonstrate how positions were reached and documented
Australia’s Department of Finance will also commission an independent review of KPMG’s governance, culture, ethics and integrity frameworks, it has revealed
In the second instalment of this two-part series, Jayne Stokes takes a practical approach to navigating the capital v revenue question for UK R&D claims for software development, and shares pointers for businesses
ITR's latest podcast considers how transformational the buyout could be in Ryan's quest for global advisory reach and analyses a recent boom in demand for private client advisory services
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
Gift this article