LS Brazil Outlook | Jan 2019 | Opportunity to improve Brazil’s business environment

Jan
2019

Opportunity to improve Brazil’s business environment

Doing business in Brazil involves a web of legal and regulatory requirements that hamper efficiency and has become known as Custo Brasil. As the new administration seems intent on creating a friendlier business environment, LS Brazil Outlook will dedicate two issues to some of the legal and regulatory difficulties of doing business in Brazil (and possible solutions). This edition examines the negative impact of legal uncertainties on interest rates in Brazil; the heavy and complex payroll taxation; the constraints on remittance of royalties abroad; and the Kafkian rules that restrict the mobility of companies doing business in the country. I hope you enjoy reading it. In February, LS Brazil Outlook will discuss further relevant aspects of Brazil cost

On this issue | January 2019

The impact of legal uncertainties on interest rates in Brazil

Historical legal uncertainties limiting a creditor’s ability to enforce its rights in court have a very negative impact on interest rates in Brazil. A campaign by the financial sector for changes to address those uncertainties is in course and...

Royalties limitations as a barrier to foreign investments in Brazil

Brazil virtually prohibits the payment of royalties for the use of patents and trademarks above 1% of the revenues generated by the manufacture or sale of a product. These idiosyncratic rules make the country less attractive to foreign investments....

Will the new Government deliver on plans for massive reduction of payroll taxation?

One in four Reals paid in taxes in Brazil come from payroll taxes. While these taxes corresponded to an average 0.4% of GDP in OECD countries in 2016, in Brazil they reached 8.47% of GDP in the same year. Correcting such a key distortion to...

Confinement of Brazilian Companies

Transferring a Brazilian company to another country is legal but not feasible due to a series of practical obstacles and undesired tax effects. What may be a Government’s hidden intention to keep operations, profits and taxation in Brazil can...