Brazil Collects Billions of Dollars with Amnesty Program
Brazilian taxpayers recently took advantage of the 120-day period, which took place between March 3 and July 31, 2017, to voluntarily declare assets held abroad under the new regulations of the Brazilian Amnesty, first sanctioned in January 2016.
Named Lei da Repatriação, Brazil’s tax amnesty was reopened earlier this year to give another opportunity to taxpayers to avoid criminal liability for holding undisclosed assets out of Brazil. Eligible taxpayers could either, if not exempt,
Pay, in full, a 15% income tax assessment on the total value of the previously undisclosed assets held abroad, in Brazilian reais; and
Pay, in full, the regularization penalty, which was a high amount than the 2016 amnesty.
According to a note published by Thomson Reuters on August 03, Brazil raised 1.615 billion reais ($517 million) in revenue in this second round of the program, which was a disappointment, according to the Finance Ministry, when compared to the 46 billion reais raised in the first round of the program in 2016.