New crypto declaration does not change taxation, but increases the risk of fines

Source: Exame Original Title: New crypto declaration does not change taxation, but increases risk of fines Original Link: New rules will come into effect next year for those trading cryptocurrencies. Last Friday, the 14th, the Federal Revenue of Brazil (RFB) published a normative instruction (IN) that creates the Crypto Assets Declaration (DeCripto) and changes rules for both individuals and legal entities. Currently, those who buy or sell crypto assets need to make a monthly declaration to the Federal Revenue if the transactions exceed R$ 30 thousand during that period. Starting in July 2026, this minimum amount will increase to R$ 35 thousand.

The regulation also classifies cryptocurrency exchanges and other companies in the sector as Virtual Asset Service Providers (PSAV). This is a change that will come into effect earlier, starting from January 1st. With the new classification, companies will have to implement anti-money laundering procedures and customer identification.

This standardization, in turn, updates and replaces the rules from 2019, in effect since then, adopting the international standard of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), enabling the automatic exchange of information between countries.

Taxation

According to Ana Carolina Carpinetti, a partner in the tax area at Pinheiro Neto Advogados, the IN is a standardization of how institutions must collect, verify, and send information to the tax authorities, including typical financial compliance controls.

She explains that currently, crypto operations are subject only to mandatory declaration to the Federal Revenue and payment of income tax on capital gains above R$ 35 thousand per month.

“There is no incidence of IOF, which has opened up space for the use of digital assets as an alternative to traditional transfers, especially in international payments,” he says.

Meanwhile, the Brazilian government is considering creating rules for the collection of IOF on transactions involving crypto assets, especially stablecoins, after the Central Bank indicated this month that part of these transactions may be classified as currency exchange operations.

“From the point of view of rates and calculation bases, nothing changes. The normative instruction [from Decripto] does not reduce or increase taxes. In practice, the enforcement becomes more effective. With more data, the IRS can cross-reference information with the Individual Income Tax Return (DIRPF) and this may generate more inquiries and assessments,” says Lisa Worcman, partner at Mattos Filho.

“Certainly the fact of giving visibility to operations outside the country that were not visible in Brazil and vice versa contributed to a much more complete declaration of income. It reduces the risk of omissions,” he adds.

Individuals

Starting from July 1, 2026, individuals will have to declare their transactions on DeCripto via e-CAC. This will apply to operations with crypto carried out through a crypto service provider resident abroad; carried out through a decentralized platform; or carried out without any involvement of a crypto service provider.

The minimum to declare, of R$ 35 thousand, applies to isolated transactions or those made jointly. The normative instruction also defines a set of operations that must be reported, ranging from buying and selling crypto assets to exchanges between digital currencies.

Also included are airdrops, staking yields, mining, loans, receiving crypto as payment for goods or services, transfers to personal wallets, involuntary losses such as errors or scams, as well as swaps on DEX, farming, yield, and operations involving primary distribution, resGate, or asset-referenced tokens.

“In other words, practically everything that happens in DeFi or outside of local exchanges is now on the Receita's radar,” explains Gislene Cabral, head of Compliance and Risks at NovaDAX. She further adds that the definition of “acting in Brazil” is broad and should bring several foreign platforms under the obligation.

Legal Entities

In addition to the obligation for the PF to present the DeCripto, the IN also applies to PJ.

They fall under the rules for crypto asset service providers that are residents in Brazil for tax purposes; are incorporated in accordance with the laws in Brazil and have legal personality in the country or are required to submit tax declarations related to income to the RFB; are managed in Brazil; have a regular place of business in Brazil; or provide crypto asset services in Brazil.

It is also considered mandatory to declare entities resident or domiciled in Brazil ( that are not providers of crypto services - common PJs ), in the case of operations with crypto, those carried out through a crypto asset service provider resident abroad; carried out through a decentralized platform; or carried out without any participation from a crypto service provider.

“In summary, exchanges automatically declare their clients' operations. Individuals and legal entities only declare when they operate outside of Brazilian exchanges and exceed the legal limit,” explains Cabral.

If you don't declare, is there a fine?

In the case of individuals, DeCripto must be submitted to the Federal Revenue Service via the National Collection system, available in e-CAC, monthly, by the last business day of the month following the one in which the set of operations carried out with the reportable crypto asset took place.

Specifically in the case of the PF, the penalties are:

1. For providing information after the deadline: R$ 100.00 per month or fraction
2. 1.5% of the transaction value, in case of omitted, inaccurate, incorrect, or incomplete information.

Positioning of Entities

The Brazilian Association of Cryptocurrencies (ABcripto) states that the change represents an important step towards bringing Brazil closer to the best international practices in regulation and supervision.

“The update from the Federal Revenue of Brazil demonstrates institutional maturity and commitment to building a safer, more transparent cryptocurrency market integrated with global standards,” says Bernardo Srur, CEO of ABcripto.

Srur also highlights that the new rule meets an old demand from the sector itself for more predictability and standardization, without stifling innovation.

“The association emphasizes, however, that the implementation phase will require attention, especially in the process of technological and operational adaptation of companies – both domestic and foreign, which will need to comply with the new reporting standard,” it says.

For the Brazilian Association of Tokenizing Companies and Blockchain (ABToken), the RFB's effort to structure a clearer and more comprehensive data collection mechanism is “understandable” and “plays a relevant role in transforming general guidelines into practical routines”.

However, according to the entity, “there are situations in which regulation surpasses this mere detailing function and begins to establish elements that, by the very logic of the legal system, should be previously fixed by law, especially when they involve the definition of obligated subjects and the creation of sanctions,” it says.

According to the association, there is a disconnect between the law and the normative instruction, and at this moment, there is a concern about including foreign crypto service providers as obligated to DeCripto and defining penalties, which ultimately creates duties and sanctions that are not provided for by law.