Starting Your Own Business in Brazil

Hi Colby,

Starting a business in Brazil is an extremely bureaucratic and time consuming venture that will of necessity involve a lawyer experienced in business start-up and an accountant. Once needs to also apply for a CNPJ number (Cadastro Nacional de Pessoa Juridica) which is a company tax number. Then there is on top of that state and federal licenses and a municipal business license that also must be obtained. The whole process will take on average 120 days as opposed to 30 in most other countries.

As far as the visa, the only VIPER Permanent Visa that would be applicable would be for investors. You would need a minimum investment of R$150 thousand (around $75 thousand CAD). You'd need to submit a detailed business plan to the Ministry of Labor which would outline the nature of the business, geographical area where you would plan to set up, number of Brazilians (if any) that it would employ, expected annual profits, etc. Presently it is about the easiest and quickest kind of VIPER to obtain because the government has put great pressure on the Ministry of Labor to approve all applications for which the paperwork is in order and do so quickly.

If you require information from an experienced immigrations lawyer who also handles business start-ups I can refer you to a few.

Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team

Would this also be the case if you wanted to have an online company which did business in other countries??

Actually it is far easier if you register your online company in Canada, set up your bank account there and just make cash withdrawals through the ATM machines here. You'd of course pay your income taxes in Canada, but you wouldn't even need a work permit here since you are not employed by a Brazilian company.

The difficulty with this option would be obtaining a visa since you'd only qualify for a VITUR Tourist Visa that would only allow you to stay in Brazil for a maximum of 180 days in each "rolling" year. Once you used up the 180 days, you'd have to be out of Brazil for one year before you could come back for another 180 day stay.

Cheers

Colby,
Do you mean you want actually sell product online to Brazilian clients?

1. If you operate actually from Canada, it means Brazilian clients will buy online connected to a canadian gateways.
A few problems to deal with:
- It could work or it could not: trans-national payments online are not always straighforward especially when involving Brazil (bad reputuation for international credit card). A payment with a brazilian credit card on a canadian gateway can be considered suspect. The gateway could block the payment or the Brazilian bank could
- Each time a transaction is made with a brazilian credit-card in a foreign country, Brazlian gouvernement take 5% of the transaction! It is to recover a bit of cash lost when Brazilians do their shopping in Miami during their vacations...
- Now you need to ship the products to Brazil : if above 30$, importation taxes could be quite high, certainly between 30% and 60%.
- Following last point, you will have to display in your online shop the price including all taxes, quite complexe for a small online business (I presume sorry).
==> Yes Brazil does everithing to push international company to open an office locally and I think thatŽs fair.
2. If you create your company in Brazil,
-  you stay only with the importation question but this time, this is your business which is dealing with it.  Much easier for your clients.
- your company will pay all local taxes (there are not that high on turnover or benefit; what is complex and costly is employment questions).
3. If you create your company which is a branch of a canadian company
- Well I am not expert but certainly big companies are doing some stuff like that. However this is certainly costly and complex. If your company is not Amazon (I presume again), I would add complexity to the already very complex bureaucratic brazilian system.
All the best.

Hello! We would be very interested in good trustworthy immigration lawyers. We are planning to move to Brazil with our family and start a pousada there.
Area Campos do Jordão.
Can you please give us some addresses of some lawyers?

06/28/21
Welcome, Remcolvonne,

Immigration law is a very rare specialty in Brazil, even in the major cities.  Your best bet is usually to find a good general practice attorney who has an interest in the area, or is willing to learn how to help you.

The best way to find an attorney, or any professional, in Brazil is through recommendations of family or friends.  If you have neither here yet, you can obtain referrals at www.jusbrasil.com.br .  You can search by specialty and location, and probably will want someone in the Campos do Jordão area.  Be sure to confirm the locations of your candidates:  some list themselves for every location, wherever they really are.  On your next visit to Brazil, you can schedule meetings to interview the ones who seem interesting to you, to determine whether or not you can develop a confidence level with any of them.

actually, Amazon wont ship to Brazil either.
As I recall, you can find a list of middle men with USA post office addresses who will accept Amazon or other merchandise and then get it to Brazil, legally, for you.  They are not cheap.
Or, there is Mercado Libre .....

Amazon.com.BR
But I am not sure what the topic is. O\
Original topic was posted in 2014

06/28/21

Inubia wrote:

actually, Amazon wont ship to Brazil either.
As I recall, you can find a list of middle men with USA post office addresses who will accept Amazon or other merchandise and then get it to Brazil, legally, for you.  They are not cheap.
Or, there is Mercado Libre .....

I buy from Amazon US all the time.  Some of the vendors who sell through them don't ship to Brazil, but many do and Amazon itself does.  Amazon bills for the Customs bond upfront and refunds any difference, so the packages don't usually get held up in Customs.

Except for books, most things end up costing at least twice as much as the purchase price, between shipping and taxes, so it's often better to get something from amazon.com.br, if the item is available.  But if not, they're still an option.

Texanbrazil wrote:

Amazon.com.BR
But I am not sure what the topic is. O\
Original topic was posted in 2014

The thread was revived by someone posting what looks like a scam:  it's being reviewed by the moderators now.  Then, somebody posted what looks like a legit question on the newly revived thread.  So ... 

You will need to get a CPF ID number which is the equivalent of a Social Security Account.  That is a one day endeavor if you go about getting it at the "Poupa Tempo", a place where you will go to secure permits, certificates of some sort. 

Once you secure this, and secure residence ( meaning you secure a residential lease ), then you may apply for a TAX ID number, known as CNPJ. 

The Easiest way to go about the CNPJ is to get a MEI-CNPJ.  You are then on the hook for about R$ 60,00 per month as a Self employed entrepreneur.  That Tax ID has limitations as for the amount of income you will generate or the size of your payroll.   

You do not need an accountant or attorney for that Tax ID Certificate.  The entire process is done online.