[co-author: Maria Eduarda Valbuena]
On May 13, 2025, the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (IRS) published Normative Instruction no. 2,265/2025, which amends the Brazilian black and gray lists established by Normative Instruction no. 1,037/2010.
Under this new regulation, the United Arab Emirates has been removed from the list of jurisdictions with favorable taxation (JFTs). Thus, the aggravated tax treatment established by Brazilian legislation in relation to such jurisdictions no longer applies to UAE (e.g., stricter thin capitalization limits and deductibility limitations, and the higher 25% WHT on certain items of income and capital gains).
Additionally, the Austrian holding companies that do not engage in substantive economic activity have been removed from the list of privileged tax regimes.
Moreover, the new rules updated the criteria for qualifying a JFT, aligning the regulations with the amendments introduced by Law no. 14,596/2023. In this context, the income taxation threshold was reduced from 20% to 17%, and jurisdictions that do not allow access to information relating to the identification of the beneficial owner of income attributed to non-residents were included in the definition of JFT, together with the hypotheses previously established.
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