Brazilian tax authorities have imposed a 54 million reais fine for incorrect cryptocurrency declarations.

Source: PortaldoBitcoin Original Title: Receita já aplicou R$ 54 milhões em multas por erros em declarações de criptomoedas Original Link: The Brazilian tax authority (Receita Federal) has imposed approximately R$ 54 million in fines in tax procedures related to cryptocurrency reporting, involving errors, inconsistencies, and omissions in virtual asset declarations.

This information comes from documents submitted by the tax authority to Congress, in response to inquiries from the House regarding regulation of betting and crypto asset operations.

The amounts reported by the tax authority are based on ten completed tax audits, initially focused on verifying taxable capital gains calculations and non-compliance issues in income related to virtual assets.

Violation notices are proactively issued by the tax authority after identifying issues in taxpayers’ declarations, indicating that the tax authority is enhancing its use of data and analytics tools to cross-verify information about crypto assets.

According to the tax authority, regulation of virtual asset operations is part of a broader macro process of tax control that combines taxpayer self-reporting data with third-party data obtained through additional obligations and other legitimate channels.

Regarding Cryptocurrency

The primary source of information is the DeCripto cryptocurrency reporting system, established by Normative Instruction No. 1888 of 2019, recently updated by Normative Instruction No. 2291 of 2025. Based on this data, the tax authority has developed internal analytical tools to detect anomalies and inconsistencies, and utilizes market-available technological solutions to support regulatory efforts.

Regulation Still Imperfect

The agency states that it is also involved in procurement processes to acquire specialized software for locating, tracking, and analyzing blockchain transactions, aiming to enhance its ability to monitor operations involving crypto assets, including transactions outside the traditional financial system.

Nevertheless, the tax authority admits to technological limitations, such as the current lack of automatic information exchange with other jurisdictions regarding crypto users and transactions, which makes identifying assets held abroad or on foreign platforms more difficult.

However, this gap is expected to gradually narrow over the next few years with the implementation of the Crypto Asset Reporting Framework (CARF), an initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of which Brazil is a signatory.

Starting in 2027, Brazil’s tax authority will begin to automatically send and receive information on crypto assets with dozens of countries, greatly expanding the scope of tax control over such operations. According to the agency, the adoption of CARF will enable more effective risk management and access to more reliable data on potentially undeclared assets.

Although the amount already taxed is significant, the tax authority states that there is no estimate of the statute of limitations or expiry period for taxable amounts related to crypto asset operations since the creation of the reporting obligation in 2019. This is because most of the tax managed by the authority is subject to the voluntary compliance system, where taxpayers calculate and pay taxes themselves, with the tax authorities responsible for post-verification.

In addition to fines already imposed, the tax authority emphasizes that other tax procedures may involve cryptocurrency operations, although these procedures have not been included in specific investigations because they are classified within internal controls as violations related to other tax issues.

The agency also reports that there is currently no official estimate of the total amount of unreported crypto assets held by Brazilians, and such an assessment should only become more accurate after the international information exchange mandated by CARF begins.