Requirements to start a business in Brazil in 2026

First, who does what?

Brazil ranks 3rd in TMF Group’s 2026 Global Business Complexity Index. Complex does not mean unworkable: it means every requirement has a licensed professional attached to it. Company formation and contracts belong to lawyers, tax registration and bookkeeping to accountants, import habilitation and customs clearance to customs brokers. This checklist sets out the requirements in order and names who executes each one.

beonshore’s role is consulting: identifying which items your business actually needs, putting them in a sensible order, giving indicative lead times and introducing vetted licensed professionals, who contract directly with you. We do not incorporate companies, open bank accounts, obtain visas or clear customs.

Shareholders and representation: which registrations do Chinese shareholders need?

A foreign company or individual holding shares in a Brazilian entity must first obtain a Brazilian taxpayer number from the Federal Revenue Service: a CPF for individuals, a CNPJ for legal entities. Nobody has to travel, but the documents must be notarised or apostilled and accompanied by a sworn Portuguese translation.

Every foreign shareholder must also appoint an attorney-in-fact resident in Brazil, holding a power of attorney to receive legal service of process and act on the shareholder’s behalf. In practice this is usually your lawyer or a partner of the firm; keep the scope of the power of attorney explicit rather than open-ended.

Executed by: corporate and foreign-investment lawyers. Indicative lead time: 2–4 weeks once the documents are complete.

• CPF or CNPJ registration for the foreign shareholders
• Notarised or apostilled corporate documents with sworn translation
• An attorney-in-fact resident in Brazil, with power of attorney
• A legal representative (a Brazilian resident or a foreign national on the right visa)

Entity form: limited liability company (LTDA) or branch?

Almost every Chinese investor sets up a Brazilian limited liability company (Sociedade Limitada, LTDA): held by the Chinese parent, liability capped at the subscribed capital, a standardised formation process and a choice of tax regimes. A branch of a foreign company (filial de sociedade estrangeira) requires federal government authorisation, takes far longer and costs more, and only makes sense in specific sectors.

In 2026 the average processing time at state commercial registries is about 21 hours, but going from signed articles to a company that can actually operate usually takes 30–45 days, because the tax registrations, municipal licences and the bank account still have to follow.

Executed by: a lawyer drafts the articles of association and files with the commercial registry; an accountant completes the tax registrations in parallel.

Foreign investment: why register with the central bank within 30 days?

Once foreign capital reaches the Brazilian company, the foreign direct investment must be registered in the Central Bank of Brazil’s SCE-IED system within 30 days of the funds entering the country. This is not a formality: unregistered capital cannot legally support profit remittance or capital repatriation. Every later capital increase or change of ownership requires the registration to be updated.

Executed by: the accountant or the lawyer, usually the FX team at the accounting firm. beonshore marks the funding date and the 30-day deadline on the roadmap and reminds both your team and your professionals.

• Confirm the bank’s FX procedure before the funds are sent
• Complete the SCE-IED registration within 30 days of arrival
• Annual and quarterly statements, depending on asset size
• Update the registration on capital increases, reductions and share transfers

Banking, tax and local registrations: what comes after incorporation?

Once the CNPJ is issued there are three further layers: state registration (ICMS, for companies that move goods), municipal registration (ISS and the alvará operating licence, for service companies and any physical premises), and sector-specific permits such as fire safety and environmental licences.

Opening a corporate bank account is the step foreign-owned companies underestimate most: compliance review requires the full shareholder and ultimate-beneficial-owner file and, in practice, usually takes 30–60 days. Start the bank’s pre-approval in parallel with the incorporation, not after it.

Executed by: the accountant handles the tax and local registrations and helps assemble the bank file; you choose the bank and contract with it directly.

Imports and products: when do you need RADAR and certification?

If your Brazilian company will import on its own account — even a single sample machine or a box of spare parts — it must first obtain RADAR/Siscomex import habilitation from the Federal Revenue Service, granted at a tier based on expected import volume. Without RADAR, goods cannot be declared for import at all.

The product itself may also need certification: INMETRO for electrical and mechanical goods (indicative 60–120 days), ANATEL for telecom equipment and anything with a radio module (indicative 90–180 days), ANVISA for food, cosmetics and medical devices, MAPA for agricultural machinery and inputs. Certification lead times have to be scheduled into the entry plan early.

Executed by: customs brokers for RADAR and clearance; accredited laboratories and certification bodies for certification. See the playbook “Importing machinery: RADAR, INMETRO and a realistic 90-day path” (/en/playbooks/importing-machinery-radar-inmetro).

Labour, data and tax reform: what to watch once you are operating?

Brazilian labour law (CLT) is highly protective, with explicit rules on working hours, overtime, accommodation and the treatment of expatriate staff. The 163 Chinese workers removed from BYD’s Camaçari construction site in December 2024, settled for R$40 million in December 2025, make the point: the arrangements for an expatriate team must be reviewed by a labour lawyer before work starts.

Brazil’s General Data Protection Law (LGPD) applies to every company that processes data about people in Brazil. ANPD Resolution 19/2024 governs international transfers: China has no adequacy decision, so sending customer or employee data to headquarters in China requires standard contractual clauses.

On tax, 2026 is the test year for the consumption tax reform (CBS 0.9% + IBS 0.1%), CBS applies in full from 2027 and the new system is fully in force in 2033. A new company should design its invoicing and ERP to the new rules from day one. See “What the IBS/CBS tax reform means for a foreign-owned subsidiary” (/en/playbooks/brazil-tax-reform-ibs-cbs).

Executed by: labour lawyers, accountants and data-protection counsel. JBKR handles NF-e and LGPD at the systems level.

Indicative timeline: how long from decision to operation?

The sequence below is indicative and drawn from experience. Real lead times depend on how fast the documents are prepared, on sector licences and on bank review; beonshore issues a version specific to your sector inside the Legal and regulatory requirements mapping report.

• Weeks 0–2: entity form, ownership structure and scope of activity (lawyer + beonshore)
• Weeks 1–4: shareholder CPF/CNPJ, notarisation and sworn translation, power of attorney for the resident representative (lawyer)
• Weeks 3–6: articles signed, commercial registry, CNPJ, state and municipal registrations (lawyer + accountant)
• Weeks 4–10: bank pre-approval and account opening (accountant assists, the bank reviews)
• Within 30 days of the funds arriving: SCE-IED registration (accountant)
• Weeks 6–12: RADAR habilitation, product certification started (customs broker + certification body)
• Before operations start: labour arrangements, LGPD compliance, invoicing system ready (labour lawyer + JBKR)