MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milestone UK/Brazil Double Taxation Agreement

Staff from the two negotiating teams at the Brazilian Ministry of Economy

The United Kingdom and Brazil signed a Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) this week. The Agreement will provide relief from the double taxation of income in both countries and is the most significant development in the trade relationship between the United Kingdom and Brazil in many years and represents a concrete response to demands from business in both countries

Double taxation makes cross-border trade and investment more expensive, as well as creating obstacles for cross-border workers, which is burdensome for both the business sector and for individuals. UK and Brazil exploratory dialogues has been ongoing since 2017.

The main benefits of the bilateral agreement will be to:

• Provide tax certainty and predictability to business, facilitating long-term investments;
• Help tackle tax evasion by providing for the exchange of information between the two countries;
• Intensify trade and investment between Brazil and the United Kingdom, strengthening the bilateral relationship.

The DTA brings about important benefits for the British and Brazilian economies. It will ensure that United Kingdom and Brazilian businesses encounter fewer economic and administrative burdens when doing business in the other country and reduce the costs of doing so.

As a result, UK anticipates that the Brazilian market will become a more attractive place to invest for the British business community and will also facilitate Brazilian investment in the United Kingdom contributing to job creation, innovation and prosperity.

Before the signing of the DTA, Brazil was one of the only major trading partners of the United Kingdom that had not yet concluded an agreement to avoid double taxation.