SCE-IED: foreign investment declarations due 31 March 2027

Who the rules apply to

Brazil’s foreign-capital law, Lei 14.286/2021, is regulated by Resolução BCB 278/2022. The obligation to report a foreign direct investment falls on the receptor, the Brazilian entity receiving it (art. 17, II), not on the foreign parent. A receptor is any entity constituted or organised in Brazil under Brazilian law, with or without legal personality, including companies, partnerships, consortia and sole traders (art. 2, XI).

In practice that means a Brazilian subsidiary, joint venture or branch company owned in whole or part by a non-resident. Holdings represented by securities traded on an organised market are handled under separate rules and are left out of the detailed register (art. 34, § 3).

Before the first transfer: registering to get the code

The receptor and the non-resident investor must be identified in SCE-IED before the first transfer of the investment, which generates an SCE-IED code (art. 34, § 1). That code must be quoted on the foreign-exchange contract of every investment transfer of US$100,000 or more (art. 21, II).

Inflows of money, and remittances abroad of profits, dividends, interest on equity and returned capital, are then captured automatically from the Banco Central’s exchange system (art. 35). This is why the registration has to come first: a parent that wires capital before the subsidiary is registered leaves the bank without the code it must put on the contract.

The 30-day rule for everything that is not a wire

Movements that do not pass through the exchange system must be reported by the receptor within 30 days of happening, when they are US$100,000 or more (art. 32, II, and art. 36). They include capitalisation with tangible or intangible assets or with virtual assets, such as contributing equipment, a licence or a patent instead of cash (art. 36, I); converting into capital a debt that could have been remitted abroad and was not registered as foreign credit (art. 36, II); international contributions of shares or quotas (art. 36, IV); and profit and dividend distributions, interest on equity, purchases from or sales to residents, capital returns, liquidation proceeds and the capitalisation of profits, when these are not made by an exchange transfer (art. 36, VI).

This obligation has applied since 1 October 2024 (art. 42). It is the rule a foreign manufacturer setting up a Brazilian company is most likely to trip on, because an equipment or intellectual-property contribution never touches a bank.

The periodic declarations, and which one reaches you

Each declaration reports the ownership structure and the non-resident investors, the receptor’s book and economic value, its operating and non-operating profit, and complementary accounting data (art. 37). Which ones a receptor files depends on its total assets.

Quarterly: receptors with total assets of R$300 million or more on the data-base, which is 31 March, 30 June or 30 September (art. 38). The 30 September 2026 declaration is due between 1 October and 31 December 2026 (art. 41, I, c).

Annual: receptors with total assets of R$100 million or more on the 31 December data-base (art. 39). The declaration for 31 December 2026 is due between 1 January and 31 March 2027 (art. 41, II).

Five-yearly: every receptor with total assets of R$100,000 or more, for data-bases at 31 December of years ending in 0 or 5 (art. 40). There is no annual declaration in those years. The last was for 31 December 2025, due by 31 March 2026, so the next is for 31 December 2030, due by 31 March 2031. A receptor whose only obligation is the five-yearly declaration does not keep the detailed investment register (art. 34, § 2), but the transfer and 30-day rules above still apply to it whenever a transfer or movement of US$100,000 or more happens (art. 32).

The fines

The Banco Central’s penalties for foreign-capital information are set in Resolução BCB 131/2021, art. 66, and are a percentage of the amount that should have been registered or declared. Registering or declaring late: 1%, capped at R$25,000, reduced to a tenth of that for a delay of 1 to 30 days and to half for 31 to 60 days. Incorrect or incomplete information: 2%, capped at R$50,000. Not registering, not declaring, or not producing the supporting documents: 5%, capped at R$125,000. False information: 10%, capped at R$250,000.

The fines for late, incorrect and missing filings rise by 50% if the company fails to file, correct or complete a declaration when the Banco Central asks it to (art. 66, § 2). The receptor must also keep the supporting documents for ten years from the liquidation of each investor’s investment (Res. 278, art. 18, I, b).

Who files in practice

The receptor can appoint a representative to enter, consult and update its information (art. 20). Most foreign-owned subsidiaries leave it to their Brazilian accountant or their bank. The responsibility, and the fine, stay with the receptor (art. 18, § 1, and art. 19), so a parent company should know which of these rules reach its subsidiary rather than assume someone has it in hand.

Before you rely on this page

This page summarises Resolução BCB 278/2022 in its consolidated text including amendments up to Resolução BCB 575/2026, and Resolução BCB 131/2021, art. 66, as at 18 October 2026. It cites the article behind each point. It is not legal or accounting advice, and the official texts on bcb.gov.br are the authority.

Find out which of these reach your Brazilian company

We set out which of these obligations reach your Brazilian company and when, each cited to the article above. After paying, email [email protected] with the company’s CNPJ, its total assets and the investments made or planned; we reply within 3 business days, and refund in full if we cannot do the review. It is not legal or accounting advice.

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