Brazil requires reporting of self-custody crypto over $10,000

Brazil’s federal tax authority published guidance requiring residents and legal entities to report self-custody cryptocurrency transactions that exceed $10,000. The guidance covers transfers and trades executed outside centralized exchanges and custodial platforms.

The obligation applies to transactions into, out of or between self-custody wallets that surpass the $10,000 threshold. It applies to both individuals and companies subject to Brazilian tax law.

The guidance specifies that operations creating taxable events or affecting an investor’s tax position must be reported. Examples include sales for fiat currency, swaps between cryptocurrencies and transfers that represent disposals. Taxpayers must retain records of transaction dates, amounts, counterparties when available, and the realised or unrealised gains tied to reported operations.

The reporting requirement is separate from any tax payments owed under existing law; gains realised from disposals remain taxable. Taxpayers will need to reconcile on-chain activity with their tax returns and maintain transaction histories and valuations at the time of each reported operation.

The guidance notes technical and privacy challenges in compiling information from decentralized addresses, where counterparties can be anonymous and transactions can span multiple blockchains. Tax professionals expect many taxpayers to use wallet-export tools, transaction ledgers and third-party analytics to produce the documentation required by the tax authority.

The new guidance extends prior reporting obligations that applied mainly to exchanges and custodial platforms and brings private wallets into the scope of formal reporting requirements.