Brasília – Non-Brazilian investors can now register and obtain their Individual Taxpayer Number (CPF, in the Portuguese acronym) instantaneously at Brazilian diplomatic offices in foreign countries. The process, which used to take at least 20 days, is now completed on the spot.
In order to expedite the process, interested parties may fill in a form, available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese from the Federal Revenue website, and bring the personal documentation required to an office of the Brazilian Ministry of External Relations.
In the past, diplomatic offices were required to mail the documentation and forms filled by foreigners to. Once in the country, the papers were forwarded to the Federal Revenue station in Brasília, where the CPF registration was finally made. Afterwards, the papers had to be sent back via the same route.
“In order for [foreigners] to invest here, be it fixed income, the stock exchange, or capital markets, they are required to have a CPF number. This change will cause the process to move much faster. And of course it will facilitate an increase in inflows to Brazil by cutting through the red tape,” says the Federal Revenue’s general coordinator for registration, Flávio Vilela Campos.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
