On 30^th December 2016, the Diário Oficial da União (Official Federal Gazette) published Normative Instruction RFB No. 1.684 (“IN 1684/2016”) amending Normative Instruction RFB No. 1.634/2016. The latter had substantially amended the registration and updating of business data procedures for foreign organisations enrolled with the Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (National Register of Corporate Taxpayers, hereinafter referred to as the CNPJ).

Among the amendments introduced by IN 1684/2016, we highlight below the change in deadline for formally identifying the end beneficiary of foreign companies enrolled with the CNPJ and the deadline for registering the initial digital filing of the documents of such foreign organisations, in order to register or update their records:

i) Under the former text of IN No. 1.634/2016, companies enrolled with the CNPJ as from 1^st January 2017, were required to formally identify their end beneficiaries at the time such companies became officially enrolled with the CNPJ. Under the new text, this requirement for identification of end beneficiaries at the time such companies were formally enrolled with the CNPJ, is only compulsory for companies enrolling with the CNPJ after 1^st July 2017.

ii) The former text of IN No. 1.634/2016 also required companies enrolled with the CNPJ prior to 1^st January 2017, to formally identify their end beneficiaries as from such date. Under the new text, companies enrolled with the CNPJ prior to 1^st July 2017 are only required to formally identify their end beneficiaries at such time as they carry out any official record alteration as from 1^st July 2017;

iii) Foreign companies enrolling digitally with the CNPJ, are required to register as of 1^st July 2017.

If you require further information on this matter, please contact the Tess Advogados tax team.

São Paulo, 24 January 2017.

Tax Department

Luis Augusto Gomes
lgomes@tesslaw.com

Davi Naves Grave
dgrave@tesslaw.com

Paulo Yamaguchi
pyamaguchi@tesslaw.com