Tax

Commentary

Brazil is a success story. It often does not receive the credit it deserves, because it remains a difficult and complicated place to do business. But all the treasurers involved in this discussion have large and profitable businesses there – there was a time when most people lost money. On the political front, Brazil has recently seen both left and right wing governments, but both have respected election results, and the economy has continued to progress through it all.

Of course, it is not all rosy: though many rules and administrative processes have been relaxed, much complexity remains. In the past, a local treasury presence was required: it is now possible to run the country from offshore, though a specialist team may still be necessary.

The challenges discussed in the call:

• Boletos: many customers in Brazil pay using boletos. These are a form of bill of exchange, where a document is prepared, usually by the seller, with all the payment information, including a barcode. This can then be presented by the payer in any location, and payment will be received by the seller in their bank account. This is a good system, but participants complained vehemently about the cost, and banks’ unwillingness to reduce the fees. Other issues:
• Boletos are often cancelled when they are not paid on time and a new one is issued, instead of charging the intended late payment fees. 
• Payment of a single invoice is often spread over several boletos, each with different due dates: this causes the very accounts receivable reconciliation issues the system is designed to avoid.
• Boletos can be issued electronically (e-boletos): these reduce the amount of paper but, disappointingly, the fee reduction is not significant.
• Some participants regularly do RFPs for this business, and frequently change banks. But fees remain high, and banks are often unwilling to continue.
• Frequent changes in the process and rules present challenges in keeping the systems updated – this often results in manual processing.
• One participant noted an improvement in service and processing efficiency.
• PIX: the good news is that a form of on-line payment, PIX, is available and becoming increasingly popular, even for B2B transactions – and the fees are paid by the payor. The bad news is that the fees are also high, though not as high as for boletos. 
• Tax payments: there is a requirement to maintain accounts with many local banks to make payments to tax authorities around the country. One participant is very happy with a JPMorgan tool to manage this and eliminate the related local accounts. Another used this tool in the past, but is now achieving the same result with Citi.
• FX documentation

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