Brazil's R$35,000 monthly crypto tax exemption — how it actually works

If you're a Brazilian tax resident holding crypto, the single most important rule to understand is the R$35,000 monthly exemption. It lets you sell up to R$35,000 of crypto in a calendar month without owing capital-gains tax — and it applies separately each month. Above that threshold, capital-gains rates start at 15% and step up to 22.5% on very large gains.

This exemption is one of the most generous tax structures for retail crypto holders anywhere in Latin America. It's also widely misunderstood — both by Brazilian residents who underclaim it (paying tax they don't owe) and overclaim it (filing returns that don't survive Receita Federal review). This post walks through how the rule actually works, what counts toward the threshold, the rate brackets above it, and how to calculate gains in BRL when you do owe tax.

For the live valuation reference you'd use to track your BRL-denominated crypto holdings month-to-month, see the BTC to BRL converter and ETH to BRL converter.

Important: This post is a general overview of how the rules work, not personal tax advice. Crypto tax in Brazil has been refined repeatedly through Receita Federal normative instructions and the 2024 Lei das Offshores reforms. Confirm specifics with a Brazilian tax advisor before filing.

The R$35,000/month exemption — the basic rule

Article 38 of Receita Federal's normative framework for capital-gains taxation grants individuals an exemption on small-value asset sales. The relevant rule for crypto, codified through Receita Federal Normative Instruction 1,888/2019 and refined in subsequent guidance:

• Total monthly crypto sales (alienações) up to R$35,000 are exempt from capital-gains tax.
• The exemption is per calendar month and per individual (not per couple, not per asset).
• Sales that exceed R$35,000 in a month make the entire month's gain taxable — not just the portion above the threshold.

That last point is the most commonly misunderstood. The exemption isn't an allowance against gains — it's a sales-volume threshold that switches an entire month's tax treatment on or off. Selling R$34,999 of BTC in a month is fully exempt. Selling R$35,001 the same month makes all of that month's crypto gains taxable.

What counts as a "sale" toward the threshold

The threshold counts the gross sale proceeds in BRL, not the gain. A few specifics:

• Crypto-to-fiat (BRL) sales count at the BRL value received.
• Crypto-to-crypto trades count as a disposal of the asset being sold, valued at the BRL-equivalent at the moment of the trade. Trading 1 BTC for ETH at a moment when 1 BTC is worth R$500,000 counts as R$500,000 toward the threshold.
• Crypto-to-stablecoin trades count the same way as crypto-to-crypto. Selling BTC for USDT or BRL-pegged stablecoins like BRZ counts at the BRL-equivalent of the USDT or BRZ received.
• Spending crypto on goods or services counts as a sale at the BRL value at the moment of the transaction.
• Sending crypto to your own wallets does not count. Internal transfers between your own addresses or accounts aren't disposals.
• Receiving crypto (mining rewards, staking, airdrops, payment for services) is income at the moment of receipt — a separate tax category from the sale-proceeds threshold, and not exempted by the R$35,000 rule.

The threshold is calculated across all crypto assets aggregated — your BTC sales, ETH sales, SOL sales, and any other crypto disposals all add together for the monthly total. Selling R$20,000 of BTC and R$15,001 of ETH in the same month puts you over the R$35,000 limit.

What counts as "crypto" for the rule

Receita Federal's normative framework defines crypto-assets broadly: digital representations of value that can be stored or transferred electronically and used for payment, investment, or other economic purposes. In practice this includes:

• BTC, ETH, SOL, XRP, and other major cryptocurrencies.
• Stablecoins — USDT, USDC, DAI, and BRL-pegged stablecoins like BRZ.
• ERC-20 and other tokens.
• NFTs (treated as crypto-assets, with valuation determined at the moment of disposal).

The exemption applies to all of these in aggregate — they share one R$35,000 monthly threshold.

Rate brackets above R$35,000

If your monthly crypto sales exceed the threshold, capital-gains tax applies to the gain (not the proceeds), at progressive brackets:

| Total monthly gain (BRL) | Rate | |---|---| | Up to R$5 million | 15% | | R$5M - R$10M | 17.5% | | R$10M - R$30M | 20% | | Above R$30M | 22.5% |

For most retail traders these higher brackets are theoretical — the 15% rate covers essentially all retail-scale gains. The progressive structure exists because Brazilian capital-gains rules apply across all asset classes (real estate, stocks held outside B3, certain investment funds), and crypto inherited the same bracket structure.

The tax is due by the last business day of the month following the disposal. A taxable disposal in March 2026 has tax due by April 30, 2026, paid via DARF code 4600.

Calculating gain in BRL — the cost basis question

When you do owe tax, you calculate gain as:

Gain = Sale proceeds (BRL) - Cost basis (BRL) - Allowable transaction costs

The cost basis is the BRL value at the moment you acquired the crypto. For a BTC purchase made on a Brazilian exchange paying BRL, the cost basis is straightforward — it's the BRL amount you paid plus any acquisition fees.

For more complex acquisitions:

• Mining rewards or staking income have a cost basis equal to the BRL value at the moment of receipt (and that BRL value is also taxable as ordinary income at receipt — separate from the eventual disposal gain).
• Crypto-to-crypto trades — if you traded BTC for ETH last year, then sell the ETH this year, the ETH's cost basis is the BRL-equivalent value at the moment of the BTC-to-ETH trade.
• Multiple acquisitions — Receita Federal accepts weighted-average cost basis (custo médio ponderado) across acquisitions of the same asset. This simplifies tracking when you've bought the same crypto multiple times.

Allowable transaction costs include exchange fees, blockchain network fees paid in fiat, and any other directly-attributable acquisition or disposal costs. Subjective valuation losses (a stablecoin depegging temporarily, an exchange freeze) are not deductible until they crystallize as a realized loss.

Reporting obligations regardless of the exemption

The R$35,000/month exemption removes the tax liability on small-volume months. It does not remove reporting obligations.

Two separate reporting requirements:

1. Monthly transaction reporting (IN 1888) for high-volume months. If your aggregate monthly transactions across all crypto exceed R$30,000 (across all venues, including foreign exchanges) — or if you transact on non-Brazilian exchanges at any volume — you must file a monthly transaction report to Receita Federal by the last business day of the following month. This applies even if the activity is fully tax-exempt because of the R$35,000 sales threshold.

1. Annual income tax return (DIRPF). Crypto holdings above R$5,000 in BRL value at year-end must be declared in the annual income tax return under the appropriate "Bens e Direitos" group code (currently 89 for crypto-assets). Each crypto is declared separately with custody, acquisition cost, and year-end balance.

Brazilian exchanges report user transactions to Receita Federal directly. Foreign-exchange and self-custodied activity is the user's responsibility to declare.

The 2024 Lei das Offshores update

In late 2023 Brazil passed Lei 14,754 (the "Lei das Offshores"), which significantly tightened reporting and taxation of foreign-held assets including crypto held on non-Brazilian exchanges. Key effects from the 2024 tax year onward:

• Foreign-held crypto-asset gains are taxed at a flat 15% regardless of the R$35,000 monthly exemption (which applies only to Brazilian-domiciled holdings).
• Annual mark-to-market reporting of foreign-held positions can apply for certain structures.
• The framework distinguishes between crypto held directly versus through offshore investment vehicles, with different rules for each.

For most retail Brazilian traders this means: holding crypto on a Brazilian exchange (Mercado Bitcoin, Foxbit, NovaDAX, Bitybank) keeps the R$35,000/month exemption available. Holding the same crypto on Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, or self-custodied with foreign-domiciled service relationships moves the activity into the foreign-asset framework with the flat 15% rate from BRL 1 of gain.

Many Brazilian retail traders maintain holdings in both — Brazilian exchanges for size that fits within the monthly exemption, foreign exchanges for asset selection that domestic venues don't list. The tax treatment differs accordingly.

Practical examples

Example 1 — Fully exempt month

You sell 0.05 BTC for R$30,000 in March 2026. No other crypto sales that month.

• Total March crypto sales: R$30,000 (below threshold).
• Tax due: R$0.
• Reporting: declare in annual return; if your March on-Brazilian-exchange volume was below R$30,000 across all crypto, no monthly transaction report required. If your aggregate-across-venues activity was higher, file IN 1888 for March.

Example 2 — Threshold exceeded

You sell 0.05 BTC for R$30,000 and 2 ETH for R$10,000 in March 2026.

• Total March crypto sales: R$40,000 (above threshold).
• Entire month's gains are taxable. Suppose your gain on the 0.05 BTC was R$12,000 and on the 2 ETH was R$3,500. Total gain: R$15,500.
• Tax due: 15% × R$15,500 = R$2,325.
• Payment: DARF code 4600, due by April 30, 2026.

Example 3 — Mixed Brazilian and foreign exchanges

You sell 0.05 BTC for R$30,000 on Mercado Bitcoin and 1 ETH for R$5,500 on Binance in March 2026.

• Brazilian-exchange activity: R$30,000 (below R$35,000 threshold for the domestic exemption).
• Foreign-exchange activity: R$5,500 — taxed at flat 15% on the gain regardless of domestic threshold.
• Suppose your gain on the Binance ETH sale was R$2,000.
• Tax due: 15% × R$2,000 = R$300 on the foreign portion. Domestic portion remains exempt.

What it means for your trading

The R$35,000 monthly threshold meaningfully shapes how Brazilian retail traders structure their activity. Common patterns:

• Stagger sales across months to keep monthly volume under R$35,000 when possible. Selling R$30,000 in March and R$30,000 in April is fully exempt; selling R$60,000 in a single month makes the entire R$60,000 of gain taxable.
• Hold long-term where possible. The exemption rewards holding rather than rotating. Active traders quickly run into both the threshold and the IN 1888 monthly-reporting trigger.
• Use Brazilian exchanges for taxable-base management. Domestic venues feed Receita Federal directly and stay inside the R$35,000 exemption. Foreign venues fall under the post-2024 flat-15% framework.
• Track BRL cost basis at the moment of every acquisition. Without it, the disposal-month gain calculation isn't possible. Most Brazilian exchanges maintain this automatically; for self-custodied or foreign-exchange activity, you maintain it yourself.

The BTC to BRL converter and ETH to BRL converter provide the live valuation reference for tracking your holdings against the threshold. The crypto-fiat converter hub covers BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP against BRL plus 11 other major fiats.

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Related reading

• India's no-threshold flat tax — India taxes every crypto disposal at a flat 30% with 1% TDS, no exemption tier.
• Australia's holding-period discount — Australia gives a 50% CGT discount after 12 months instead of a monthly threshold.
• Japan's bracket structure — Japan classifies gains as miscellaneous income, taxed at up to 55%.