Regularising Foreign Assets: The Amnesty Window Has Closed
Brazil’s REARP amnesty closed in February 2026. With automatic exchange of financial information, waiting is no longer a strategy — it is pure exposure.
There is a quiet group of Brazilian taxpayers carrying a problem they have postponed for years: assets abroad — an old account, a property, a structure — that were never properly reported to the tax authority or the central bank. For a long time, the strategy was to wait. Wait for a cheaper amnesty, wait for the subject to cool down, wait for the invisibility to hold.
Two things changed and made waiting dangerous. First: the amnesty windows are closing. REARP, the most recent regularisation regime, closed to applications in February 2026. Second, and more decisively: with automatic exchange of financial information, the chance that an undeclared asset simply “never surfaces” has become remote.
This article sets out, plainly and without alarm, what changed, why regularisation has stopped being optional for anyone who wants to sleep at night, and why this is territory that calls for professional advice rather than improvisation.
The amnesties that have come and gone
Over the past decade Brazil offered a succession of voluntary regularisation regimes:
- The original RERCT (Law No. 13,254/2016), reopened in 2017, covering assets abroad.
- RERCT-Geral (Law No. 14,973/2024), which widened the scope to assets in Brazil and abroad and to new asset types, with applications open until December 2024.
- REARP — the Special Regime for Asset Update and Regularisation (Law No. 15,265/2025) — which closed to applications in February 2026, at a 15% rate plus a 100% penalty, with a reference date of 31 December 2024.
The pattern is clear: each regime had a short window and its own conditions. Those who used them regularised under known rules. Those who held out for “the next, cheaper one” generally saw the opposite — and now face a landscape with no open amnesty and considerably stronger enforcement.
Why hiding stopped working
The underlying change is not the amnesty — it is transparency. Brazil receives, automatically and every year, data on financial accounts held abroad by its residents, under the global exchange standard (CRS), to which more than a hundred jurisdictions are party. And the reach is extending to crypto-assets. We cover this in The offshore company in 2026 and in Information exchange: what your country and Uruguay already know.
The practical effect is that the premise sustaining the wait — “the asset will not surface” — has collapsed. Add the annual taxation of controlled foreign structures and the mandatory central bank declaration of foreign assets, and the cost of staying irregular — interest, penalties and exposure — only grows with time.
What is left for those who did not apply
With the amnesties closed, regularisation has not disappeared — but it is no longer a “package” with favourable terms. The route becomes ordinary compliance, and it is more demanding. In broad terms, and always depending on the specific case:
- Amend the returns. Correct the income tax returns for the relevant years and regularise the position with the central bank, recognising the assets and income that should have been reported.
- Pay the tax due, with interest. Pay the tax on untaxed income, plus interest at the SELIC rate.
- Voluntary disclosure. Brazil’s National Tax Code (Article 138) provides that regularisation made before any enforcement action begins, with payment of the tax and interest, removes the assessment penalty. It is the central instrument of regularisation outside an amnesty — but the benefit depends on acting before the tax authority does, which makes timing decisive.
There is also a dimension beyond tax that requires a lawyer: assessing potential criminal exposure (offences against the tax order, unlawful currency transfers) and how voluntary regularisation mitigates it. This is not territory for improvisation or online tutorials — it is individual legal analysis.
Note on scope: regularising undeclared assets involves tax law, exchange control law and, potentially, criminal law, and depends entirely on the specific circumstances — the origin of the funds, the years involved, the nature of the assets, whether enforcement is already under way. This article describes the general position as verified in July 2026 and does not replace individual analysis by a lawyer and an accountant. New regularisation regimes may emerge, but should not be counted on. Voluntary disclosure and its effects depend on being carried out under the right conditions and at the right moment.
The honest conclusion
We do not sell amnesty, and we do not promise to “fix it without paying”. What we say plainly is this: for anyone holding undeclared assets abroad, the combination of rising transparency and closed amnesties has turned waiting into pure risk. The question is no longer “is it worth regularising?” but “what is the least costly route to regularisation, executed before the tax authority arrives?”.
Regularising early and voluntarily tends to cost less — in money and in exposure — than being caught by an audit. It is a decision about when, not whether.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still apply for REARP?
No. Applications under REARP (Law No. 15,265/2025) closed in February 2026. There is currently no open amnesty.
If I wait, will a cheaper regime come along?
There is no guarantee. The record shows short windows and terms that do not improve with waiting. And while you wait, enforcement strengthens and interest accrues.
Will the tax authority really find out?
With automatic exchange of information, Brazil receives data on foreign accounts every year. The premise that an asset “will not surface” has become fragile.
How do you regularise without an amnesty?
As a rule, by amending the returns and paying the tax with interest, with the benefit of voluntary disclosure (made before any enforcement action). It is an individual analysis, with a lawyer and an accountant — not a standard procedure.
How to verify for yourself
- REARP — Law No. 15,265/2025 and the tax authority’s implementing rules, on the Receita Federal portal.
- RERCT-Geral — Law No. 14,973/2024 and Normative Instruction RFB No. 2,221/2024.
- Voluntary disclosure — Article 138 of the National Tax Code, on Planalto.
If any point differs from the official source at the time you read this, the official source prevails.
The starting point
The era of cheap, recurring amnesties appears to be over, and transparency is here to stay. For anyone carrying undeclared assets, every year of waiting means more interest, more exposure and less room to manoeuvre.
The right question is not “can I keep waiting?”. It is “what is the safest and least costly route to regularisation in my case, and how do I execute it before the decision leaves my hands?”. The answer is legal, and it is individual.
That is what our work in tax planning and wealth protection is for, always alongside appropriate legal counsel: bringing wealth into compliance, at the right moment, at the lowest possible cost.
One conversation is enough to map your situation and the route — with candour about costs and risks.
Informational content. It does not constitute legal, tax, accounting or investment advice. Regularising assets involves tax, exchange control and criminal matters and requires individual analysis with a lawyer and an accountant. The rules cited were verified against the official sources indicated in July 2026 and may change.