July 26, 2019 Brazil offers new tax incentives for companies in the oil and gas sector that invest through 'infrastructure debentures' Oil and gas companies may benefit from new tax incentives by investing in infrastructure debentures. These companies should review the infrastructure debenture provisions to determine if they might benefit from investing in priority investment projects through infrastructure debentures. The Brazilian Ministry of Mines and Energy has published a regulation (Ordinance 252/2019) under which companies in the oil and gas (O&G) sector may claim tax incentives for foreign investments made in priority investment projects in oil, natural gas and biofuel infrastructure areas through debentures issued by Brazilian entities established as corporations. The regulation defines priority investment projects as projects that aim to implement, expand, maintain, recover, adjust or modernize the following activities:
For foreign investors to benefit from the incentives, the funds issued by the Brazilian companies as debentures must be used to invest in infrastructure projects focused on the previously listed activities (for this reason, such debt instruments are commonly referenced as "infrastructure debentures"). Income derived by foreign investors from investing in infrastructure debentures is exempt from financial and withholding taxes when paid or credited to the foreign beneficiary. In this sense, infrastructure debentures may be an interesting alternative for private long-term financing from abroad. The granting of the tax benefits is subject to certain conditions, such as the characteristics of the investor, the issuing entity and the debentures. As such, foreign investors should analyze all those factors before investing. ———————————————
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