Brazil's General Coordination of Taxation (Cosit) has published Tax Ruling 157/2026.
This consolidates the Federal Revenue Service's position on income tax owed on net winnings from fixed-odds betting and fantasy sports.
Signed by Coordinator-General Rodrigo Augusto Verly de Oliveira, the ruling confirms a model the tax authority now backed by the weight of a binding administrative ruling.
Under the ruling, net winnings are subject to exclusive, definitive personal income tax, meaning they aren't combined with other income in a taxpayer's annual return, similar to how fixed-income investments are treated.
Three rules govern the calculation
Taxpayers assess results once a year, covering all bets placed across all operators in the prior calendar year, rather than event by event; calculations are done separately for each of the three betting categories defined by law, real sporting events, virtual online games, and fantasy sports; and losses in one category cannot offset gains in another.
The final net winnings figure is simply the sum of positive results across each category. Taxpayers are responsible for calculating and paying the tax themselves, using an app provided by the Federal Revenue Service in March, with payment due by the end of April.
The law's original text set a 15% rate on net winnings above the income tax exemption threshold, with annual, per-category calculation, but the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting recommended vetoing the relevant paragraphs over concerns about revenue loss, a recommendation the Executive accepted in December 2023.
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