Is an Offshore Worth It? From What Net Worth in 2026

There is no minimum net worth in the law. An offshore pays off when the benefit it delivers each year exceeds the fixed cost of keeping it. Since Law No. 14,754/2023 (Lei 14.754/2023), that benefit is rarely tax-related for investors: for a passive portfolio, a direct foreign account usually costs less and pays tax later than an offshore company.

The question I get most at the office is not whether the structure is legal, but at what point it pays for itself. The honest answer changed in 2024. Before, the foreign company deferred tax; today, for wealth parked in investments, it brings tax forward. What is left in the offshore's favor is organization, succession and real operations outside Brazil - and each of these has a price that has to fit within your net worth.

What did Law 14,754/2023 change for those thinking about an offshore?

The law put income from capital abroad on its own form of the annual return, at 15% and with no deductions. A company controlled in a tax haven, or with own active income below 60% of total income, has its profit taxed on December 31 of each year, distributed or not .

The point that decides the math is the moment the tax arises. The same law treats each path differently:

Own active income is the revenue from the company's own economic activity. Paragraph 6 of art. 5 excludes from it, among others, revenue from royalties, interest, dividends, equity interests, rents and capital gains. A company that only holds an investment portfolio is, by definition, below 60%.

"Tax haven" here has a technical meaning: the countries and regimes listed under arts. 24 and 24-A of Law No. 9,430/1996 (Lei 9.430/1996) . Choosing a jurisdiction on that list means choosing automatic annual taxation.

For investors only, is an offshore still worth it?

By tax, as a rule, no. The 15% rate is the same on both paths, but the passive company is taxed every December 31 on the profit determined, while the direct account only pays when the gain is realized. Adding the company's fixed cost and the earlier taxation, the direct account comes out ahead for an idle portfolio.

Three details of the law reinforce this reading:

1. •Losses offset on both paths. Realized losses on investments abroad offset investment income and, if anything is left, profits of controlled entities in the same year; the balance carries over to the following years, and each loss can be used only once . The company gives no advantage on this point.
2. •Exchange variation on the capital invested in the controlled entity only enters the capital gain when the investment is sold, written off or liquidated (art. 7). It is an exit rule, not an argument for opening the company.
3. •The transparency option (art. 8) lets you declare the company's assets as if they were the individual's. It is irrevocable while you have the controlled entity and, if there is more than one individual partner resident in Brazil, it must be exercised by all. In practice, the company ceases to exist for tax purposes and continues to exist for costs.

If the goal is only to dollarize and diversify a portfolio, the shortest path is an investment account abroad in your own name - see how to choose the institution in offshore banking.

In which cases does a structure abroad pay for itself?

When it does something the direct account does not. There are three cases: a company with real operations outside Brazil, whose profit is only taxed on distribution; a family with heirs and assets in more than one country, which needs management and exit rules; and assets exposed to business risk, which should be kept separate from personal ones.

• •Real operations abroad. A company that sells services or products to clients abroad, with own active income of 60% or more and headquartered outside a low-tax jurisdiction, only generates tax in Brazil when the profit is made available (art. 6, II). Here the deferral exists - but it depends on a real operation, with revenue, contracts and management to match. Structures of this kind are in corporate structures.
• •Succession involving several people and countries. Shares of a company with a shareholders' agreement, defined management and entry and exit rules organize the passing of wealth better than loose accounts in one person's name. The trust has its own rule: for Brazilian tax, the assets remain the settlor's until distribution or death (art. 10).
• •Risk separation. Anyone running a business abroad should not mix the operation's cash with the family's reserve. To compare with the domestic alternative, read family holding in Brazil and the comparison holding vs offshore.

Outside these three cases, the structure is usually a cost with nothing in return.

How do I calculate the net worth at which an offshore pays for itself?

Divide the structure's total annual cost by the annual benefit it delivers, as a percentage of net worth. The result is the break-even net worth. With an annual cost of BRL 10 thousand and a benefit of 1% per year, break-even is BRL 1 million; with a benefit of 0.5%, BRL 2 million.

Break-even net worth = total annual cost ÷ annual benefit (% of net worth)

The table shows only the arithmetic, for each BRL 10 thousand of annual cost:

The hard number is the benefit, not the cost. For a passive portfolio after Law 14,754/2023, the tax benefit can be zero or negative, and then there is no net worth that balances the account through tax. The benefit has to come from something else - succession, management, operations - and be measured case by case, not presumed.

The annual cost includes jurisdiction fees, the registered agent, accounting abroad and in Brazil, and filings on both sides. Two examples of official fees:

• •Wyoming LLC: US$ 100 one time for the Articles of Organization and an annual report license tax of at least US$ 60 per year . The registered agent is charged separately.
• •Delaware LLC: annual tax of US$ 400, due June 1, with a penalty of US$ 200 plus 1.5% per month for late payment .

The state fee is the smallest part. A single-member LLC owned by a foreign person must file with the IRS Form 5472 attached to a pro forma Form 1120, with a US$ 25,000 penalty for failure to file . The full comparison is in Wyoming vs Delaware LLC and in how much it costs to open an offshore.

Which net worth and income thresholds already create obligations?

Two thresholds matter. With US$ 1 million or more in assets and rights abroad on December 31, filing the annual Brazilian Capital Abroad (CBE) declaration with the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB) is mandatory. And anyone who receives more than BRL 600 thousand in the year falls under the income tax minimum taxation from calendar year 2026.

The CBE declaration is an obligation of the Brazilian resident and applies to assets held directly or through the company . Under minimum taxation, the law adds up all income of the year, including income taxed exclusively or definitively, and only deducts the exceptions listed in § 1 of art. 16-A . Anyone approaching these thresholds should plan the return before opening the structure, not after.

When is an offshore a mistake?

It is a mistake when the structure comes before the reason. The most common cases are three: opening a company only to hold investments, choosing a low-tax jurisdiction because it is cheap, and failing to declare the controlled entity.

• •Company only to hold investments. The passive company has annual taxation on December 31 and a fixed cost. The direct account has taxation on realization and almost no cost.
• •Exotic jurisdiction for the price. What looks cheap at setup gets expensive at filing: profit taxed every year, even without distribution, and more requirements for being on the Law 9,430/1996 list.
• •Structure without a declaration. Omitting the controlled entity on the annual return or failing to file the CBE when mandatory exposes the holder to assessment by Brazil's Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) and to penalties from the Central Bank. A structure that cannot be declared protects nothing.
• •Money you will need soon. If the money is going back to Brazil in a short time, the cost of setting up and closing has no time to pay off.

Before opening anything, read the overview of offshore asset protection and review the tax side in tax planning.

Direct account, passive offshore or operating offshore: which to choose?

To invest, choose the direct account. The operating offshore makes sense when there is a real business outside Brazil, and the passive one when the reason is succession or governance, never tax. The table summarizes what changes among the three paths.

Book a consultation if you want to measure the structure's benefit for your case before paying for it.

Conclusion

The question "at what net worth" has an answer that does not fit a fixed number: an offshore pays for itself when the annual benefit it delivers, as a percentage, multiplied by net worth, exceeds the annual cost of maintaining it. After Law 14,754/2023, a passive portfolio almost never closes that equation through tax, because the company brings taxation forward to December 31. What closes the equation is real operations abroad, succession among several people and countries, or risk separation. Start with the direct account, declare everything, and only set up the structure when there is a reason the direct account does not solve.