The taxable basis: commission or package price?
Before choosing a regime, you need to know what the tax is levied on. Getting this wrong wipes out every other saving.
The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service settled the question in Solução de Divergência COSIT No. 3/2012, and the logic is straightforward:
Intermediation
The agency sells, on behalf of a third party, a service supplied by someone else — an airline, a hotel, a tour operator, a ticket consolidator.
Own service
The agency supplies the service itself or in its own name — it assembles and sells its own package, runs its own tour, contracts in its own name and resells.
The legal design of the operation — who contracts whom, on whose behalf, under which document — is therefore part of the tax planning, not a consequence of it. Three measures sustain Scenario 1:
- An agency agreement with each operator or consolidator, stating clearly that the agency acts as agent and is remunerated by commission.
- A service invoice issued on the commission (not on the value of the trip), under the correct service code — in Rio de Janeiro, item 9.02 of the list annexed to Complementary Law 116/2003.
- Financial segregation: the supplier's share must move as an identifiable pass-through, never blended with the agency's own revenue. Without a documentary trail, the tax authority reclassifies the whole amount as revenue.
The four available regimes
Figures and rates in force in 2026. The election is made on incorporation or each January — and, for the Simples Nacional, it is irrevocable for the whole calendar year.
MEI
CheapLow ceiling
- Registered occupation: independent travel agent, activity code 7911-2/00.
- Ceiling of R$ 81,000 per year of revenue — again, the commission, not the amount sold.
- One employee at most; a single holder; no partners.
- Does not cover the tour operator activity (own packages).
Simples Nacional — Annex III
Single returnNo payroll testR$ 4.8m ceiling
- Travel agencies fall directly under Annex III, without having to pass the "Fator R" payroll test (payroll ≥ 28% of revenue).
- A single monthly payment (DAS) covers corporate income tax, social contribution on profit, PIS, COFINS, municipal ISS and the employer's social security contribution.
- The effective rate rises by bracket: 6% up to R$ 180,000, around 11% in the third bracket, 14% in the fourth.
- Key disqualifications: corporate partners, branches abroad and partners domiciled outside Brazil.
Presumed Profit
32% deemed marginQuarterly
- Corporate income tax: deemed basis of 32% of revenue, taxed at 15% (plus 10% on the amount exceeding R$ 20,000 per month of deemed profit).
- Social contribution on net profit: deemed basis of 32%, taxed at 9%.
- PIS 0.65% + COFINS 3% (cumulative regime) on revenue.
- Municipal ISS separately (5% in Rio de Janeiro) and full employer social security on payroll (~26.8%).
Actual Profit
Mandatory above R$ 78mCompliance cost
- Taxes actual profit as recorded in the books — a loss generates no tax.
- Non-cumulative PIS/COFINS at 9.25%, with input credits.
- Heavy compliance: digital accounting and tax bookkeeping obligations.
Annex III brackets in 2026
| Bracket | Gross revenue over 12 months | Nominal | Deductible | Effective at the top |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | up to R$ 180,000.00 | 6.00% | — | 6.00% |
| 2nd | R$ 180,000.01 to R$ 360,000.00 | 11.20% | R$ 9,360.00 | 8.60% |
| 3rd | R$ 360,000.01 to R$ 720,000.00 | 13.50% | R$ 17,640.00 | 11.05% |
| 4th | R$ 720,000.01 to R$ 1,800,000.00 | 16.00% | R$ 35,640.00 | 14.02% |
| 5th | R$ 1,800,000.01 to R$ 3,600,000.00 | 21.00% | R$ 125,640.00 | 17.51% |
| 6th | R$ 3,600,000.01 to R$ 4,800,000.00 | 33.00% | R$ 648,000.00 | 19.50% |
Comparing the regimes
| Criterion | MEI | Simples — Annex III | Presumed Profit | Actual Profit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue ceiling | R$ 81k / year | R$ 4.8m / year | R$ 78m / year | none |
| Partners | not allowed | allowed (individuals) | allowed | allowed |
| Corporate income tax | fixed monthly amount of R$ 86.05, whatever the turnover | everything in a single monthly payment (DAS), 6% to 19.5% by bracket | 15% on 32% of revenue | 15% on profit |
| Income tax surcharge | 10% above R$ 20k / month | 10% above R$ 20k / month | ||
| Social contribution on profit | 9% on 32% of revenue | 9% on profit | ||
| PIS / COFINS | 0.65% + 3% (cumulative) | 1.65% + 7.6% (with credits) | ||
| Municipal ISS | 5% on the service | 5% on the service | ||
| Employer social security | none | included in the DAS | ~26.8% of payroll | ~26.8% of payroll |
| Bookkeeping | minimal | simplified | full accounting | full accounting + digital filings |
| Best when | freelance agent starting out | almost always, up to the ceiling | Simples unavailable or above the ceiling | thin margin or losses |
Tax burden simulator
Enter the agency's taxable revenue (commissions, overs and service fees — not the gross amount sold) and compare the regimes. The figures are estimates, meant to inform the conversation with your accountant and your lawyer.
What your agency would pay under each regime
Annual estimate, based on the rules in force in 2026.
Commissions + service fees. Do not include pass-through to suppliers.
Salaries + owner's draw, before charges. Weighs on Presumed Profit.
2% to 5% depending on the municipality. Rio de Janeiro: 5% (item 9.02).
The Tax Reform and the special regime for tourism agencies
Complementary Law No. 214/2025 replaces PIS, COFINS, state VAT (ICMS) and municipal service tax (ISS) with two levies — the federal CBS and the state-and-municipal IBS — and gave tourism agencies a section of their own.
Three articles change the game for the sector:
Taxed on the margin
The taxable basis is the value of the transaction — intermediation fee, margin and commissions — less documented pass-throughs to suppliers. What today depends on each municipality's reading becomes an express national rule.
Rate reduced by 40%
Tourism agencies apply the same rate as hotel services: a 40% reduction on the standard IBS and CBS rate, in line with article 281.
Credits both ways
The corporate client may credit the IBS/CBS charged on the intermediation (art. 290) — a competitive advantage in business travel. The agency credits its own purchases (art. 291), except on amounts already deducted from the basis.
Transition timeline
- 2026now
Test year. CBS at 0.9% and IBS at 0.1%, offsettable against PIS/COFINS. The cash impact is almost nil, but the compliance obligations are not: electronic invoices must already carry the CBS and IBS fields in the XML. Simples Nacional companies pay within their existing single return.
- 2027
CBS takes full effect; PIS and COFINS are abolished. Split payment begins in business-to-business transactions.
- 2029 to 2032
ICMS and ISS are progressively replaced by the IBS, in rising proportions each year. Both systems coexist — the most delicate period from a compliance standpoint.
- 2033
The model is fully in force. ICMS and ISS cease to exist.
Seven costly mistakes
These are the points that surface most often in tax audits and in due diligence on travel agencies.
1. Taxing the gross package price as if it were own revenue
The sector's most expensive mistake, and the most common. Besides inflating the tax paid, it pushes the company into higher Simples brackets or out of the regime altogether. The fix is documentary and contractual — and, where tax has been overpaid, there may be a refund or offset covering the last five years.
2. Failing to segregate intermediation revenue from own-service revenue
When the agency assembles its own packages and also intermediates, each stream follows a different rule. Without segregation in the books and in the invoices, the tax authority tends to apply the harsher treatment to everything.
3. Issuing invoices under the wrong service code
Item 9.02 of the list annexed to Complementary Law 116/2003 covers the agency, organisation, promotion, intermediation and execution of tourism programmes. Generic "advisory" or "consulting" codes attract a different rate and classification, and make the reduced taxable basis harder to defend.
4. A partner domiciled abroad while electing the Simples Nacional
Complementary Law 123/2006 bars the Simples Nacional where the holder or a partner is domiciled abroad (articles 17, 30 and 31). Bringing in a foreign partner resident outside Brazil triggers mandatory exclusion, with retroactive effect and assessment of the difference. In agencies with foreign capital — common in inbound tourism — what must be checked is domicile, not nationality, before electing the regime.
5. Operating without an active Cadastur registration
Registration with the Ministry of Tourism is a condition of regularity for the agency and is required by consolidators and operators at onboarding. It is not a tax matter, but the irregularity contaminates everything else: without Cadastur the agency loses access to suppliers and starts operating off the books — which is precisely when revenue stops being documented.
6. Ignoring withholding taxes
Services rendered between legal entities are subject to income tax withholding and, depending on the case, to withholding of PIS/COFINS/social contribution and of municipal ISS. Companies on the Simples Nacional are exempt from most of these, but must notify the client of that status — those who do not are withheld against and then have to fight to recover it.
7. Choosing a regime once and never reviewing it
The election of the Simples is irrevocable for the calendar year, but it should be reassessed every January. Revenue growth, a shift in the payroll ratio, a new partner, a move into own packages and now the Tax Reform transition are all triggers enough to make the right answer in 2025 the wrong one in 2026.
Case study: a new agency in Rio de Janeiro
A recurring situation in our practice — presented here anonymously, purely to illustrate the reasoning.
How the reasoning is organised
- Confirm the holder's domicile before electing the Simples. If resident in Brazil, the Simples is available. If domiciled abroad, the regime is barred — and the correct design becomes Presumed Profit from incorporation, avoiding retroactive exclusion.
- Keep the operation in Scenario 1 (intermediation) for as long as possible. Selling through a consolidator, revenue is the commission plus the service fee set at issuance. Millions in ticket sales can coexist with taxable revenue in the hundreds of thousands — and with the second or third bracket of Annex III.
- Treat activity code 7912-1/00 as a controlled exception. The secondary tour-operator code is useful for supplier onboarding, but every package assembled in the agency's own name brings the full amount into the taxable basis. If it becomes the core business, the calculation changes and must be redone.
- Register under the correct legal nature. A travel agency is a commercial activity: it registers with the Commercial Registry, not the civil registry of legal entities. A mistaken filing as a simple partnership creates friction with the Simples Nacional and with Cadastur itself.
- Build the Tax Reform's documentary trail from day one. Agency agreement, invoice on the commission under item 9.02, identifiable pass-through. That is exactly what article 289 of Complementary Law 214/2025 will require in order to deduct pass-throughs from the IBS/CBS basis.
Implementation checklist
- Define the operating model — intermediation, own packages or hybrid — and write it into the supplier agreements.
- Incorporate with the Commercial Registry under activity code 7911-2/00 (plus 7912-1/00 if you assemble your own packages) and a commercial legal nature.
- Check the Simples disqualifications before electing: ownership structure, partners' domicile, tax debts, activities carried out.
- Obtain municipal registration and configure electronic service invoicing under the correct code (item 9.02 in Rio de Janeiro).
- Activate Cadastur with the Ministry of Tourism — a prerequisite for onboarding with consolidators.
- Set up financial segregation between supplier pass-through and own revenue, with monthly reconciliation.
- Update the invoicing system for the CBS and IBS fields required since January 2026.
- Review the regime every January, running the comparison again on the previous year's actual figures.
Sources and legal basis
- Complementary Law No. 123/2006 — Simples Nacional (articles 3, 17, 18, 30 and 31).
- CGSN Resolution No. 140/2018 — Annexes III and XI (MEI occupations).
- Solução de Divergência COSIT No. 3/2012 — gross revenue of tourism agencies.
- Complementary Law No. 116/2003 — service list, items 9.01, 9.02 and 9.03.
- Complementary Law No. 214/2025 — IBS and CBS; articles 281, 289, 290 and 291 (tourism agencies).
- RFB Normative Instruction No. 1,700/2017 — deemed profit percentages.
- Laws No. 9,718/1998 and No. 10,833/2003 — PIS and COFINS.
- Tax Code of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro — ISS rates.