Brazil's 2027 tax reform: what changes for out-of-home media owners

Brazil's 2027 tax reform: what changes for out-of-home media owners | Hivestr

In less than three months, two of Brazil's federal taxes on revenue, PIS and Cofins, will simply stop existing. Starting January 1, 2027, the new federal CBS is charged for real, and the state and municipal IBS goes live in test mode. For an out-of-home media owner, this is not just your accountant's problem: it changes the price an agency sees, the tax credit an advertiser can use and the invoice you issue for every two-week period you sell.

And there is a deadline much closer than January. If your company is under Simples Nacional, Brazil's simplified tax regime for small businesses, the choice of how to pay CBS and IBS in the first half of 2027 closes on October 30, 2026. Below we lay out the calendar, explain what changes when you sell outdoor media and list what to do before year-end.

First things first

This is a reading guide for the owner and the sales team of a media company, not tax advice. Any regime decision must be modeled with your accountant using your own numbers. Our goal is for you to walk into that meeting knowing what to ask.

What changes in 2027, in plain words

Brazil's consumption tax reform replaces five taxes (PIS, Cofins, IPI, ICMS and ISS) with two: CBS, collected by the federal government, and IBS, shared by states and municipalities. According to Receita Federal, Brazil's tax authority, 2026 is a test year: invoices show 0.9% CBS and 0.1% IBS, and that amount is offset against PIS and Cofins. In 2027 the test is over on the federal side.

Period	What happens
2026	Test year. 0.9% CBS and 0.1% IBS shown on invoices and offset against PIS/Cofins.
2027–2028	PIS and Cofins abolished. CBS charged at the reference rate minus 0.1 percentage point. IBS charged at 0.1%.
2029–2032	ISS and ICMS drop to 9/10, 8/10, 7/10 and 6/10 of current rates while IBS rises proportionally.
2033	ISS and ICMS abolished. New system fully in force.

In other words, the municipal ISS that media owners pay today on selling ad space stays around for several more years. What flips in 2027 is the federal part. Sources: Receita Federal, Complementary Law 214/2025, arts. 346 and 347 and this summary of the Constitutional Amendment 132/2023 timeline.

The rate does not exist yet

Nobody knows today what the CBS rate will be in 2027. Under the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) timeline, Receita Federal sent its calculation proposal on September 14, TCU sends the numbers to the Senate by October 30 and the Senate sets the rate by December 15. Receita Federal said it has no prior estimate. Be wary of anyone selling "the 2027 rate" as fact.

The dates that matter before New Year's

Put these on your finance team's calendar. Some apply only to companies under Simples Nacional, which includes many regional media owners.

Date	What is due	Who
Oct 15, 2026	Last day to apply to join (or rejoin) Simples Nacional for 2027.	Non-Simples companies
Oct 30, 2026	Last day to choose paying CBS and IBS outside the Simples single payment slip (regular regime) for H1 2027.	Simples companies
Oct 30, 2026	TCU sends the Senate the CBS reference rate calculation for 2027.	Everyone
Nov 1, 2026	National-standard electronic service invoice (NFS-e), via the National Issuer, becomes mandatory for small businesses.	Simples companies
Nov 3 – Dec 20	Window to irrevocably cancel the choices made.	Simples companies
Dec 15, 2026	Deadline for the Senate to set the 2027 CBS rate.	Everyone
Jan 1, 2027	CBS charged, PIS/Cofins abolished, CBS/IBS rules also apply to Simples companies.	Everyone
March 2027	New window to opt in or out of the regular regime, effective in H2.	Simples companies

Sources: Ministry of Finance (CGSN Resolution 194/2026), Serpro, TCU and Receita Federal (CGSN Resolution 191/2026).

For a small media owner, the deadline that matters most is not January. It is October 30.

Simples or "hybrid Simples": the October decision

Outdoor media is almost always sold business to business: to agencies and advertisers. That is where the regime choice stops being purely a tax matter and becomes a sales matter.

In the new system, a buyer under the regular regime deducts the CBS and IBS paid on its purchases as a credit. If your company keeps everything inside the Simples payment, Complementary Law 214/2025 (art. 47, § 9) lets the client take credit only for the amount due under Simples. In practice, that tends to be a smaller credit than one from a competitor paying under the regular regime.

The alternative created by the law (art. 41, § 3) is to stay in Simples for every other tax but pay CBS and IBS separately under the regular regime. The market calls this "hybrid Simples".

Path	Credit for the client	Trade-off
Pure Simples	Limited to the CBS/IBS due within Simples.	Fewer obligations. May weigh against you in large agency accounts.
Hybrid Simples	CBS/IBS credit under the regular regime.	More bookkeeping. Worth modeling when most revenue comes from companies that take credit.
Leave Simples	Credit under the regular regime.	A bigger decision involving income tax and payroll. Not something to settle in October.

Question to bring to your accountant

"How much of my 2026 revenue came from agencies and advertisers under the regular regime, and how much from small local businesses, micro-entrepreneurs and individuals?" If most comes from buyers who take credit, the hybrid option deserves a serious simulation. If most is small retail also under Simples, the credit matters much less.

And remember: the choice made by October 30 covers January to June 2027 and can be revisited in March, according to Serpro. It is not a lifetime commitment.

Where the tax on your billboard goes

A detail few people in the industry have noticed: Complementary Law 214/2025 explicitly addresses the "assignment of space for advertising services" (art. 11, § 11). For this operation, the place of supply is the buyer's main domicile, meaning whoever buys the media, not the city where the billboard stands.

For 2027 cash flow this barely matters, since IBS is still at 0.1%. But from 2029, as IBS starts replacing ISS, the rule gains weight: a face sold in Ribeirão Preto to an advertiser headquartered in Curitiba generates IBS for the advertiser's location. Accurate client records, with the right tax ID and address, stop being paperwork and become tax data.

Agencies will ask for a different invoice

The law excludes from the CBS and IBS tax base reimbursements of amounts paid on behalf of third parties, provided the tax document is issued in the third party's name (art. 12, § 2, IV). For an agency, this means the media amount may or may not enter its own tax base depending on how the media owner issues the invoice. Consultants serving the advertising market already call the media owner's invoice the blind spot of the reform for agencies.

What this means day to day: expect agencies to review contracts and records and to ask whose name your invoice is issued in, who the service recipient is and how gross value and commission appear. Media owners who answer quickly and accurately become preferred suppliers. Those who send the wrong invoice become rework.

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Right recipient on the invoice

Agree in writing with each agency whether the invoice goes to the advertiser or the agency. Record it in the insertion order and in the client file.

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Complete client records

Tax ID, legal name and main address of the buyer. It will determine where IBS goes.

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Gross, net and commission

Make it clear in the proposal and insertion order whether billing is on gross value or net of agency commission.

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Invoice issuer

Under Simples, the national NFS-e is mandatory from November 1. Test it before the December rush.

Contracts and rate cards that cross into 2027

If you are closing annual contracts, 13-period packages or barter deals for 2027 right now, you are selling under a federal rate that will only be known in December. Two simple safeguards:

Tax revision clause

State that changes in the tax burden on the operation, including PIS/Cofins being replaced by CBS, may adjust the price. Ask your lawyer for the wording.

Make taxes explicit in the price

In proposals, say whether the price includes taxes. With credit becoming part of the buyer's math, agencies will compare net cost, not just rate card price.

Keep the price increase separate

Do not mix the two conversations. Rate card increases follow cost and occupancy logic, as covered in our guide to adjusting your outdoor rate card for 2027 (in Portuguese). The tax change is a separate line with a separate justification.

Careful

Do not use the reform as cover for what is really a rate card increase. Agencies can do the math, and the final rate will be public. A price hike disguised as tax burns credibility in exactly the year everyone will be checking invoice by invoice.

Media owner checklist through December

This week: book your accountant

Bring 2026 revenue split by client type: agencies, direct advertisers under the regular regime, local Simples businesses, individuals, government.

By Oct 30: decide the CBS/IBS regime

Pure or hybrid Simples for H1 2027. If you do nothing, you stay in pure Simples.

By Nov 1: national NFS-e working

For small businesses, issue through the National Issuer, on the web or via API.

November: clean up client records

Tax ID, address and invoice recipient for every active agency and advertiser.

November: review contracts crossing into 2027

Add a tax revision clause and spell out gross, net and commission.

After Dec 15: rerun the numbers

Once the CBS rate is published, recalculate margins and confirm with your accountant what changes in your net price.

The reform does not change what sells a billboard: a good location, proof of posting and fast service. But it punishes improvised billing. In 2027, a wrong invoice, an incomplete client record or a contract without the right clause costs your client tax credit and costs you margin. Media owners who start January with their finances in order sell better in the first quarter.

Hivestr

Start 2027 with your finances in order.

Hivestr is the ERP and CRM built for OOH, DOOH, TV and radio media owners. Client and agency records, proposals with commission and gross or net billing, insertion orders, billing and integrated NFS-e issuing in one place.

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Sources (in Portuguese): Receita Federal, Understanding the Consumption Tax Reform; Complementary Law 214/2025 (consolidated text, Planalto), arts. 11, 12, 41, 47, 346 and 347; Ministry of Finance, new Simples Nacional 2027 deadlines (Sep 28, 2026); Serpro, regular regime deadline extended to October 30; TCU, Tax Reform Panel timeline; Receita Federal, national NFS-e mandatory for small businesses from November 1; TNOnline (with Broadcast), Receita sends CBS calculation model to TCU; BMS Projetos, advertising's blind spot is the media owner's invoice; TR Advocacia, LC 214/2025 obligations. Dates and rules checked on October 11, 2026. This content is informational and does not replace advice from your accountant or tax lawyer.

Brazil's 2027 tax reform: what changes for out-of-home media owners

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