Before you start

CPF
A clear determination of when you became tax resident
Records of Brazilian and foreign income
A gov.br account at silver or gold level

Step-by-step

1
Fix your residency start date
A permanent visa or a Brazilian employment contract makes you resident from arrival. On a temporary visa you stay non-resident until you have completed 183 days of presence within a twelve-month period and become resident on day 184; the days need not be consecutive, and if you do not reach 184 days inside those twelve months the count restarts from your next entry.
OnlineWho: You
2
Start carnê-leão if you earn from abroad
Residents with foreign-source income, or income paid by individuals, must compute and pay tax monthly, due by the last working day of the following month. Interest accrues quietly from the first missed month.
OnlineWho: YouMonthly
3
File the annual Declaração de Ajuste Anual
The DIRPF covers the previous calendar year, filed March to end of May through Receita Federal's software or the Meu Imposto de Renda app. Late filing carries an automatic minimum penalty whether or not you owe.
OnlineWho: YouMarch to end of May
4
Budget the municipal taxes from Belo Horizonte's own table
ITBI on a property purchase here is 3% — the same as Rio de Janeiro, above Curitiba's 2.7% and well above Florianópolis's 2%. A first residential purchase by someone who owns no other property is exempt in the lowest value band and taxed at half rate in the band above it, with the thresholds reindexed each year in UFMBH. IPTU is billed annually with a discount for early lump-sum payment. Both are set by the Prefeitura, so take the current figures from its own table.
OnlineWho: You
5
Keep the receipts that produce real deductions
Brazil allows unlimited deduction of medical expenses, capped deduction of education, dependants, and private pension contributions. Medical is the substantial one and every receipt needs the provider's CPF or CNPJ. Collect as you go rather than reconstructing in April.
OnlineWho: You
6
File the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva when you leave
Residency does not end because you boarded a plane. The communication is filed from the date of departure up to the last day of February of the following calendar year, followed by the final Declaração de Saída Definitiva. Without both, Receita Federal keeps treating you as resident and taxable on worldwide income for the first twelve consecutive months of absence, and only from the thirteenth month as a non-resident.
OnlineWho: YouBy the last day of February after the year you leave

Documents you’ll need

CPF
Informe de rendimentos from each Brazilian payer
Records of foreign income and any foreign tax paid
Medical, education and dependant receipts carrying the provider's CPF/CNPJ
IPTU and ITBI notices, where you own property
Bank and investment positions as at 31 December

Things most newcomers don’t know

Belo Horizonte's ITBI sits at the top of the range, and the first-home relief is the part nobody asks about.

Property transfer tax is municipal, so the rate follows the city: 3% here and in Rio de Janeiro, 2.7% in Curitiba, 2% in Florianópolis. On an ordinary flat that spread is worth thousands of reais, and a friend's figure from another capital is simply the wrong number. What buyers here miss is the relief — someone buying their first residential property and owning no other pays nothing in the lowest value band and half rate in the band above it, with both thresholds reindexed annually in UFMBH. It is not tied to SFH financing, whatever you may have read about São Paulo, and it is worth checking before you complete rather than after.

Source: Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte — ITBI

Completing 184 days of presence in a twelve-month period makes you taxable on worldwide income.

Everyone calls this the 183-day rule; the threshold is passing it, so residence attaches on day 184. The days need not be consecutive, so someone splitting a year between Brazil and elsewhere crosses the line without any single long stay. From that date Brazil taxes global salary, capital gains and investment income. It is the most consequential rule for anyone here without a local employment contract and it is usually discovered a year late.

Source: Receita Federal — IN SRF 208/2002, art. 2

Foreign income is paid monthly through carnê-leão, not at filing time.

Anyone with an offshore employer, foreign clients or overseas rental income must calculate and pay Brazilian tax every month, due by the last working day of the following month. People from withholding-tax systems assume the annual return is when money changes hands, and find in April that twelve months of interest and penalties have quietly accrued.

Source: Receita Federal — carnê-leão

Leaving Brazil without the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva costs you a further twelve months of worldwide tax.

Residence does not lapse the moment you leave the country, but nor does it last forever. File the exit communication and the final departure return and you are non-resident from the date of departure. Skip them and IN SRF 208/2002 keeps you taxed as a resident on worldwide income for the first twelve consecutive months of absence, with non-resident treatment starting only from the thirteenth month. Nothing announces the problem, so it typically surfaces years later when a CPF is flagged as irregular or a forgotten Brazilian account is frozen.

Source: Receita Federal — IN SRF 208/2002, saída definitiva do país

Common mistakes to avoid

Crossing 183 days unnoticed and becoming taxable on worldwide income retroactively.
Not paying carnê-leão monthly on foreign income and accruing a year of interest.
Budgeting ITBI from Rio's rate when buying in Belo Horizonte.
Missing the end-of-May filing deadline and its automatic minimum penalty.
Leaving Brazil without filing the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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