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
A Brazilian accountant, if you are contracting as a PJ

Step-by-step

1
Establish your residency start date
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 have foreign-source income
Residents receiving income from abroad or from individuals must compute and pay tax monthly, due by the last working day of the following month. Arrivals from withholding-tax countries assume the annual return is when money changes hands, and accrue a year of interest before finding out otherwise.
OnlineWho: YouMonthly
3
File the annual Declaração de Ajuste Anual
The DIRPF covers the previous calendar year and is filed March to end of May through Receita Federal's software or the Meu Imposto de Renda app. Late filing attracts an automatic minimum penalty whether or not you owe.
OnlineWho: YouMarch to end of May
4
Check whether your company qualifies for the Porto Digital ISS rate
Lei Municipal 17.244/2006 sets ISS at 2% instead of 5% for qualifying technology companies established inside the designated Porto Digital area. It is a location-plus-activity test administered by the Prefeitura, not an automatic benefit of being a software company in Recife. If you are setting up a PJ to contract into the cluster, this is worth an hour with an accountant before you choose an address.
OnlineWho: You
5
Check the ITBI rate on the day you buy, not from an old article
Recife's transfer tax has a headline 3% rate with a reduced 2% rate applied as a temporary regularisation measure that the Prefeitura has repeatedly extended, most recently to the end of 2026 on the city's own published guidance. Because it is a time-limited measure rather than a permanent rate, confirm what is actually in force on the Prefeitura's own page before you budget a purchase.
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.
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 foreign tax paid
Medical, education and dependant receipts with 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

Recife's ISS incentive is why the tech cluster is in old warehouses rather than a business park.

Lei Municipal 17.244/2006 cuts ISS from 5% to 2% for qualifying technology companies established inside the designated Porto Digital area. That is a location-conditional tax break, so the incentive pulls companies into the historic quarter rather than out to a ring road — which is how a decaying colonial port district became a district of 500-plus software companies. If you are forming a PJ to contract into it, your registered address is a tax decision.

Source: Prefeitura do Recife — Programa de Incentivo Fiscal às Empresas do Porto Digital, Lei Municipal 17.244/2006

The reduced ITBI is a campaign, not a rate, and campaigns end.

The city has been running a reduced 2% transfer-tax rate against a 3% headline as a way of pulling unregistered purchases into the register, and has extended the deadline more than once — the current published extension runs to the end of 2026. Anyone budgeting a purchase from a two-year-old blog post can be a full percentage point wrong in either direction. Read the Prefeitura's own page in the week you transact.

Source: Prefeitura do Recife — ITBI guidance and Recife em Dia

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 can cross the line without any single long stay. From that date Brazil taxes global salary, capital gains and investment income, and it is routinely 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. Interest and penalties accrue quietly from the first missed month. Setting up the monthly routine in your first weeks is far cheaper than reconstructing twelve months of it in April.

Source: Receita Federal — carnê-leão

Common mistakes to avoid

Budgeting a purchase from a stale ITBI figure when the reduced rate is a time-limited campaign.
Assuming any software company in Recife gets the 2% ISS rate — it is conditional on the designated area and the activity.
Crossing the 184th day of presence unnoticed and becoming taxable on worldwide income from that date.
Not paying carnê-leão monthly on foreign income and accruing a year of interest.
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.