禁漫天堂

08/03/25 @Kurterino.聽 We've both been around here a long time, so I'm sure you've seen my two basic postulates for dealing with Brazilian officialdom before:

1. Always answer every question asked truthfully.
2. Answer the question asked and then stop talking, unless you're positive that any information you volunteer will help your case, and importantly, will not inspire additional questions.

The Receita Federal version of that is:

1. Always pay everything you owe, pay it promptly, and pay no more than you owe.
2. Don't do anything that will require further explanation if you can avoid it.

As you can imagine applying these rules, in your place I would follow your accountant's advice.聽 Your reading of the tax treaty makes sense to me and your accountant's does not.聽 Moreover, I have no doubt that submitting a zero tax return (I'm not even sure that's possible in their system) would make somebody ask, "What's this all about?"聽 And then the fun would really begin.

When you return fulltime, or when you reach the point where you don't have to renew your Authorization for Residency every two years (whichever comes first), review the whole subject again with your accountant.聽 Meanwhile, keep good records and don't overthink things, if you're able to do that.

Thanks that makes sense. I will just let it be, knowing that I should be in the clear.

First question is do you have a Brazilian Bank Account. Second are you moving money into that account. Third Brazil tax states you are taxed on all your income no matter where it is coming from. The only exception would be in the tax treaty. Still Brazil may not follow it if they feel you own more taxes. So if you have a bank account in Brazil your in the system. With a treaty this means they can access you home country bank account. There are structures with a good accountant that can help you pay a lower tax here in Brazil. The one you talked to should have mentioned this. If you are a resident you are obligated to pay Brazil Taxes. Brazil just doesn鈥檛 tax you on income they can tax you on a sale of stock or a home or crypto any capital gains. Good luck

@Kurterino

I've聽 never heard of this. My pension is from Canada.聽 I file n pay all my taxes there. My accountant here took all the info from the cdn taxes. I never had to pay anything. But I did have to show that I bought a place and a vehicle and brought money in. When the money was transferred it was done legally n Banco Recital Federal聽 was well aware.聽 Canada聽 has a bilateral聽 agreement with Brazil. But in my case cdn taxes are just over 45% which is one reason I didn't have to pay here. But to avoid any legal issues I would file. You don't聽 want to experience聽 the bs legal system here like I had to do.

@Cserebogar

I am in complete agreement with you - in 18 years I have met a lot of foreigners in Brazil, but never anyone who views the Brazil tax system (and pays into it) the way @NewBrazil describes. Most people receive their pensions and pay their taxes as you describe at home, and then transfer those resulting savings to Brazil tax free.

A lot of Americans who have homes in my area (but not permanent visas), have bank accounts as a result of a misunderstanding by a manager at local branch of Banco do Brasil. He thought that, because the old US tourist visa stated that it was valid for 10 years, that it was a permanent visa and so allowed them to open accounts!

Some of them are quite wealthy, and some earn well, but none pay tax in Brazil on anything outside Brazil - probably because of the double taxation law in the Brazil Constitution, irrespective of any tax treaties, and the fact that Brazil has no access to, nor awareness of, that information.

That said, @NewBrazil, @Kurterino and @Cserebogar are all correct in that the guidance always given here is to source you own professional advice and act on that. It is very difficult to describe Brazil taxation in terms of one-size-fits-all, so each individual should carry out his own research and do what he believes is the right thing to do.

@Peter Itamaraca

I have read the tax treaty (between Brazil and Switzerland) in its entirety, there is no ambiguity at all. And what @NewBrazil states (that Brazil may or may not act in accordance with said treaty) doesn鈥檛 make sense, those treaties are negotiated for a reason, either a given situation is covered under a treaty or it鈥檚 not. That would be like saying that the visa rules and regulations may or may not apply - it just doesn鈥檛 work like this. Also, I鈥檓 99.9% sure that the Receita Federal can鈥檛 access bank account information from Switzerland, nor from any other country, and certainly not routinely, 鈥渏ust like that鈥�. However, I had to 鈥減rove鈥� my monthly income in order to get a retirement visa, so the Receita Federal could most probably easily access this information, there鈥檚 no secret here, and no need to start a legal procedure to get access to individual bank data.

As for filing, it鈥檚 pretty straightforward: if you have a gov.br account (which I do, as everybody else who has a visa), you can check your status on the internet, and it shows if you have to do anything (like filing) or not. In summary, I think @abthree 鈥榮 post covers it pretty well, I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 much else to say. I鈥檒l do exactly what the system asks me too, no more and no less. Everything else is just asking for trouble, IMHO.