Non-resident capital gains tax on Brazilian property

The rule and the rates

Lei 9.249/1995, art. 18 says that a gain earned by a person resident or domiciled abroad is “apurado e tributado de acordo com as regras aplicáveis aos residentes no País”, that is, calculated and taxed under the rules for residents. The rates come from Lei 8.981/1995, art. 21, in the wording of Lei 13.259/2016. They apply by slice of the gain, like income tax brackets:

If you sell the same property in parts, the later gains are added to the earlier ones when they fall by the end of the calendar year after the first sale (art. 21, § 3). The rate does not depend on the city or the state: the tax is federal.

What a non-resident cannot use

The Receita’s 2026 questions-and-answers (question 129) say that for a non-resident “não se aplicam as isenções e reduções do imposto previstas para os residentes”. In practice the following benefits are closed to you, whatever your nationality:

• the exemption for the only property sold for R$ 440,000 or less (capital gains exemption for a single property);
• the exemption for reinvesting the price in a home within 180 days (reinvestment exemption);
• the time-based reduction factors (reduction factors).

Residents are covered in capital gains tax on property. Becoming a resident before the sale changes the regime: see tax residency for property owners.

How the gain is computed

The gain is the positive difference between the sale price and the acquisition cost, both in reais (IN SRF 208/2002, art. 26, § 1). Question 655 adds three points:

• a cost dated before 1996 is updated to 31 December 1995 with the table annexed to IN SRF 84/2001;
• a cost dated 1 January 1996 or later is not updated;
• if the cost cannot be proved with proper documents, it counts as zero, and the whole price becomes gain.

Keep the deed, the receipts and the exchange contracts of the purchase. For residents, question 671 lists expenses that can be added to the cost (registration, transfer tax paid at purchase, approved works). The non-resident answer does not repeat that list, and Payotte’s calculator does not add them, so ask your accountant whether they apply. Payotte found no rule that converts a price paid in dollars or pounds at a given rate: the cost is read as the documented cost in reais. That means a real that has lost value since your purchase increases the gain in reais.

Who pays, and when

Lei 10.833/2003, art. 26 makes the buyer liable: “o adquirente, pessoa física ou jurídica residente ou domiciliada no Brasil, ou o procurador, quando o adquirente for residente ou domiciliado no exterior” must withhold and pay the tax. Question 655 gives the payment code (DARF 0473) and says the tax is due on the date of the sale. It adds that it makes no difference whether the owner comes to Brazil or sells through an attorney. Because the liability sits with the buyer, the withholding is normally settled in the purchase contract and at closing: see selling a property in Brazil from abroad.

The 25% rate for low-tax jurisdictions

Lei 10.833/2003, art. 47 sets withholding at 25% on a gain when the beneficiary lives in a country or dependency with favoured taxation. Since 13 May 2025 the Receita Q&A describes these as places that do not tax income, tax it below 17%, or whose law does not allow access to information on ownership. The list is in IN RFB 1.037/2010: it includes, for example, the Cayman Islands, Panama, the Bahamas and the British Virgin Islands. Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States are not on it, but the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man are. Art. 2 of the same instrument also lists, as a privileged regime, US state LLCs whose members are non-residents not subject to federal income tax. Whether that regime triggers the 25% rate on a sale is a question for a Brazilian tax adviser.

Treaties

A convention can change the result only if it says so. Canada has one with Brazil, but art. XIII, para. 2 lets both countries tax gains from property such as land, so it does not cap the Brazilian rate. There is no US income tax treaty and no UK treaty in force. See tax treaties and property.

An older instruction says something different

IN SRF 208/2002, art. 27 still reads that the tax is determined at a flat 15% and paid by the seller or the seller’s attorney on the date of the sale. That text predates the bands of Lei 13.259/2016 and the buyer’s withholding of art. 26. This guide follows the laws and the Receita’s 2026 Q&A, which apply the bands and the buyer’s withholding.

Worked example (a calculation, not a quote)

Purchase documented at R$ 800,000 in 2018, sale at R$ 1,200,000 in 2026: the gain is R$ 400,000. At the 15% slice the tax is R$ 60,000, or R$ 100,000 at 25%. A gain of R$ 6,000,000 gives 15% of R$ 5,000,000 (R$ 750,000) plus 17.5% of R$ 1,000,000 (R$ 175,000), so R$ 925,000.

Which professional to consult

An accountant (contador) who prepares tax filings for non-residents can compute the base and the DARF. A lawyer registered with the OAB can check the purchase contract and the deed. Tax you pay in Brazil may give a credit in your country: see the treaty guide for the official pages of Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States.