Tax residency in Brazil for property owners and expats

The rules

The Receita Federal’s 2026 questions-and-answers (Perguntas e Respostas IRPF 2026, question 114), based on Lei 9.718/1998, art. 12 and IN SRF 208/2002, art. 2, list who is resident for income tax. Among them:

• a person who lives in Brazil on a permanent basis;
• a person who enters Brazil with a permanent visa, from the day of arrival;
• a person who enters with a temporary visa to work under an employment contract, from the day of arrival;
• a person with a temporary visa on the day the person completes 184 days, consecutive or not, in Brazil within a period of up to twelve months;
• a person with a temporary visa on the day of obtaining a permanent visa or an employment relationship, if that occurs before 184 days;
• a person who leaves Brazil temporarily or permanently without filing the exit communication, during the first twelve months of absence.

Question 115 gives the other side. A person with a temporary visa who stays up to 183 days in twelve months is not resident, and neither is someone who has not settled in Brazil. If 184 days are not reached, a new twelve-month period starts at the next entry (question 116).

The instruments still use the words “visto permanente”. Since the migration law of 2017 the Brazilian system speaks of residence authorisations. Payotte did not find a text saying that every residence authorisation counts as a permanent visa for this rule, so confirm your own case with the Receita.

What does not make you a resident

A foreigner who owns a flat and visits for a few weeks is a non-resident. Lei 13.445/2017, art. 35 says that “a posse ou a propriedade de bem no Brasil não confere o direito de obter visto ou autorização de residência”, without prejudice to the investment visa: see the investor visa. Staying in your own property does not change the count of days: every day of presence counts.

What changes when you become resident

Question 137 covers a foreigner who moves to Brazil. Foreign income received before becoming resident is not taxed in Brazil. While the person is not yet resident, Brazilian income is taxed as non-resident income until the day residence begins. From that day, income from abroad can be taxed through the annual return or the carnê-leão, or through a capital gains computation. The guides on residents are landlord income tax, capital gains tax on property and declaring property in your return. The non-resident equivalents are non-resident rental income tax and non-resident capital gains tax.

Brazil also allows credit for tax paid in another country in some cases. Question 142 says that the tax paid in the United States and the United Kingdom on income from those countries can be offset in Brazil, within the limits of IN SRF 208, because those countries’ laws grant reciprocity. For a country with a treaty, the treaty governs (question 136). Your home country taxes you in its own way: the IRS states that a US citizen or resident alien is “subject to tax on worldwide income from all sources”, wherever living.

Leaving Brazil

A resident who leaves for good must, cumulatively (question 119): file the Exit Communication (Comunicação de Saída Definitiva do País) from the departure date until the last day of February of the following year; file the Exit Declaration (Declaração de Saída Definitiva do País) for the period of residence in the year of departure; and pay the tax due in one instalment by the same date. IN SRF 208, art. 9 and question 119 set the Exit Declaration deadline at the last working day of April. For departures in 2025 the Q&A says the date was moved to 29 May 2026 by IN RFB 2.312/2026, and question 126 gives the last working day of May, citing art. 16 of the same instruction. Check the current date before you rely on April. Without the communication, you stay resident for the first twelve months of absence.

If you missed the deadlines, question 126 describes three cases. Within the year after departure you file both documents. After that deadline, but within the five-year limit that starts on the first day of the year after the departure, only the Exit Declaration is needed, with a late fine published as “R$ 165,74 ou 1% ao mês” on the tax due, capped at 20% of the tax. After the five years, the tax obligations are in general extinguished and you regularise only the CPF by sending documents to the Receita’s e-mail address for residents abroad. A foreigner with an address abroad also updates the CPF every year in the Receita’s mobile application (IN RFB 2.172, art. 23-A). Tell your Brazilian payers, such as banks, tenants and agents, in writing that you have left.

Which professional to consult

An accountant (contador) experienced in cross-border returns, and a lawyer registered with the OAB for visa questions. The Receita’s own Q&A is the reference for the rules.