Permanent Resident With Online US Income

My recommendation would be to identify a trustworthy public accountant through your wife, or her family or your friends, and discuss your situation with that person.  As a self-employed knowledge worker, you'd be considered a "Profissional Liberal" here, and probably be able to choose what level of income you and the accountant believe is appropriate to report.  Even though you apparently aren't leaving a trail in the local banking system, you do have a CPF, and eventually the Receita Federal may start to wonder how you're able to flourish as a permanent resident on nothing a year.
April is tax reporting month, so it's worth some attention in the very near future.

Don't worry about it pal....

Cough, cough...don't worry about it...

abthree wrote:

My recommendation would be to identify a trustworthy public accountant through your wife, or her family or your friends, and discuss your situation with that person.

It turns our that a few family members on my wife's fathers side are pretty keyed in to this whole process. Also we were able to ask some of my wife's colleagues who work at an English school who are familiarized expats.

Also I never knew there's an official computer program for doing taxes here in Brazil! It's like the future. How about we save some paper United States!

Thanks for the help!

   all the best!

acornbringer

We asked this same question to my wife's accountant and he pretty much said the same thing Don't worry about it. I'm not sure how he lists me on her taxes. If your wife uses an accountant you might get advice from them.

Jim

jland912 wrote:

We asked this same question to my wife's accountant and he pretty much said the same thing Don't worry about it. I'm not sure how he lists me on her taxes. If your wife uses an accountant you might get advice from them.

We are pretty much doing our best guesses at the moment until we learn more from other family members. Because tax day has already passed, we had to go with out gut. If something goes wrong and we need to change it, it's just a matter of revising and paying the penalty. We will be better prepared next tax season though

Thanks!

acornbringer wrote:

Hi

I'm a self-employed game developer from the US who sells games, game assets, and art services online and receives self-employment income digitally through Paypal or by direct transfer to my US bank account. I've been living in Brazil since last April (2017) and became a permanent resident on August 30th 2017 shortly after getting married to my Brazilian wife. All the money I earn is held in my US bank account and I use my credit card for any purchases here in Brazil.

This being my first year in Brazil, I'm still trying to understand how I should be filing my taxes here. I have already reported my income in my US taxes as usual but I would like to know if I'm expected to do the same for the Receita Federal given my situation.

Any incite would be appreciated

I'll throw out something to think about ,as I'm not and "expert" on this . As an American Citizen , you have to file your income with the IRS ... As I understand it , the upper limit for income generated when we are living Outside the USA is greater before you cross the line to PAY taxes .
There are forms an Expat needs to file(while your living outside the USA) with your 1040 ,plus IIRC above $50K (yearly total held in Brazilian banks ) needs to be reported (to the USA /IRS).  The Brazilian banks (if you've opened up accounts here) take your SS # so if they need to report anything to the IRS ,they can) They did when I opened a account  few months ago.

Like most things involving the IRS , it's not made simple or easy ,imo.

I just did my 1st filing this year . which was "relatively worth it" having it prepared rather then trying to figure it all out ..Time vs. Money plus less headaches .... But not cheap and mine was a "simple" return for this year .
The above posts have good info in them , But I'd consider contacting one the big chain tax  companies and look into online programs they sell . I used H&R ... while not cheap ..they did everything . I Uploaded my docs and they did the rest ....
IIRC, Turbo Tax's software accepts some or all of the Expat forms needed to file . I'm nt sure as I have never used it .

IIRC , once you've done what is mandated by the USA , , there are ways around being "double taxed" ,so you do not also wind up having to pay Brazil for income earned while you are here ... Some papers to file ,Which an accountant who knows international taxes should be able to help with ,without much issue .... I think it is 1 form that needs to be filed ....

As long as you are an American Citizen , doesn't matter where you keep or make your $$$$(as I understand it) , the USA takes 1st crack and keeps it's claws in you ..... they only way to get ride of this, is to denounce your Citizenship . Which I would not recommend doing .....

Hi you all,

Can anybody tell me how the Brazilian tax office will tax money transferred to buy our house in Brazil?

I'll know for sure in a few days.  I'll be meeting with my Brazilian accountant to work on my taxes, and we bought our apartment in 2018.  She told me before the purchase that the funds  would NOT be treated as income by the Receita Federal.  If she says the same thing with all of the numbers in front of her - and especially if she doesn't- I'll post it here.

Hi abthree,

Thanks very much for your reply.
Did central bank approve your funds to be transferred quickly? Sorry if this is off topic here.
We are moving from Ireland and I have read many articles about it but nothing very clarifying.

There was absolutely no problem:  the funds cleared on the day we had scheduled for the payment, and the purchase price wasn't in my account for more than a couple of hours.   We were careful to grease the skids beforehand.
My husband and I have gone out of our way to develop a good relationship with the managers and back office staff at the Bank of Brazil main office here in Manaus, where our accounts are.  We stopped by to tell them several days in advance how much would be coming, and from where, and to inform them of the purchase details.  We already receive a monthly transfer from the same US account so, except for the size, it was not unusual for them.  They took care of whatever notifications were required to the Federal Police and the Central Bank on their side; it was transparent to us.

That's good to hear! I was worried about that.
Thanks a million,abthree.

Thanks to everyone for this info on purchasing a home/property . Good to know for the future .
Does anyone if this is  applicable for other large wire transfers for major purchases ?
Info I had been (from my step kids, yeah I know)
given appears to be incorrect as to these types of transfers , which made things , lets say "difficult " . LOL!!!

All depends on the type of purchase. Car and home go through the dealer or agent's bank account. Personal items larger than $2k US, you need to look at abthree  advice. Go to bank and speak with a back office mgr. they can assist in a increase above $2K U$D.
Personal items you may want to use a credit card and pay from your bank once posted.

If you don't have a cpf need to do nothing, if you do need to make more than 28,000 Reais to claim here.

Just filed and paid my Brazilian income tax, and promised I'd report back, so here I am.  Please note:  this is NOT tax advice.  I'm not qualified to give that.  You should discuss your personal situation with a Brazilian accountant.
I'm a US retiree, transferring a set amount of my retirement income from my US accounts to my Brazilian accounts every month.  I have no Brazil-based income.  My accountant had access to all the same information that my US accountant does, and was very firm that I only owed taxes here on the funds that I transferred to Brazil.  After deductions for the equivalent of "married, filing jointly", and an exemption because of my age, effective tax rate was about 11.4% on the balance.  My US accountant wanted me to get the Brazilian taxes done first, and plans to claim this against my US taxes; I'm not sure whether as a credit or a deduction.
We purchased an apartment for cash in 2018, transferring the funds from the US.  Since the funds originated in a US post-tax account, the accountant determined, with consultation, that they should not be included in Brazilian taxable income.
I think that those are all the significant points.

I too have same situation. My accountant said since money to Brazil came from a taxable source and taxed, I did not have to pay in Brazil I had to pay taxes on the taxable account and would be considered as double taxation. I do have to file my taxes in US, if I do not I will be subject to BR taxes and IRS my send me a letter.
Also he recommended filing a FBAR even if I did not exceed $10,000 in a Brail account. Just in case I had a large purchase and sent to BR bank even for a day.
This is information only as I also am not a tax adviser.