Another tax question…

08/03/25 @Kurterino.  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.  Your reading of the tax treaty makes sense to me and your accountant's does not.  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?"  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.  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’t 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  never heard of this. My pension is from Canada.  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  was well aware.  Canada  has a bilateral  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  want to experience  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’t make sense, those treaties are negotiated for a reason, either a given situation is covered under a treaty or it’s not. That would be like saying that the visa rules and regulations may or may not apply - it just doesn’t work like this. Also, I’m 99.9% sure that the Receita Federal can’t access bank account information from Switzerland, nor from any other country, and certainly not routinely, “just like that”. However, I had to “prove” my monthly income in order to get a retirement visa, so the Receita Federal could most probably easily access this information, there’s no secret here, and no need to start a legal procedure to get access to individual bank data.

As for filing, it’s 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 ‘s post covers it pretty well, I don’t think there’s much else to say. I’ll do exactly what the system asks me too, no more and no less. Everything else is just asking for trouble, IMHO.

@Kurterino

Hello i am exactly in same situation as you. What did you do ? Let me know. My tax person here in rio thought that i need to claim swiss taxes paid on pension back from the swiss and pay full tax here !

Can't  speak from a Swiss angle but I just provide my cdn tax docs n what my accountant in Cda filed. We have an accord with brazil. My Brazilian accountant  takes all the info I paid for taxes in cda which is an absurd amount and files here. I didn't  pay a cent but I declared  all the monies  I brought in along with the property  I bought. Wasn't  an issue.

04/29/26  Hello i am exactly in same situation as you. What did you do ? Let me know. My tax person here in rio thought that i need to claim swiss taxes paid on pension back from the swiss and pay full tax here ! - @Thomasteuscher

Good evening.  I've just read through the Brazil-Switzerland Tax Treaty, and my reading still agrees with @Kurterino's, i.e., that pensions normally are only taxable in the country of origin.  Article 23 of the treaty, the article on double taxation, is very clear that, if a type of income already taxed in the country of origin is also taxable in Brazil, the taxes paid to the country of origin can be deducted from the taxes that otherwise would be owed to Brazil, up to the full extent of the taxes that otherwise would be owed to Brazil.  In other words, any double taxation would be canceled by deducting your Swiss taxes on the Brazilian side, not by asking Switzerland for a refund.  The full text of the treaty as officially published in Brazil appears here:

https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/_ … d10714.htm

Your tax advisor should read the treaty, and any subsequent legislation that may have modified it, and revise their advice in the light of the treaty's language.  If the advice doesn't change, consider getting a second opinion.

For what it's worth, my experience has been similar to @Cserebogar's.  I pay US taxes and, unlike Canada and Switzerland, the US doesn't have a tax treaty with Brazil, but because of Brazil's laws against double taxation that @Peter Itamaraca referenced above, I still get credit for my taxes paid to the US, and my Brazilian taxes are much lower as a result.

04/30/26 @Thomasteuscher. Note that according to Article 30 of the Treaty, it was signed in Portuguese, French, and English versions, all equally authoritative, but in the event of a divergence of interpretation, the English version will prevail.

@abthree thanks a lot for this great feedback which i shared with my tax lawyer :-)

@Cserebogar thanks have asked my lawyer to do a risk assessment and option paper. Then i will see next steps.