Working remotely in Brazil, for USD?

07/15/21

Welcome, Ben!

Thanks to your family situation, you shouldn't have any problem doing what you plan.  Make sure that you obtain your CRNM - your resident ID card - ASAP after your arrival:  even though you're married to a Brazilian, you still need to go through the formalities of applying for permanent residency.

You will be liable for Brazilian income taxes and your  US income tax liability remains, of course.  The good news is that, even though Brazil and the US do not have a tax treaty, Brazil does have a policy against double taxation which should lighten your Brazilian tax burden substantially.   Finding a trustworthy Brazilian accountant should be high on your To-Do list for getting settled in your new home.

Where are you thinking of living?

Do you have any knowledge on the mention of many US companies not requiring residence in the United States?  It seems even many 100% remote positions we are seeing, still do not allow you to live abroad.  Given our plans, this concerns us, and are wondering if there is something more specific we need to be searching in our job hunt.

We are looking to live in Santa Cantarina.  We will be visiting multiple cities there, in October.  Certainly up for suggestions, but that it probably better suited for a separate thread.   

Right now, we're looking for jobs that allow us to live in Brazil, while making USD.  My wife is a financial analyst/project manager, so this is very capable of remote work.  I'm a real estate investor that already has a decent amount of USD coming in from rental property, but would supplement our income a bit more with other remote work.  I would be very curious to hear from people currently doing this, or have done this.  What company/job?  How were you and the company able to navigate around this?  Is there a certain term for a type of company that allows this?

There are companies you can work from home. That said remember you can only transfer $4000.00 U$ into a BR bank account unless you receive the ok from your BR bank beforehand. Factor in wire transfer fees and form the US bank and the BR bank.
You cannot pay BR bills in U$D.
Is your wife a BR citizen? If not, unless you want to invest $500.00,00 R$ in a business or start one, or try a retirement visa, how will you be able to live in BR?

Texanbrazil wrote:

There are companies you can work from home. That said remember you can only transfer $4000.00 U$ into a BR bank account unless you receive the ok from your BR bank beforehand. Factor in wire transfer fees and form the US bank and the BR bank.
You cannot pay BR bills in U$D.
Is your wife a BR citizen? If not, unless you want to invest $500.00,00 R$ in a business or start one, or try a retirement visa, how will you be able to live in BR?

Our intent was to exchange the USD for $R periodically to support our life.  My wife is a Brazilian citizen, and we are in the process of getting our marriage in Brazil.

07/15/21

Ben,

Sorry, I don't have any information on US companies that are hiring for remote work.

Ben, were you married in the US/ If so have the BR Consulate register it.
"For the marriage of a Brazilian citizen in the United States to be valid in Brazil, it must be registered at the Consulate."

After the registration, the marriage must be registered, again, at the 1st Civil Registry Office in the Brazilian city of your residence.
That will help with the marriage in Brasil.

I do not know of any companies either. Its been too long since leaving the US

1. There is not such a thing as a company that works around so that you can work remotely in Brazil.  Either you have an established agreement with your current employer or you don't. 

2.There will be a cap if you transfer your money do Brazil, as stated on this post.  Otherwise, there are no spending caps if you keep your funds Stateside.  In fact, your Stateside Funds are not taxable through Brazil, and Stateside, your concenr is about Capital Gains and Interested Earned. Those are taxable.   

3. Santa Catarina might be a nice place to live, however, it is an extra airport stop on the way to the US. 

4. As a Real Estate Investor, rule of thum, you keep what you can see, unless you have a trustworthy property manager.   Otherwise, you are asking for trouble.  I would not invest in Brazil until you are seasoned enough to realize pitfalls, markets worth investing, that you will comply on fund transfers, that you have an established relationship  with your retail banker.

sprealestatebroker wrote:

1. There is not such a thing as a company that works around so that you can work remotely in Brazil.  Either you have an established agreement with your current employer or you don't. 

2.There will be a cap if you transfer your money do Brazil, as stated on this post.  Otherwise, there are no spending caps if you keep your funds Stateside.  In fact, your Stateside Funds are not taxable through Brazil, and Stateside, your concenr is about Capital Gains and Interested Earned. Those are taxable.   

3. Santa Catarina might be a nice place to live, however, it is an extra airport stop on the way to the US. 

4. As a Real Estate Investor, rule of thum, you keep what you can see, unless you have a trustworthy property manager.   Otherwise, you are asking for trouble.  I would not invest in Brazil until you are seasoned enough to realize pitfalls, markets worth investing, that you will comply on fund transfers, that you have an established relationship  with your retail banker.

1. It does seem like companies I've spoken to that only allow work out of US, or even select states in the US do have a firm ruling on this.  Some may allow up to 90 days total in a calendar year in a different area to work remotely.  However, none have explained the exact reason for these policies.  I have seen some companies that do advertise "100% remote, work anywhere worldwide"  These are much less common though.  I'm unsure if there are good resources to locate these type of positions?

2.  What is the limit to amount you can transfer from USD to Reias?  My understanding from the previous post that $4000 USD was the max you could hold in USD in a Brazil bank account.  Is there also a limit to how much you can transfer from USD to Reias at once?  We would ideally transfer what we need periodically through the year, since the conversion rate will likely only be more favorable as time goes by.


4.  Fortunately, I've managed my rental properties well, where they are relatively hands off.  I have some properties in the state I live in that are very low maintenance, so they may need to be attended to 2-3 times a year, and most of that means me simply calling my maintenance man to head out there.  I have out of state property that I never step foot in, because I've built a team of workers that can attend to necessary maintenance.  I haven't had to use any property management for any property thus far.  Maybe that changes when I live abroad.  This income would be the majority to be able to cover living expenses in Brazil.  My wife and I would like to land remote work as the "cherry on top" income.

07/21/21

It's my understanding that you can't hold foreign currency balances in Brazilian bank accounts at all.  There's no limit on maximum balances (although there may be deposit insurance limits, and unusually large balances will attract scrutiny), but all normal Brazilian personal account balances must be in Brazilian Reais.

$4000 US is generally cited as the maximum monthly amount that can be transferred to a Brazilian account and converted to Reais.  Larger transfers are permitted, but must be vetted by the Central Bank and the Federal Police in advance, and supporting documentation may be required.

abthree wrote:

07/21/21


$4000 US is generally cited as the maximum monthly amount that can be transferred to a Brazilian account and converted to Reais.  Larger transfers are permitted, but must be vetted by the Central Bank and the Federal Police in advance, and supporting documentation may be required.

I was unfamiliar with this maximum monthly conversion amount, but this is helpful to know.  If $4,000 USD is the largest monthly amount that can be transferred, are exceptions made in the case of something relocating there, buying a house, or making a large investment in Brazil?  And how are expats handling this if their expenses are higher than this amount, and they are not making Reias?

Ben Kirchner wrote:

I was unfamiliar with this maximum monthly conversion amount, but this is helpful to know.  If $4,000 USD is the largest monthly amount that can be transferred, are exceptions made in the case of something relocating there, buying a house, or making a large investment in Brazil?  And how are expats handling this if their expenses are higher than this amount, and they are not making Reias?

Absolutely.   I don't think that there's any predetermined limit.  $4000.00 US is just a convenient benchmark;  anything over that needs to be justified and shown to be legitimate,  but that's not difficult if the facts support it.  We had no problem whatever transferring enough cash to buy our apartment and renovate it, for example.  That did trigger a temporary FATCA reporting requirement on the US side, however.

So, if you can support a monthly transfer over $4000.00 for legitimate purposes,  it shouldn't be too difficult.   In most parts of Brazil, though, you might have to work some to hit $4000/mo. just in living expenses.   

Ben. Are you really going to have over $R 20.000,000 in expenses each month? (Today's exchange rate)
That is up with the "high income" in Brasil.
As abthree said there are no issues in sending over $4,000, but early on I did get a call from my bank to explain the sudden increase. Then for 2 years, BB asked for my US tax returns. Now they know me and things are fine.
I have to be careful. Having a lot of reals in a bank account makes me nervous. I have seen money adjustments by the BR government without notice.
Do not forget  FATCA reporting as abthree stated. BR and USA work together on this more than many think.
I may add that finding trustworthy contractors takes time. I have only found one for house repairs and one for pool repairs.

Texanbrazil wrote:

I have to be careful. Having a lot of reals in a bank account makes me nervous. I have seen money adjustments by the BR government without notice.

My sentiments exactly.

FATCA is only a minor inconvenience, but $10,000 US is just more than I want to have sitting in BRL, unless we have a big purchase planned.  The Reais start depreciating as soon the dollars are converted, and when he became Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes had all kinds of ideas about taxing every financial transaction regardless of value, and taxing account balances.  The next government that takes over may be more competent than this one, and actually enact some of those ideas.

Yeah less than ideal situation. Here is to hoping for a more structured government next term.

I love optimism. I have seen 3 presidents. 2 were impeached!!

Texanbrazil wrote:

I love optimism. I have seen 3 presidents. 2 were impeached!!

07/25/21

I've seen twelve.  Three were dictators, one died before he could be sworn in, two were impeached, three left office with high popularity (including one of the dictators    ), and then there's Bozo.  🤡

I have to be optimistic, too, but I'll be darned if I can detect a trend!

The amount of dollars you can hold has a lot to do where you convert your currency. 

If you do legit, there will be reporting.   

Hence why there are doleiros out there.

Can't speak on what companies will hire you and let you work from BR, but money wise, an easy solution is to open a Charles Schwab checking account and use that for ATM withdrawals. They refund ATM fees worldwide, and (at least when I was there about 2.5 years back) the XR pretty much offset the wire transfer fees

Take care with debit card withdrawals. Many banks only allow small foreign withdrawals per 24 hrs.
Been a long time, but I could only get $R300 per 24 hrs, and I mean if you withdrew $R300 at 3 pm you had to wait until 3 pm the next day. Sundays many times no withdrawals due to tracking system is banking hours only.

Ah wow, I never ran into that. I just had the withdrawal limit of R$2000 per transaction set by the ATM itself (I would do two separate transactions). My strategy was to pull from one of those bank-agnostic ATMs in a nice mall in SP, then walk over to the Itau atm and make the deposit for daily expenses.

Good idea. I was using my bank so no transaction fee here or in the US.
As said many years ago. So I am behind on debit cards.

Ben;

A bit off topic but I was wondering what your wife's usa immigration status is? Why is that? If she's a permanent US resident I believe they don't like one staying out of country for more than 6 months. If you do this habitually they can question your reasons why she became a permanent resident. In addition they may give you a hard time returning to the USA if you're outside more than one year (I think you need to apply for permission for re-entry). If you plan on going back and forth a few times a year, keep track of all her absences from the USA as she will have to list all of them and calculate all her days outside the USA when and if she applies for citizenship.

If she's a US citizen already you should have no problem going back and forth.

If she's here on a tourist visa and never planned on staying, also no issue.

Hi Ben,

I am a bookkeeper in the US.  I worked for Intuit once and was told the same thing that I could not work abroad.  While I was not told exactly why two things come to mind.  1. Internet and security. Fear of private information getting into the wrong hands.  2. Tax liability. Just like when you work in another state your employer is required to contribute and pay employment taxes in the state you live.  They also pay unemployment (not sure if that is in the state you live as well) While maybe not impossible, I doubt many employees are willing to go to such lengths for an employee. I'm not even sure they can legally. Different if they have an office in Brazil.

My friend who is a US accountant and lives abroad has a book called " US Taxes for Americans abroad; the easy guide to saving money" that might have information on this topic in it.  I just ordered it so I haven't read through it yet.

Hope this helps.

*employers are willing

I do this. If you have permanent residence and pay your taxes properly there is no limit on what you can bring into Brazil. My Ltda has a tax rate of less than 10%, it's amazing! I have monthly expenses of more than R$10K.

However, like others have said, transfer costs and the volatility of the real are things to watch. Also, I'm not American, so I can't speak about US world wide tax situation.

I also live in Santa Catarina - there are loads of tech people working here on this basis, mostly Brazilians. Floripa is a tech hot spot for Brazil. 

For completely remote jobs with no restriction on where you can live you can try the following:
1. Don't ask don't tell - just apply for US jobs and don't mention you aren't in the US. I wouldn't recommend this, but it works sometimes.
2. Be up front with potential employers - just say to them that you will be living in Brazil. Many of them will not care, especially if you are actually American and speak perfect English.
3. Try online platforms like toptal, turing.com or gun.io - these platforms are proliferating for dev jobs right now and work on the basis that you will not be in the US.

Naturally, it's easier to get 100% remote work if you have a high demand skill. I'm a software developer. If you are doing something else don't expect many 100% remote options.

Not sure if I'm allowed to do this, but I would recommend my accountants - Floripa based and specialists in this kind of situation: google "duoexo floripa"

Lastly, you might find some interesting information at the website "overemployed" 

There is no place to go to find jobs that allow you to work full time abroad. Nor is there specific jobs really more open to this then others of those you can work remotely. Otherwise to be honest everyone would do that. It's really going to come down to how much the company wants to hire you and if they think your essential to them.

1. You are upfront and honest and tell your company and they are fine with it.
2. You lie to your company ...not the best option as it makes getting benefits like healthcare and things tricky to negotiate.
3. You create your own company/position and are paid in a 1099 or by private clients.

Most companies are hesitant about you living 100% abroad as technically that makes taxes more complicated for you and them depending how you are registered for the job.

If you plan to do it I'd get residency in one of the states that doesn't require state tax if you live abroad or you are liable to pay it.

Also there is no limit to how much money you can transfer in you just have to show it's legally your money, work contract, pay stubs etc. Takes a bit of time to approve documents but not the end of the world more that difficult.

I was looking for this same type of employment but my long time employer, while allowing work from anywhere domestically will not allow international wfh.  Their stance is that international work is less secure and therefore not allowed.  Even with a company managed pc, with all sorts of security measures and a remote secure id, it is not allowed.  Hoping for a change soon otherwise I will just quit and move anyway

That's what I do.  My job is 100% remote but only in the US.  In the end, they don't need to know where I'm working from as long as a produce.  I get paid in USD deposited into my US bank.  Taxes are withheld in the US and I pay US taxes each year.

01/17/22

As general information to the community,

It's illegal to work for pay in Brazil, regardless of where the pay is being disbursed, on a tourist visa or other non-residence visa.  If a visitor working remotely and earning abroad respects the time limits of the visa and doesn't overstay (e.g., up to 180 days in every 365 days for US citizens, 90 days out of every 180 for most EU citizens, depending on country), that's a gray area of the law.  Offenders aren't actively sought out and if discovered, the worst penalty that probably would be imposed would be an order to leave Brazil, and perhaps a ban against re-entry for a certain period of time.

It's illegal to work for pay in Brazil, regardless of where the company or clients are located and the pay is being disbursed, even for someone with a residence visa, if they don't have a CRNM, a Labor Card, a CPF, and without filing Brazilian income taxes if they live in Brazil for over six months in any tax year.   Brazil has policies to minimize double taxation, but filing is still obligatory, and there may well still be some taxes owing.  Anyone in that situation who wants to stay in Brazil and not save up trouble for themselves down the road should find a good accountant and get right with the law.

*ETA* As of January 24, 2022, it is now possible to live in Brazil as a digital nomad with a special visa.  See below for details.

I will chime in. Here in Foz, the city put up signs " do not but from street vendors" on major intersections and sign along major downtown streets where musicians play for $$. Municipal Guard/ PC are patrolling and issuing fines. If not Brazilian you get a free trip to the PF without an appointment!!!!

You mean , " Do Not Buy from Street Vendors ".

They ( the City Enforcers and their signage ) are referring as what we call here Camelos. 

They still ply their trade, nonetheless.  One eye on the clientele, one eye on the " Fiscal".

This is a old as the automobile.  Short of local storefront shopkeepers, nobody bothers to rat on them, unless they are peddling illegal stuff, like drugs.  Their are part of the popular lore.

A tel tale is that one of the most entertaining and wealthiest TV personalities, Senor Abranavel, aka Silvio Santos, started out as a Camelo, selling pens and combs, before he moved into peddling beer on the commuting boats.

If you want to see how ineffective this edit is, then go to Largo da Concordia on Bras. The Africans and Haitians seized the curbside, while Chinese and Arabs run the legal storefronts. 

Both engaged in the sale of cheap counterfeit goods. 

City Officials, in most instances, are looking for shakedowns and kickbacks.

01/29/22

There is HUGE news this week for potential digital nomads in Brazil.  The National Immigration Council has finally published the regulation making it possible for digital nomads to obtain residency.  See this thread for details:

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=973331

Good to know.  i might need to crank up rental listings on Craiglist. 

Let's see what comes out of this. 

Thanks a bunch for the heads up.

@Ben Kirchner

Hi Ben, I have only read the first few replies on your question but I just wanted you to know that I myself am an American citizen, I moved to Brasil a little over two years ago now. I have seen all the "work from home" "side-hustle" videos and thought it would be easy. It's not haha. I finally decided to go into business for myself as a social media professional and I have had to find clients myself that are in the US in order to make $USD. I use my bank account thats still in the US and transfer money when we need through an app called "Wise". it has been the cheapest thing I have found and super quick. I have searched high and low and the only thing that makes since is to find specific people/companies who will work with you. Good luck on your adventures! come to Rio for a visit! lol

Hi. I'm an American living in Brazil. I, too, use Wise to transfer money from my U.S. bank account to my Brazilian bank. I have a Schwab debit card that I use every day. And a Nubank credit card and a savings like account that pays 10+% interest.

I've searched through the “work anywhere” jobs to find that they are restricted to certain states, or require office appearances from time to time. Or that they really aren't “work from home” at all.

Upwork and Fiverr have contract jobs. I've worked through them for several years. No location restrictions, as I'm not an employee. I've worked for clients in several countries, and hired people from many countries. Works well for me. And I get to live on a beach. 😀

12/25/22 @alan279.  Merry Christmas!  Just curious:  if you have a Brazilian bank account to which you transfer funds, why do you still draw on your US funds every day through your Schwab debit card?

Merry Christmas. No fees with the Schwab card. Wise charges me about 2% to transfer money from the US to Brazil.

12/25/22 Merry Christmas. No fees with the Schwab card. Wise charges me about 2% to transfer money from the US to Brazil.
-@alan279

Interesting -- thanks.  I'm always curious about how other expats manage their financial affairs, once they take the plunge.