Before you start

CPF
A clear determination of when you became tax resident
Records of Brazilian and foreign income
A gov.br account at silver or gold level

Step-by-step

1
Fix your residency start date
Permanent visa or a Brazilian employment contract makes you resident from arrival. On a temporary visa you stay non-resident until you have completed 183 days of presence within a twelve-month period and become resident on day 184; days need not be consecutive, and if you do not reach 184 days inside those twelve months the count restarts from your next entry.
OnlineWho: You
2
Start carnê-leão if you earn from abroad
Residents with foreign-source income, or income paid by individuals, must compute and pay tax monthly, due by the last working day of the following month. This catches people used to salary withholding and accrues interest silently across a year.
OnlineWho: YouMonthly
3
File the annual Declaração de Ajuste Anual
The DIRPF covers the previous calendar year, filed March to end of May through the Receita Federal software or the Meu Imposto de Renda app. Late filing carries an automatic minimum penalty whether or not you owe.
OnlineWho: YouMarch to end of May
4
Use the single Federal District tax portal for everything local
IPTU, TLP, IPVA, ITBI and ISS are all administered by the Secretaria de Economia do DF through one portal. Nowhere else in Brazil is that true, and it makes property and vehicle matters markedly less painful than the state-plus-municipality arrangement everywhere else.
OnlineWho: You
5
Check ITBI carefully before buying
The Federal District charges ITBI on property transfers, with different treatment for first transfers of newly built property than for resale. On a Plano Piloto or Noroeste purchase the difference is substantial, and it is not the rate a friend in Rio or Belo Horizonte will quote you.
OnlineWho: You
6
File the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva when you leave
Residency does not end because you boarded a plane. The communication is filed from the date of departure up to the last day of February of the following calendar year, followed by the final Declaração de Saída Definitiva. Without both, Receita Federal keeps treating you as resident and taxable on worldwide income for the first twelve consecutive months of absence, and only from the thirteenth month as a non-resident.
OnlineWho: YouBy the last day of February after the year you leave

Documents you’ll need

CPF
Informe de rendimentos from each Brazilian payer
Records of foreign income and any foreign tax paid
Medical, education and dependant receipts carrying the provider's CPF/CNPJ
IPTU, ITBI and IPVA notices from the Federal District, where applicable
Bank and investment positions as at 31 December

Things most newcomers don’t know

The Federal District is the only place in Brazil where one authority levies both state and municipal taxes.

Everywhere else, ICMS and IPVA come from a state and IPTU, ITBI and ISS come from a city, with different portals, deadlines and appeal routes. The DF has no municipalities, so a single secretariat administers all of them. In practice this removes a whole layer of the confusion that catches property buyers and business owners in other Brazilian capitals.

Source: Secretaria de Economia do Distrito Federal

Completing 184 days of presence in a twelve-month period makes you taxable on worldwide income.

Everyone calls this the 183-day rule; the threshold is passing it, so residence attaches on day 184. The days need not be consecutive, so someone splitting a year between Brazil and elsewhere can cross the line without a single long stay. From that date Brazil taxes global salary, capital gains and investment income. It is the most consequential rule for anyone here without a Brazilian employment contract and it is routinely discovered a year late.

Source: Receita Federal — IN SRF 208/2002, art. 2

Foreign income is paid monthly through carnê-leão, not settled at filing.

Anyone with an offshore employer, foreign clients or overseas rental income must calculate and pay Brazilian tax every month, due by the last working day of the following month. Arrivals from withholding-tax systems assume the annual return is when money changes hands, and find out in April that twelve months of interest and penalties have accrued.

Source: Receita Federal — carnê-leão

Leaving Brazil without the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva costs you a further twelve months of worldwide tax.

Residence does not lapse the moment you leave. File the exit communication and the final departure return and you are non-resident from the date of departure. Skip them and IN SRF 208/2002 keeps you taxed as a resident on worldwide income for the first twelve consecutive months of absence, with non-resident treatment starting only from the thirteenth month. Nothing announces the problem, so people discover it years later when a CPF is flagged as irregular or a Brazilian bank freezes an account they had forgotten about.

Source: Receita Federal — IN SRF 208/2002, saída definitiva do país

Common mistakes to avoid

Crossing the 184th day of presence unnoticed and becoming taxable on worldwide income from that date.
Not paying carnê-leão monthly on foreign income and accruing a year of interest.
Budgeting ITBI from another city's rate, or missing the new-build versus resale distinction.
Missing the end-of-May filing deadline and its automatic minimum penalty.
Leaving Brazil without filing the Comunicação de Saída Definitiva.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.