禁漫天堂

01/18/25 @sjpetzold.聽 Good morning.聽 You're right, this is a good time to be thinking about this.聽 Unfortunately you're also right, that advice varies widely.聽 I'm sorry that you haven't found a Brazilian tax advisor that you can trust.聽 I think that the most important thing if you can't find one who knows everything (because who does?) is to find one who works to answer questions and to learn things that s/he is not familiar with, rather than making assumptions.聽 In the end you'll be dependent on this person, so keep good records of all your discussions.

My latest input on this topic appears in Post #5 in this thread:

/forum/viewtopic.p 鈥� 24#6011885

I handle my US finances similar to the way that you do, except for filing status because our situations are a little different there.聽 My Brazilian taxes on my US income were about 40% of my US taxes last year, a little higher than previous years but still in the same range.聽 As always, that's not advice, just another data point for you.聽 All the best!

@sjpetzold Good Luck! I think you are on the right track. I have my U.S. money deposited into PayPal. When I withdraw money, it is through the Red ATM machines at the Supermercados which convert the American dollars into reals. No taxes have been paid through that method...though if I am wrong, I will need a Brazilian Safe House after tax season, 馃槓

Roddie in Retirement馃暤

@roddiesho good plan! My Brazilian wife and I are not coming back to Brazil primarily over the tax situation. The Brazilian gov鈥檛. Is GREEDY. There is no excuse for them to tax Social Security payments deposited in a Brazilian bank account but they do. Going by their tax chart, we would be in the 27.5 % category. Sorry, but I鈥檓 not giving up that much money for what Brazil offers in return. Hello, Argentina!

@Robert Laney

Are you referring to SS payments made to you in Brazil by Brazil, or payments made to you in the US that you transfer to Brazil? I think you may have been badly advised...

@Peter Itamaraca Not sure who or what was supposed to be advising me.

In my very complicated life, I was relentlessly hounded by a rather unscrupulous company that acquired my credit card debt from our Brazilian Cafe (MD.) when the credit card company went out of business.聽 They received a judgement against ANY deposits I had in banks in Maryland.聽 My saving grace was in using PayPal.聽 When it was time to receive my social security, I had it deposited into my PayPal account. Now that I live here I still receive my social security in dollars.

Roddie in Retirement馃暤

@Peter Itamaraca

Hi, Peter. From what I read our Social Security funds that we transfer to Brazil is taxed at the rate of 27.5% because we make way more than the cut off for the lower tax brackets. I researched that for weeks and consulted an accountant, legally there is no way to get out of paying them the tax. There is also plenty of info on Google about foreign residents having to pay tax. If you have info about something different, please share!

01/19/25 @Robert Laney.聽 There is no question that Brazil taxes the worldwide income of permanent residents and resident citizens.聽 There are formal policies to minimize double taxation, but they're rather opaque for citizens of countries that don't have tax treaties with Brazil.聽

The 27.5% rate is a marginal rate in a progressive system, not a flat tax.聽 My own income is comfortably higher than the average retiree income in the United States, and my total income taxes, US and Brazilian together, are well below 27.5%.聽 As I mentioned above,聽 my Brazilian accountant has all of my income information and my US Income Tax Return as filed in front of her when she prepares my Brazilian return.聽 What I didn't mention is that she also has a standing instruction, repeated annually, that I want to pay everything that I legitimately owe, and no more or less than I legitimately owe:聽 no cheating, or even corner-cutting.

I offer this strictly as data points:聽 I'm not in the business of convincing people to move to Brazil, quite the contrary.聽 Successful expats in Brazil are generally a self-selected lot who are well aware of the many downsides of living here, and have made an informed decision that the many advantages, which seem obvious to us, far outweigh them.聽 Brazil is in no way any kind of tax haven, and I don't know anyone who moved here with that in mind.聽 I hope that Argentina, or somewhere else, turns out to be what you're looking for:聽 being unhappy in retirement is no way to live!