Tax on Rental Income for Non-Residents in Brazil

Collecting rent from abroad

Appoint a procurador

Give a person or company resident in Brazil a power of attorney naming them for the rent and the tax. They take on the withholding and the filings, so they need to agree and to understand them. Don't assume your rental agent has taken that on: get it in the contract.
Who: you and the procurador. Cost: notary fee, and the procurador's monthly charge.
Sign the lease in reais

A lease of property in Brazil can't be priced in foreign currency. Law 14.286 of 2021, art. 13, II makes the exception for property leases, and a clause that breaks it is void.
Who: you or the procurador, with the tenant.
Receive the rent in Brazil

The tenant pays the procurador or the agent, or an account the procurador can reach. Keep the rent separate from anyone's own money.
Who: tenant, procurador.
Work out the taxable amount

Take gross rent, and subtract what you bore and can prove: IPTU and other taxes on the home, condominium fees, collection costs including the agent's fee, and rent you paid if you sublet.
Who: procurador or accountant. Keep the receipts.
Pay 15% the same day

The procurador issues a DARF under code 9478 and pays it on the date the rent is paid or credited. A late payment brings interest and fines on the procurador.
Who: procurador. Due: date of the taxable event (Law 11.196/2005, art. 70).
File the monthly reports

The procurador files EFD-Reinf, event R-4010, by the 15th of the next month, then DCTFWeb by the last business day. The DARF alone doesn't replace them.
Who: procurador or accountant.
Send the net abroad

The money leaves through an authorized exchange institution, with the receipts available. Budget for the exchange margin and IOF.
Who: procurador or you, from a non-resident account.

Who counts as a non-resident

Tax residence in Brazil depends on your days and your visa. Your passport and your ownership of a home don't decide it. The tests for individuals are in the Receita Federal's Normative Instruction 208 of 2002. You become resident on arrival if you hold a permanent visa, or at the start of a job in Brazil. A temporary visa makes you resident on your 184th day here, whether those days run together or not, inside any 12 months (art. 2). Stay 183 days or fewer on that visa and you remain a non-resident (art. 3).

So a foreign owner who spends four months a year in an apartment in Florianópolis stays non-resident. Five and a half months in one go, plus a return visit, may not. The clock isn't the calendar year: it runs over 12 months from your entry, and a new period opens with the next entry if the first ended short of day 184 (art. 3, § 1). Keep your travel dates if you are near that line. A move to resident status changes all the rent rules below and brings worldwide income into Brazilian tax.

Brazilians who leave have a similar question. Someone who has moved abroad and filed the exit forms is a non-resident for this tax. Someone who has left without filing may still count as a resident. Most of what follows applies equally to them.

The 15% on net rent

Rent paid to an owner resident abroad falls under the withholding rules in the 2018 Income Tax Regulation, arts. 744 and 763. The Receita Federal's withholding manual (MAFON 2025) lists it under code 9478, and sets the charge at 15% of the net rent. It is final: there's no annual adjustment and no exempt band. The first real of rent is taxed.

The manual's word is "líquido". You may subtract, with proof, the items in Law 7.739/1989, art. 14:

taxes, fees and charges on the home that produces the rent, such as IPTU;
rent you paid on the home if you are subletting it;
costs paid to collect the rent, which include an agent's fee;
condominium fees.

Those deductions only help if you bore the cost. If the lease makes the tenant pay IPTU and condominium directly, they were never your expense. Repairs, furniture, insurance, loan interest and depreciation aren't on the list.

Not everyone reads this the same way. One US-focused law firm's April 2026 article says Brazil withholds on gross rent, and some other advisers' pages say so too. Other firms, and the Receita's own manual, say net. Use the manual, and document each deduction. It's the official text, and the deductions are written in law.

R$ 8,000 monthly rent, agent's fee of 8%, owner bears condominium and IPTU
Line	Amount
Gross rent	R$ 8,000
Agent's fee	R$ 640
Condominium	R$ 1,200
IPTU for the month	R$ 300
Taxable net	R$ 5,860
Tax at 15%	R$ 879
Left for the owner	R$ 4,981, about US$ 919

On the gross, the tax would be R$ 1,200, which is R$ 321 more a month and R$ 3,852 a year. If the tenant pays condominium and IPTU instead, the taxable net is R$ 7,360 and the tax R$ 1,104.

Owners in low-tax jurisdictions pay 25%, under Law 9.779/1999, art. 8. The list is in Normative Instruction RFB 1.037/2010, so check your country or territory. Article 98 of the National Tax Code says treaties override these rates, and the manual repeats that. Where you have a treaty, read its article on income from real property.

Who withholds the tax

The manual is plain on this. "Compete ao procurador": it falls to the attorney-in-fact to withhold and pay the tax on rent from homes owned by residents abroad (RIR/2018, art. 781, I; ADE Corat 9/2002). That's a person or company resident in Brazil, holding your power of attorney. The duty stays with them whether the tenant is an individual or a company.

Each role can trip you up:

The rental agent. Agents sometimes assume the owner's accountant does this, and owners assume the agent does. One tax firm warns against treating an agency as having taken on these duties without a contract and a power of attorney. Say in the management contract who issues the DARF and who files.
A relative as procurador. Plenty of families use one. The monthly duty is real, with their own CPF on the DARF, and a slip lands on them.
The tenant. The written rule names the procurador, and doesn't say what happens if there isn't one and the tenant pays you directly. The tenant is then the Brazilian source of the payment, and some practitioners treat such tenants as exposed. The official texts consulted for this guide don't settle it. A company tenant will usually want to withhold, whoever else is named. A family tenant may have no idea. Don't start a lease that way.

Rent paid to you abroad doesn't escape the rule. The taxable event covers paying, sending, crediting or handing over to a resident abroad, so sending the rent straight to your foreign account leaves the tax unpaid and someone liable. Rent also can't be priced in dollars, as the lease step above shows.

The monthly reports

Paying the tax is half the job. The rest goes through two federal systems, set out by tax firms that handle this: Brasil Tax and Tersi.

Monthly compliance for rent to a non-resident
Item	Due	Note
DARF 9478	Date of the payment	Issued under the procurador's CPF or CNPJ
EFD-Reinf, event R-4010	15th of the next month, or next business day	Replaces the old DIRF from Sept 2023 onwards; Normative Instruction RFB 2.043/2021, art. 6
DCTFWeb	Last business day of the next month	Applied to this rent since May 2025 per Tersi

Expect to pay an accountant for this if you don't want a relative doing it. The non-resident owner files nothing annually for this income: the tax is final, and non-residents don't submit the yearly individual return. If your procurador is a Brazilian individual who has never had to do this, they will need help.

Short lets come with an extra wrinkle. A platform payout is often a lump sum with its own fee, and you may get several a month. Each one has to be matched to its tax date, which makes a spreadsheet a basic tool of the job.

Sending the rent home

Once tax is paid, the net can leave through an authorized institution. You can keep it in a non-resident account in reais, with no annual ceiling on an ordinary deposit account, or send it each month. The institution may ask for the DARF and the lease, and it keeps its records at least ten years.

The cost has grown since 2025. IOF on money leaving Brazil that no other clause covers is 3.5%, under item XXIV of article 15-B of Decree 6.306/2007. The zero rates in that article cover returns on capital-market investments and on stakes in companies. No clause found for this guide gives rent or property a lower rate, and the decree itself faces a Supreme Court challenge.

On the example above, sending the whole R$ 4,981 at 3.5% costs R$ 174 in IOF and leaves R$ 4,807, or about US$ 887 at R$ 5.42 before the margin. Fewer, larger transfers don't change the percentage, though they do cut bank charges. Some owners leave the rent in Brazil to cover IPTU, repairs and the condominium, which avoids sending money in both directions.

Residents and carnê-leão

Once you are a tax resident, rent joins your other income and the 15% goes away. If the tenant is an individual, you work out the tax yourself and pay it monthly through carnê-leão, a monthly self-assessment (Law 7.713/1988, article 8), by the last business day of the next month. If the tenant is a company, it withholds at source, using code 3208 (MAFON 2025), and an agent's receipt counts as payment. The same deductions from Law 7.739/1989 apply. Tax from each month goes on your annual return.

The monthly table comes from Law 15.191/2025. Since January 2026, Law 15.270/2025 adds a reduction that wipes out the tax on monthly taxable income up to R$ 5,000 and fades out by R$ 7,350. Its wording covers income "sujeitos à incidência mensal", and carnê-leão income is taxed monthly, though no official guidance opened for this guide spells out rent. Confirm that with your accountant.

Monthly tax on rent as the only income, net of deductions
Net monthly rent	Resident, 2026	Non-resident at 15%
R$ 4,800	R$ 0	R$ 720
R$ 6,000	R$ 561.52	R$ 900
R$ 7,350	R$ 1,112.52	R$ 1,102.50
R$ 10,000	R$ 1,841.27	R$ 1,500
R$ 20,000	R$ 4,591.27	R$ 3,000

The crossover sits near R$ 7,350, assuming rent is your only income. Above that, a non-resident pays less on the same rent. A resident also adds salary or pension from anywhere to the same table, so the comparison above flatters the resident. Very high earners face a new minimum tax from the 2026 calendar year: a charge that climbs from 0% at R$ 600,000 of total income to 10% at R$ 1,200,000, and rent stays in that base (Law 15.270/2025, art. 16-A). No one should change residence over this table alone. The property tax guide lists the rest of the differences.

CBS and IBS on long-term rentals

The consumption tax reform adds a new layer for large landlords. Complementary Law 214/2025, as amended by Complementary Law 227/2026, creates two taxes: CBS at federal level and IBS for states and cities. A rule in article 251 keeps most private owners out.

An individual becomes a taxpayer on rentals only if, in the prior year, rental income passed R$ 240,000, an amount now rising monthly with IPCA inflation, and the rentals covered more than three distinct properties. Both must be true. The Receita Federal said so in January 2026, when it denied rumors of a new tax on every landlord. An owner with one or two apartments stays out on that prior-year test, however high the rent. Income tax carries on as before.

A same-year rule adds a wrinkle. Article 251, § 2, II pulls you in during the year if rental income exceeds the limit by 20%, about R$ 288,000. That sentence doesn't repeat the three-property test, and one law firm, Fortes, warns the Receita could read it as revenue alone, which it argues would break the principle of legality. Decree 12.955/2026, art. 382, § 1, III, by Barbieri Advogados' reading, keeps the three-property test for CBS. IBS follows its own regulation. So an owner of two costly commercial units has a real question.

For those inside, the rate is reduced by 70% on long-term rentals (art. 261), and a residential home takes R$ 600 per month off the base (art. 260), also rising with IPCA. The tax goes on top of the rent, not inside it. If the lease is silent, landlord and tenant may disagree on who bears it: Law 8.245/1991, art. 22, VIII, puts taxes on the property on the landlord unless agreed, but this tax falls on the operation. Write it into any new lease.

Timeline for rent under the reform
Year	What happens
2026	Test year; rentals this year count for 2027 status
2027	CBS charged; PIS and Cofins end; CNPJ for individual taxpayers from 1 January (Decree 13.075/2026)
2027 to 2028	IBS at test rates only
2029 to 2032	IBS grows as ICMS and ISS fall
2033	Full rates

Numbers next. The audit court estimated the CBS reference rate at 11.3% on 28 October 2026. The Senate sets the final rate, so treat this as a guide. With the 70% cut, that's about 3.39%. Five apartments at R$ 5,000 a month give R$ 300,000 a year. Base after R$ 600 each: R$ 264,000. CBS at 3.39%: R$ 8,949.60 a year, about 3% of gross, before any IBS and before credits. By 2033 the combined rate is projected near 8% on the base: the Finance Ministry's note says 8%, and one set of simulations says 7.95%. A landlord with fixed-term contracts signed by 16 January 2025 may instead opt for 3.65% of gross under article 487, and Decree 12.955/2026, art. 463, makes that choice irrevocable, with a deadline before the December 2026 invoice. For a home lease it can last only until 31 December 2028.

Short lets under the new tax

For income tax, a short let is rent. The same 15% on net applies to a non-resident, month by month, and the same procurador rule. The Tenancy Law's 90-day limit, and what a condominium can ban, are in the guide to short-term rental rules.

For CBS and IBS, a home let for 90 consecutive days or fewer is taxed under hotel rules, but only for a taxpayer (art. 253). Complementary Law 227/2026 made this explicit: an individual counts for this purpose only by meeting the same R$ 240,000 and three-property test, and short lets count toward that limit (art. 253, §§ 1 and 2). The Receita Federal and the Finance Ministry both said in January 2026 that claims of a new tax on every vacation rental were false. Airbnb told the press most individual hosts will still pay income tax alone.

The difference for those inside is the reduction. Hotel rules give 40% off instead of 70%. At the same 11.3% CBS, that's about 6.78%, and the combined CBS and IBS rate after the cut is put at about 16% to 17% once IBS arrives in full. Here is one illustration from the trade press, with four apartments and R$ 300,000 a year.

Four apartments on short lets, R$ 25,000 a month, CBS only in 2027
Line	Amount
Monthly revenue	R$ 25,000
Reduction of R$ 600 per apartment, as used in that illustration	R$ 2,400
Base	R$ 22,600
CBS at about 6.78%	About R$ 1,532

Article 260's R$ 600 is written for residential lets, and the illustration applies it to short lets as well. Check that with an adviser, since the hotel rules are a separate chapter of the law.

Now the part nobody has settled: non-residents. Articles 251 to 253 and the decree's real-estate chapter don't mention an owner who lives abroad. Article 21, § 2 says a supplier resident abroad must register if it operates in Brazil. Article 22, I then makes a platform that controls charging, payment, terms or delivery liable in place of a supplier resident abroad. So a foreign owner over the limits who lets through a platform might see the platform pay, or might have to register, and the rules don't clearly say which. An owner with one apartment in Copacabana or Barra is below the limit either way. Someone building a portfolio in Jericoacoara or Pipa needs written advice first.

Holding the home through a company

Some foreign owners use a Brazilian company to hold rental property. This takes the rent out of the 15% and puts it inside company tax, with three new costs since 2025. Companies don't get the individual's thresholds. Barbieri Advogados says holdings fall under CBS and IBS from 2027, regardless of the number of properties or revenue. Profits sent to a foreign owner bear 10% withholding from January 2026 under Law 15.270/2025. And the company must report foreign direct investment to the Banco Central under Resolution 278/2022.

A company may still suit a large portfolio with tenants who can take credits: CBS and IBS on rent can be credited by a regular-regime business tenant (art. 47). For a single apartment the extra layers may outweigh that, and the arithmetic has moved since most of the online advice on this was written. Get a calculation from an accountant. Don't forget the cost to wind it down, and what a sale inside the company does compared with a sale by you.

Tax in your own country

Your home country may also tax this rent. Whether Brazil's tax offsets it depends on your country's law and any treaty. The Receita Federal's list shows conventions with countries such as Portugal, France, Italy, Spain, Canada and Japan. The United States and the United Kingdom aren't on it. The 2022 UK convention still appears as not in force on the UK government's page, so check its status before filing.

For a US person, one Brazilian-licensed lawyer explains that rent goes on Schedule E, with US depreciation, and Brazilian tax may be claimed as a foreign tax credit in the passive basket. Because US tax comes on net income after depreciation and Brazilian tax does not allow depreciation, Brazilian tax can exceed US tax on the same rent, and the excess is carried over under US rules. For anything outside Brazil, ask an adviser where you live. Rental yields quoted on city pages, such as those for Boa Viagem or Moema, are gross and take none of this into account.

Questions

How much does a non-resident pay in tax on rent in Brazil?

15% of net rent, withheld at source and final, per the Receita Federal's MAFON manual under code 9478. It rises to 25% for owners in low-tax jurisdictions. There's no exempt band.

Is the 15% on gross or net rent?

Net. The manual lets you subtract, with proof, property taxes you bore, condominium fees, sublease rent and collection costs, following Law 7.739/1989, art. 14. Some advisers' pages say gross, so show them the manual.

Who pays the tax if I live abroad?

Your procurador in Brazil withholds and pays it on the date of each rent payment, using a DARF under code 9478, and then files EFD-Reinf and DCTFWeb. A rental agent does this only if it has agreed to.

Is a Brazilian tax return required for my rent?

Not as a non-resident. The tax is final at source, and the procurador's monthly filings are the record. If you become resident, an annual return applies.

Will I pay the new CBS and IBS on my rent?

Only if you pass both tests in Complementary Law 214/2025, art. 251: rent above R$ 240,000 and more than three distinct properties. A same-year 20% rule adds some doubt at the very top. One or two apartments are outside it.

Is Airbnb income taxed differently?

For income tax, no: 15% of net for a non-resident. Under CBS and IBS, lets of up to 90 consecutive days follow hotel rules with a 40% cut instead of 70%, only for owners who already pass the thresholds.

Can I charge rent in dollars?

Not on a lease of property in Brazil. Law 14.286 of 2021, art. 13, II excludes those leases from its foreign-currency allowance, and the clause would be void.

Does it help to rent to a company?

For a non-resident the rate stays the same. A business tenant under the regular regime can credit any CBS and IBS you charge, which matters only if you are inside that tax.

Sources

Written by Lucas Andrade. Updated November 2026. General information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Ask a Brazilian lawyer about your own case.