Opinion: Econoweek – Yolanda Fordelone – Five ways investors pay less Income Tax

Declaring Income Tax is a tedious task for most Brazilians. But there is no escape from this: We have entered the last month to settle accounts with the lion. The good news is that there is a way to pay less taxes, and I’m not just talking about deductible expenses like health insurance costs. Below, we chat about it with Luis Fernando Cabral of Contador Trader.

Below we break down five situations that allow you to save on tax payments.

Declare stock market losses

In normal trading, when shares are sold at profit, Income Tax on earnings is 15%. However, if the profit exceeds R$20,000 in the same month, a fee is charged. If you have a loss, there is no IR.

But few people know that even the missing must be declared. This is because losses offset profits and lower the tax base.

For example, if you had a loss of BRL 3,000 in January 2021 and a profit of BRL 25,000 in February, the tax base would decrease to BRL 22,000.

brokerage fees

When buying and selling shares, you must pay brokerage. These fees can be deducted when calculating profits.

Many investors calculate profits simply by the difference in price between buying and selling stocks, but costs must also be taken into account.

If the difference between buying and selling is R$30,000, but brokerage costs are R$2,000, the thing to know when initiating the Federal Revenue program is actually R$28k.

VGBL and PGBL

Talking about individual retirement, PGBL plans offer tax advantages for those who file in the full model: Taxpayers can deduct up to 12% of taxable income with the values ​​invested in PGBL.

To be more specific, let’s assume someone earns 100,000 BRL during 2021. In this case, if you have invested BRL 12,000 in a PGBL, the taxable income on your Income Tax return will decrease to BRL 88,000 (plus 100 thousand, not R$).

The trick is that some people don’t pay attention to when they cross the line. For example, if you deposit R$15k in a PGBL, you can only deduct R$12k from your tax base. It would be more interesting from a tax point of view to allocate the remaining 3,000 BRL to other investments. The VGBL plans themselves may be an option if the person still wishes to pursue a private pension.

divide the rent

If the taxpayer is receiving rent, but this is the result of a property purchased with the husband or wife, and the income is split, they can split the amount when declaring so as not to inflate the income of only one of the two.

The division may not even be equal. If either takes 30% of the value and the other 70% of the value, that’s what needs to be written in the declaration.

Fees can be discounted

As with stocks, some lessor costs can be deducted when calculating profits. If the owner of the leased property is obliged to pay the IPTU, the tax is deducted from the profits.

Another situation is the fee paid to the real estate agent. If the person receives R$2000 in rent but pays a fee of R$200, the amount to be notified is R$1800.

Have you already declared Income Tax or left it to the last period? Econoweek has a special series to help taxpayers: The Income Tax Guide.

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