Income Tax 2025: Federal Revenue Service announces new rules

The main updates in the tax return affect taxpayers with assets and investments abroad.

Through Regulatory Instruction No. 2,255, the Federal Revenue Service has announced the rules for the 2025 Income Tax return. Taxpayers should pay special attention to the changes that may directly impact how income, assets, and investments are declared.

Understanding the new guidelines ensures that the tax return is filed correctly, avoiding issues with the tax authorities. Check out the key points below and learn how to prepare to meet your tax obligations efficiently this year.

Rules and updates for the 2025 income tax return

Some specific changes have been announced, including the range of taxpayers required to file, the removal of fields, flags to indicate pending issues or the need for review in the completion, and changes related to foreign income. See below:

Deadline

The income tax returns must be submitted within the following period: from March 17 to May 30, 2025. There are 75 days to comply with the obligation.

Who is required to file

At this point, there are some updates, such as the increase in the annual taxable income threshold and the limit for gross revenue from rural activities. Another new requirement is for those who updated real estate assets in December 2024, paying a differentiated capital gain (Law No. 14.973/2024). The tax return is also now mandatory for those who earned income from foreign capital investments in the form of financial investments and profits and dividends (Law No. 14.754/2023).

Thus, the individual is required to file a tax return if, in the 2024 calendar year:

• They received taxable income, subject to adjustment in the return, totaling more than BRL 33,888.00 (previously the amount was BRL 30,639.90);
• They received exempt, non-taxable, or income taxed exclusively at source, totaling more than BRL 200,000.00;
• They had, in any month, capital gains from the sale of assets or rights subject to tax;
• They carried out transactions in stock exchanges, commodity exchanges, futures exchanges, and similar markets:

            a) Whose total amount exceeded BRL 40,000.00; or

            b) Resulting in net gains subject to tax;

• Regarding rural activity:

          a) They obtained gross income greater than BRL 169,440.00 (previously BRL 153,999.50); or

       b) They intend to offset, in the 2024 calendar year or subsequent years, losses from previous years or from the 2024 calendar year;

• They held, on December 31, assets or rights, including bare land, with a total value greater than BRL 800,000.00;
• They became a resident of Brazil in any month and remained a resident on December 31;
• They opted for the exemption of income tax on capital gains earned from the sale of residential properties, provided the proceeds from the sale are invested in the acquisition of residential properties located in Brazil, within 180 days from the sale contract (Law No. 11.196/2005);
• They chose to declare assets, rights, and obligations held by a directly or indirectly controlled entity abroad as if held directly by the individual (Law No. 14.754/2023);
• They held, on December 31, ownership of a trust and other contracts governed by foreign law with similar characteristics (Law No. 14.754/2023);
• They opted to update the market value of real estate assets, as per Law No. 14.973/2024; or
• They earned income from capital invested abroad in financial investments and profits and dividends from controlled entities (Law No. 14.754/2023).

Income from abroad

Income from abroad, it is important to remember, began to be taxed definitively in the annual income tax return, at a rate of 15% (until 2023, payments were made monthly). This change occurred due to a law that advanced the collection of Income Tax on Exclusive Funds and began taxing profits earned, even if not yet distributed in offshore accounts.

As a result, in the tax return, assets that represent investments outside the country now allow the reporting of income and taxes paid, whether in Brazil or abroad.

Current progressive table

The current monthly scale is as follows:

 

Calculation basis	Rate	Deduction
Up to BRL 2.259,20	-	-
From BRL 2.259,21 to BRL 2.826,65	7,5%	BRL 169,44
From BRL 2.826,66 to BRL 3.751,05	15,0%	BRL 381,44
From BRL 3.751,06 to BRL 4.664,68	22,5%	BRL 662,77
Above de BRL 4.664,68	27,5%	BRL 896,00

Pre-filled Declaration

With the pre-filled declaration, a series of information is automatically loaded, eliminating the need for manual entry. Undoubtedly, this is a convenience. However, as the Federal Revenue Service itself has emphasized, the data must be carefully verified, and only those that the taxpayer can document should be kept, even if they were automatically filled in.

The pre-filled declaration will only be available starting April 1st. It will include information such as the taxpayer's identification, income and payments from Dirf, Dimob, DMED, and Carnê-Leão Web, private pension contributions, balances of accounts and investment funds, acquired properties, donations, information on cryptocurrencies, and foreign bank accounts, among other data.

A key point in this list is the pre-filled foreign account balances, based on information already received by the agency through international agreements. This signals that the oversight is becoming more precise, showing taxpayers that there is no room for omissions. This also applies to compliance with obligations to the Central Bank.

The data on foreign bank accounts was included after legislation mandated the taxation of offshore accounts and income abroad.

The pre-filled declaration can be accessed through authentication on the gov.br portal, with either a gold or silver digital identity.

Refund

According to the Executive Declaratory Act RFB No. 1/2025, the refund batches follow the schedule below:

 

First batch	05/30
Second batch	06/30
Third batch	07/31
Fourth batch	08/29
Fifth batch	09/30

The refunds will be made available in the order of submission, observing the following preference rules:

• Elderly individuals aged 80 years or older;
• Elderly individuals aged 60 years or older, people with disabilities, and those with serious illnesses;
• Taxpayers whose primary source of income is teaching;
• Taxpayers who used the pre-filled form and/or chose to receive the refund via Pix;
• Other taxpayers.

Penalties

The submission of the tax return after the deadline or its failure to be submitted subjects the taxpayer to a fine of 1% per month or fraction of delay, imposed ex officio and calculated on the total tax due, even if fully paid.

The fine will have a minimum value of R$ 165.74 and a maximum value corresponding to 20% of the Income Tax due.

Prepare yourself with DPC's support

If you have a more complex tax situation, such as multiple income sources, a diversified investment portfolio, or assets abroad, it is essential to seek professional assistance to ensure that all aspects of your tax return are properly addressed.

DPC specializes in assisting individuals with more complex cases and can help ensure that your Income Tax return is fully compliant. Count on our support to navigate the 2025 tax season with safety and peace of mind: dpc@dpc.com.br.