Income Tax 2022: 1.8 million must declare for the first time

The Internal Revenue Service estimates that 31.7 million Brazilians will have to declare the Income Tax in 2022. Of this total, about 1.8 million (5.7%) must be a first-time taxpayer, says the agency. The taxpayer obliged to render accounts must meet the deadline, otherwise he will pay a fine.

The delivery of the declaration starts from 8:00 am on March 7th and goes until 11:59 pm on April 29th. The minimum fine for delay is R$ 165.74, but can reach 20% of the tax due in the year. To help those who are going to be accountable for the first time, the sheet talked to experts and prepared a step-by-step guide with tips to face the lion.

Created one hundred years ago, the Income Tax is a federal tax paid by individuals and legal entities that meet the mandatory rules. In March and April of each year, these taxpayers are required to file the annual adjustment statement.

In the declaration they will inform the income obtained in the previous year, the tax paid and the expenses. Health and education expenses, among others, can be deducted, increasing the refund or decreasing the tax payable. Valdir Amorim, legal and tax technical coordinator at the IOB consultancy, suggests that those who are going to declare for the first time, first of all, read the rules.

“What we see in Brazil is that the taxpayer will only read the rules when he has doubts or falls into the fine mesh. It can’t be like that”, he says.

See the step by step for those who will declare for the first time:

1 – KNOW IF YOU ARE REALLY OBLIGED TO SEND THE DECLARATION

The first step before filling out the declaration is to check if it really fits the rules that oblige to declare. These requirements are in normative instruction 2065, of February 24, published in the Official Gazette on February 25.

Among the main rules is the total salary, retirement or pension received in the year. Whoever received taxable income above R$ 28,559.70 is obliged to declare, which gives R$ 2,379.97 per month. However, it is not just salary income that counts, there are other incomes that need to be added up. The taxpayer cannot fail to observe the annual value to know if he is obliged or not.

According to Felipe Coelho, senior tax manager at EY consultancy, several people start the declaration without checking if, in fact, they would need to fill it out. If the citizen does not fit into any of the items, there is no reason to declare, except if the taxpayer had IR withheld at source and needs to present the declaration to receive the amounts back.

By the rules, the taxpayer is obliged to declare the IR in 2022 who, in 2021:

• Received taxable income, such as salary, above BRL 28,559.70

• Received exempt, non-taxable or exclusively taxed income (such as savings income or FGTS) above R$ 40 thousand

• Had a capital gain (ie profit) on the alienation (transfer of ownership) of assets or rights subject to tax; this is the case, for example, of the sale of a car with a value greater than what was paid for the purchase

• Was exempt from IR on the capital gain on the sale of residential properties, followed by the acquisition of another residential property within 180 days

• Carried out operations on the Stock, Commodity, Futures and Similar Exchanges

• As of December 31, he had possession or ownership of assets or rights, including bare land, over R$300,000

• Obtained gross revenue from rural activities in an amount greater than BRL 142,798.50

• If you want to offset losses from rural activity from 2021 or previous years

• He moved to Brazil in 2021 and was in that condition on December 31

2 – SEPARATE THE DOCUMENTS

After confirming if, in fact, he is obliged to declare, the worker needs to gather all the necessary documentation to send the IR. The 2022 statement refers to 2021 income and expenses, therefore, you must have documents regarding salaries, investments and expenses with doctors and education for 2021.

Companies, banks and the INSS (Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social) were obliged to provide the income report until February 28th. In the case of Social Security, the document was released a week earlier (see the step-by-step guide to access it).

It is also necessary to have basic documents, such as CPF number and date of birth of everyone who will appear in the declaration, proof of residence with updated address and voter registration. This year, taxpayers will be able to receive the amounts through Pix. For those who do not have a Pix key, you must have your bank account details to receive the refund. In the case of those who have tax to pay, there is an option to debit the account.

3 – DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAM FROM MARCH 7

The IRS will not provide access to the IR program before the deadline. It will only be available from March 7th. This year, anyone who has a silver or gold level gov.br account will be able to fill it out on any type of platform.

The declaration can be made on computers, cell phones, tablets and by the e-CAC (Virtual Revenue Service Center), and the filling will be synchronized between them. In addition, this year, there will be the option of pre-filled declaration, but this novelty will only be available from March 15th for part of taxpayers.

Experts recommend that new deponents take some time to familiarize themselves with the program. However, they should not delay, for whoever sends first receives the refund first. Filling in the declaration and sending it take place in the same program, which makes it easier for the taxpayer.

4 – COMPLETE THE GO WITHOUT ERROR

After downloading the program, the taxpayer can start filling out the declaration. You will need to click on “Create New Declaration”. Choose whether it is annual adjustment (the most common), final estate (for deceased taxpayers) or permanent departure from Brazil.

As of March 15, the program will also ask if the taxpayer wants to import information from the Revenue database. In this case, salaries and health expenses, for example, may appear in the system automatically. However, even with this automatic filling, the recommendation is to check if the values ​​are correct.

Among the main forms that will be filled out is the identification form, where the personal data will go. Inform address, mobile number and what your main occupation is. Income is declared on the income sheets received from legal entities or individuals, depending on the nature of each one. House, car, investments and values ​​in a current account or savings account go in the “Assets and Rights” sheet.

5 – CHOOSE BETWEEN THE SIMPLE OR COMPLETE MODEL

The Income Tax program itself informs the taxpayer which model best fits their profile: whether by legal deductions or by the simplified discount. However, the citizen must be careful not to send the IR with the least advantageous option.

In general, the program indicates whether the simple or complete model will entitle you to a higher refund or indicate a lower IR charge. As a rule, the simplified declaration guarantees a standard discount of 20% of the total taxable income, limited to R$ 16,754.34.

According to Amorim, someone who worked all year at the same company, and therefore had income from only one source, and has no dependents, may prefer to opt for the simplified version and complete it in about ten minutes.

The option for the complete declaration must be made by those who have deductions that exceed 20% of the amount of tax payable. But the taxpayer will only find out if he fills in the income and expense fields of the declaration.

In general, the higher the income, the number of sources of income and dependents, the more complicated it can be to fill out, which can take hours or even require hiring the services of an accountant.

6 – REVIEW THE DATA AND SEND

Before submitting the declaration, the worker must check all the data. The IR program already points out if there are pending issues, but it does not indicate wrong values ​​or not. Red pending issues prevent the declaration from being sent. The yellow ones, no.

If there are faulty data, the taxpayer will go to the fine mesh and his declaration will be withheld until there is a correction. Among the main errors that lead to fine mesh are the omission of income of the holder or a dependent, in addition to health expenses.

Anyone who falls into the trap does not receive a refund and may have to pay fines. You can also get on the government’s active debt list and be prevented from carrying out various activities, such as taking out loans, opening bank accounts or taking public office.

Those who have tax to pay can pay the amount at once or pay it in up to eight installments, with interest and a minimum amount of R$ 50 per month. If the amount of tax due is less than R$100, payment in a single installment is mandatory. If it’s less than R$10, you don’t have to pay.

The payment of the first installment by means of automatic debit is due on April 10th. Only until that date is it possible to put in debt. If you are going to pay by printing a Darf (Federal Revenue Collection Document), the deadline is April 29.

7 – SAVE RECEIPT AND COPY OF THE DECLARATION

When sending the income tax return, the program will ask if the taxpayer wants to print a copy of the receipt and the declaration. The taxpayer must say “Yes” and at this point it will be possible to save a PDF copy of the document.

If you cannot save it at the time of submission, it is possible to make a copy of the complete declaration later, in the field that reads “Download the delivered declaration file”. Select the year and download the file to your computer.

In addition, there is also the option to save the declaration in an extension that allows opening it on other computers. In the IR program, on the left side, in the “Tools” option, go to “Burn Copy”. A window will open; click on your statement and go to “Next”.

Then a folder opens, which must be saved on the computer. In it, there will be a file whose ending is “.DEC”. The taxpayer sends this file by email and then must save it on the computer where he will fill out the IR. Those who save the PDF copy must also email the document to themselves, as advised by the consultants.

If there was an error, it must be rectified

After submitting the statement, it is time to follow up on the document. For this, the taxpayer must have a gold or silver level password in the gov.br system. In this way, you will be able to access the e-CAC and know if the declaration has been processed or is in the fine mesh.

When there are errors, the system indicates exactly where the fault is. It is necessary to keep documents, such as income statements, invoices and receipts of everything that has been declared to compare the data, if necessary.

For up to five years, it is possible for the IRS to scan the taxpayer’s situation and call him to account for what has been declared. In this case, the worker must have the documentation referring to the Income Tax year in question. The recommendation of experts is to keep the document for up to five years.

It is possible to change information submitted when filling out a rectification declaration, which will require the identification number of the original document’s delivery receipt. After rectification, a new receipt number will be generated (it must also be saved). And the taxpayer will go to the end of the refund queue.