Brazil dividend tax in 2026: 10% withholding, minimum tax and how to plan
When the company withholds 10%, who pays the minimum tax and how the reducer caps the bill at 34%, and what happens to 2025 profits, Simples Nacional companies and partners living outside Brazil.
In short
- 10% at source: since January 2026, dividends above R$ 50,000 a month from the same company to the same person bear 10% on the whole amount.
- Minimum tax: anyone receiving more than R$ 600,000 a year pays up to 10% on all income, starting with the 2027 return.
- 34% ceiling: the reducer adds company and partner tax. Where the company already pays 34%, the 10% withheld comes back in the return.
- Profits up to 2025: stay outside the new tax when the distribution was approved in time and payment follows the minutes.
- Living abroad: a non-resident pays 10% at source from the first real and does not enter the minimum tax.
- Murblz: residence abroad, the definitive exit, a company and accounts outside Brazil in one plan, with the first consultation free.
In detail
For 30 years Brazil did not tax dividends. Law 15,270 of 26 November 2025 changed that from 1 January 2026. In exchange, people earning up to R$ 5,000 a month no longer pay income tax, and those earning up to R$ 7,350 pay less. According to official data, the exemption reaches about 16 million people, and the minimum tax on high incomes about 141 thousand taxpayers.
This guide shows when the company withholds 10%, how the annual minimum tax and the reducer work, what happens to profits from 2025, to Simples Nacional companies and to partners living outside Brazil, and which legal routes lower the bill.
What Law 15,270/2025 changes
The dividend exemption stays in the law: in the progressive table of the annual return dividends remain exempt. The new tax arrives through three separate mechanisms.
| Rule | Who pays | Rate | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly withholding | Resident receiving more than R$ 50,000 a month from the same company | 10% on the month's total | January 2026 |
| Annual minimum tax | Resident with total income above R$ 600,000 a year | 0% to 10% | Calendar year 2026, 2027 return |
| Dividends sent abroad | Individual or company abroad | 10% at source, no exempt threshold | January 2026 |
The rules apply to companies taxed on actual profit (lucro real), presumed profit (lucro presumido) and arbitrated profit. The Federal Revenue also applies the withholding to Simples Nacional, as shown below.
10% withholding above R$ 50,000 a month
The test runs per company, per person and per month. When the same company pays the same resident individual more than R$ 50,000.00 in a month, it withholds 10% of the whole amount, not only of the part above the limit. The law allows no deductions from the base. Several payments in the same month are added up and the withholding is recalculated.
| Situation in the month | Withholding |
|---|---|
| R$ 50,000.00 from one company | R$ 0 |
| R$ 50,000.01 from one company | R$ 5,000.00 |
| R$ 30,000 + R$ 30,000 from the same company | R$ 6,000 |
| R$ 40,000 from each of two companies | R$ 0 |
| R$ 120,000 from one company | R$ 12,000 |
The company pays the tax with DARF code 1841 by the last business day of the second ten-day period of the following month, that is, around the 20th. Using profit to increase capital counts as a payment: since 2026, capitalising more than R$ 50,000 in a month also bears 10% at source.
The withholding is an advance. In the annual return it is credited against the minimum tax, and anyone closing the year with income below R$ 600,000 gets it back as a refund.
Annual minimum tax above R$ 600,000
The minimum tax reaches tax residents whose total income for the year exceeds R$ 600,000. The first calculation covers 2026, in the return filed in 2027. The rate grows in a straight line: rate = annual income ÷ 60,000 − 10. From R$ 1.2 million upwards it stays at 10%.
| Total income for the year | Minimum rate | Minimum tax before credits |
|---|---|---|
| R$ 600,000 | 0% | R$ 0 |
| R$ 750,000 | 2.5% | R$ 18,750 |
| R$ 900,000 | 5% | R$ 45,000 |
| R$ 1,050,000 | 7.5% | R$ 78,750 |
| R$ 1,200,000 or more | 10% | R$ 120,000 on R$ 1.2 million |
What goes into the base. Almost everything: salary, partner's pay (pró-labore), rent, dividends, interest on investments taxed at source and exempt income.
What stays out.
- Capital gains, except stock exchange gains, which stay in the base;
- inheritance and gifts made as an advance on inheritance;
- savings account (poupança) interest;
- LCI, LCA, CRI, CRA, LH, LIG, LCD, CDA, WA and CDCA;
- incentivised infrastructure debentures and infrastructure funds;
- income from FII and Fiagro funds whose units trade only on an exchange or organised over-the-counter market and that have at least 100 unitholders;
- compensation for work accidents and for moral or material damage, and income exempt because of serious illness;
- dividends from profits up to 2025 under the transition rule.
What is credited. The minimum tax is reduced by the tax under the progressive table, tax withheld definitively at source on income in the base (for example on a CDB), tax under Law 14,754/2023 on investments and companies abroad, the reducer and, last, the 10% withheld during the year. If the result is negative, the difference comes back as a refund.
In practice, anyone already paying 27.5% on salary or 15% on investments usually ends up with no minimum tax to pay. The bill falls on people who live on dividends.
A simulation of your 2026 dividends
Together with your accountant, we calculate the monthly withholding, the minimum tax and the reducer for your company and build the year's distribution calendar.
Dividend tax gets expensive when the calendar is wrong
The new rules fit in a spreadsheet, but mistakes cost more than support. First: paying 2025 profits outside the terms of the minutes and losing the transition. Second: capitalising profit or distributing more than R$ 50,000 a month without counting the withholding. Third: choosing the company's regime without simulating the reducer. The costliest is moving abroad without the definitive exit and paying the minimum tax on worldwide income. Murblz builds the calendar, the residence and the structure in one plan, together with your accountant.
The cost of support depends on the number of companies, the destination country and the size of the family. A consultant calculates it in the chat.
The reducer: a 34% ceiling for company and partner combined
The reducer stops profit from being taxed twice above a ceiling. It adds two effective rates: the company's, meaning IRPJ and CSLL due divided by the year's accounting profit, and the partner's minimum tax on those dividends. If the sum exceeds 34%, the excess becomes a reducer of the minimum tax. The ceiling is 40% for insurers and financial companies and 45% for banks. The calculation is made company by company.
Example: a partner receives R$ 1.2 million in the year, R$ 100,000 a month, and has no other income.
| Line | Company with a 34% effective rate | Company with a 20% effective rate |
|---|---|---|
| Withholding during the year | R$ 120,000 | R$ 120,000 |
| 10% minimum tax | R$ 120,000 | R$ 120,000 |
| Reducer | R$ 120,000 | R$ 0 |
| Result in the 2027 return | Refund of R$ 120,000 | No balance: the R$ 120,000 withheld settles the tax |
| Partner's tax for the year | R$ 0 | R$ 120,000 |
A 34% effective rate is typical of actual-profit companies without incentives. Under presumed profit it is usually lower, and the minimum tax weighs more. The reducer depends on the company's financial statements. Companies outside the actual-profit regime may use a simplified accounting profit: revenue minus salaries and partner's pay with charges, goods, raw materials, rent, bank interest and depreciation. The Federal Revenue may calculate the reducer in the pre-filled return with company data.
Profits up to 2025: the transition rule
Old profits stay outside the withholding and the minimum tax when three conditions are met:
- the result was earned up to calendar year 2025;
- the distribution was approved by the competent body by 31 December 2025. An interim decision of the Supreme Federal Court of 26 December 2025, not yet confirmed by the full court, extended that deadline to 31 January 2026;
- payment follows the terms of the approval minutes. For the minimum tax the law requires payment in 2026, 2027 or 2028, and the Federal Revenue applies the same period to the monthly withholding and to non-residents.
In a corporation (S.A.) the approving body is the general meeting, and a management proposal does not replace its decision. Interim dividends are approved by the body named in the bylaws. 2025 profit could be approved on interim accounts up to November, but if the final balance sheet showed a lower profit, the exemption is limited to the actual 2025 profit. Capitalisation of profits up to 2025 also stays out when it was decided and approved in time.
Simples Nacional and presumed profit
Presumed profit. The same rules as actual profit apply: 10% withholding above R$ 50,000 a month and the minimum tax for the partner. The difference is in the reducer, calculated with the simplified accounting profit.
Simples Nacional. The Federal Revenue considers that the 10% withholding also applies to dividends from Simples companies, with the same transition rule. The text of Complementary Law 123, which exempts those profits, has not been amended, and the matter is before the Supreme Federal Court: the injunction requested by the Brazilian Bar Association was denied in December 2025, and the case brought by the National Health Confederation is still pending. Until a final decision, the Federal Revenue's position applies.
Dividends for partners living outside Brazil
Since January 2026, dividends paid, credited or sent abroad bear 10% tax at source from the first real. The rule covers individuals and companies abroad, including in low-tax jurisdictions, where the rate is also 10%. The tax is due on the date of payment or remittance. Profits up to 2025 under the transition rule and payments to foreign governments, sovereign funds and pension entities abroad stay out.
The annual minimum tax applies to residents only: whoever has completed the definitive exit does not enter it. For a non-resident, the 10% at source closes the bill in Brazil. When the company's effective rate plus 10% exceeds 34%, the non-resident may claim a credit for the difference within 360 days. The procedure still awaits regulation.
| Country of residence | Tax in Brazil | Tax in the country of residence |
|---|---|---|
| Paraguay | 10% at source. There is no double tax treaty | Personal income tax covers only Paraguayan-source income: dividends from Brazil stay out |
| Uruguay | 10% at source. The treaty allows up to 10% or 15% and does not lower the rate | 12% on foreign dividends, with a credit for tax paid in Brazil. New residents from 2026 can stay outside this tax for 11 years |
For the profit of a Brazilian company, moving does not lower the rate: a non-resident pays 10% from the first real, and a resident with income below R$ 600,000 recovers the withholding. The gain from leaving lies in the rest of your wealth. Investments and companies abroad leave the 15% of Law 14,754/2023, income from other countries is no longer reported in Brazil, and the minimum tax no longer applies to you. The steps are in the guide to leaving Brazil tax residency.
Dividends after the definitive exit
We set the departure date, tax residency in the new country, the residency certificate and the dividend calendar, together with your accountant.
How to plan dividends in 2026
- Distribution calendar. Up to R$ 50,000 a month from each company there is no withholding. For anyone closing the year below R$ 600,000, no tax is left to pay. Above that, the minimum tax is calculated on the whole year, and the calendar only changes cash flow.
- The company's regime. Under actual profit with an effective rate near 34%, the reducer cancels the partner's tax. Under presumed profit it pays to simulate both regimes with your accountant before each year.
- Partner's pay or dividends. Partner's pay bears up to 27.5% income tax plus social security (INSS). Dividends pay at most 10% and remain cheaper.
- Where the cash sits. Savings accounts, LCI, LCA, CRI, CRA, incentivised debentures and FII meeting the legal conditions stay outside the minimum tax base.
- One limit per partner. The withholding test runs per person and per company, and each partner has their own R$ 50,000 monthly limit.
- Residence abroad. Someone who really moves swaps the minimum tax on worldwide income for 10% at source on Brazilian dividends. The Mercosur agreement opens residence in Paraguay and Uruguay to Brazilians: see the best cities to live in Paraguay and taxes in Uruguay.
Costly mistakes
- Splitting the payment within the same month: amounts from the same company in a month are added up and the withholding is recalculated on the total.
- Treating the withholding as the final tax: above R$ 600,000 a year, the minimum tax is recalculated in the return.
- Minutes approved too late: 2025 profits whose distribution was approved after the deadline fall under the new rules.
- Capitalising profit without counting the tax: since 2026, capitalisation above R$ 50,000 a month bears 10% at source.
- Moving without the definitive exit: without the Exit Notice you remain resident for 12 months and fall under the minimum tax on worldwide income.
- Relying on the Simples exemption: the Federal Revenue applies the withholding, and the Supreme Federal Court case is not over.
How Murblz helps
- Dividend simulation. Monthly withholding, minimum tax and reducer for your company, together with your accountant.
- Definitive exit. The departure date, the Exit Notice and Exit Return, and letters to banks and brokers.
- Residence in Paraguay or Uruguay. Mercosur residence, permanent residence and the tax residency certificate. See taxes in Paraguay and taxes in Uruguay.
- A company abroad. Company registration in Paraguay and in Uruguay, with local accounting.
- Accounts. A personal account and a business account in Paraguay to receive dividends.
- Property abroad. Investment property in Paraguay and in Uruguay, with rental income.
The details and the cost stay with the consultant, and the first consultation is free. Talk to a consultant
2025 profits and 2026 dividends in order
We check the 2025 minutes, the payment calendar up to 2028 and the 2026 distribution for each partner, together with your accountant.
Read also: a Paraguayan company car in Brazil.
FAQ
Who pays tax on dividends in Brazil in 2026?
Does the 10% withholding apply only to the amount above R$ 50,000?
I receive dividends from two companies. Is the R$ 50,000 limit combined?
Does someone earning less than R$ 600,000 a year pay tax on dividends?
Can profits from 2025 still be distributed tax-free?
Does a partner in a Simples Nacional company pay the new tax?
What about partners living outside Brazil?
Does moving to Paraguay lower the tax on dividends?
Does Murblz help plan dividends?
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