PF or PJ: how to receive money from abroad?

Receiving international payments as a PF is simpler to start but usually costs more in income tax. As a PJ you can issue invoices, structure your taxes better and, depending on the regime, pay less overall. The right answer depends on how much and how often you receive.

As a PF, money from abroad is treated as income and declared via Carnê-Leão, following the income-tax table, which can reach 27.5%. It is a fast path for smaller or occasional amounts, but rarely the most efficient for your main source of income.

As a company you issue a service-export invoice, formalize the relationship with your client abroad and, under regimes like Simples Nacional, the total burden tends to be far lower than as a PF. In return, there are recurring accounting obligations, worth talking through with an accountant. For remote professionals working for a foreign company, the PJ structure is usually the right one — see our guide to working remotely for foreign companies.

Lowering what you lose to FX and IOF (the account) and structuring your taxes well (the regime) are separate decisions on the same pocket. Ruvo handles the cost side; the PF-vs-PJ tax choice is yours to make with an accountant. This page is informational, not tax advice. For the tax detail, see business tax on exported services.

As an individual (PF), foreign income is taxed at progressive IRPF rates up to 27.5%. As a PJ under Simples Nacional, the effective rate on services revenue depends on the annexe — typically 6% at low revenue, rising to around 17% at the R$4.8M ceiling. The crossover varies by expense structure, but for a contractor and/or freelancer earning consistently above R$3,000–5,000/month in foreign income, opening a CNPJ typically reduces total tax by 15–20 percentage points on each real of income. A contador who works with contractors and/or freelancers can model the specific break-even for your situation based on actual numbers.