Income Tax 2023: joint or separate declaration? – 05/28/2023 – Market

Married taxpayers or those living in a stable relationship often have doubts about whether they should file the Income Tax declaration together or separately. The choice will be up to the couple, but there are some rules that need to be observed before deciding on the best model.

In order to make the joint declaration, it is necessary that one of the taxpayers is not obliged to declare the 2023 IR. up to 20% of the tax owed—and other consequences for non-delivery of the return.

According to the Federal Revenue, the concept of a joint declaration is a document made by two taxpayers “whose income subject to the annual adjustment is being offered for taxation in the declaration presented by the titular taxpayer”. This rule applies to the husband, wife or other dependent, such as a child, for example.

Whoever opts for this model will have to choose one of the taxpayers to be the holder of the declaration. The other will be dependent and, in this case, there is the right to deduct per dependent in the amount of R$ 2,275.08 (see here who can be dependent on Income Tax). After identifying the taxpayer, in the dependents form, include the spouse under code 11.

It will be necessary to declare all income received by each taxpayer, with their respective paying sources. It is also necessary to inform all assets, investments, bank accounts and expenses of each taxpayer in the declaration.

In this case, it is possible to deduct the expenses of the two taxpayers and the children, if any. A precaution that must be taken is to identify, in the “Description” or “Discrimination” fields of some forms, whether the good or expense belongs to the main taxpayer, the spouse indicated as a dependent or their children.

In general, the joint statement is not worth it, because the most advantageous is to declare a dependent who has no income. However, the simulations must be done in the IR program and the couple is the one who decides how they will render accounts.

“Filling it out is simple, but the couple needs to be careful not to make mistakes, especially not to forget to inform all the paying sources of both, as this type of error is one of the ones that most takes the taxpayer to the fine mesh”, says Daniel de Paula, tax specialist at IOB.

According to him, the right to jointly make the IR declaration applies to heterosexual and homosexual couples. “It is important to point out that all the rules apply to same-sex couples, as long as the relationship is proven by means of a marriage certificate or a stable union contract registered with a notary or by a court agreement”, he says.

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WHO SHOULD DECLARE TAX IN 2023?

Must declare income tax this year who, in 2022:

• Received taxable income above BRL 28,559.70, which includes salary, retirement and pension from the INSS or public bodies

• Received exempt income, non-taxable or taxed exclusively at source (such as savings income or FGTS) above BRL 40,000

• Had a capital gain (ie, profit) on the sale (transfer of ownership) of goods or rights subject to the levy of tax; This is the case, for example, of the sale of a car with a value greater than the amount paid for the purchase.

• It was exempt from IR on capital gains 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, the sum of which was greater than R$40,000, or with net gains subject to the levy of tax

• Had, on December 31, possession or ownership of assets or rights, including bare land, in excess of BRL 300,000

• Obtained gross revenue in rural activity in an amount greater than R$ 142,798.50

• Want to offset losses from rural activity in 2022 or previous years

• He moved to Brazil in 2022 and was in that condition on December 31