Hiring a Remote Team Abroad: Taxes, FX and Labor Rules

Paying a professional who lives abroad is an import of services. Under the general rule, the remittance bears 25% IRRF (withholding income tax, Law 9,779/1999), may trigger PIS/Cofins-Importação of 1.65% and 7.6% in 2026 and, in technical contracts, a 10% CIDE. If there is subordination and salary, the risk is an employment relationship under the CLT (Brazil's Consolidated Labor Laws), art. 3.

This guide covers the Brazilian side: remittance taxes, foreign exchange and the line between contractor and employee. Tax treaties, the law of the professional's country and the choice of intermediary platforms require an analysis of your case by an accountant and a lawyer.

Is the professional abroad a self-employed contractor or an employee?

What decides it is the reality of the relationship, not the name of the contract. The CLT defines an employee as an individual who provides services of a non-occasional nature to an employer, under the employer's direction and in exchange for pay (art. 3). The employer is the company that assumes the risks of the business and hires, pays and directs the personal provision of service (art. 2).

The CLT also provides that engaging a self-employed contractor, once the legal formalities are met, with or without exclusivity and on a continuous basis or not, rules out employee status under art. 3 (art. 442-B). That does not shield contracts that work as employment in practice.

The more answers point to dependence and fixed pay, the greater the risk that the relationship is treated as employment. This classification should be made by a labor lawyer before hiring.

What taxes apply to remittances paying a team abroad?

Paying for services to a resident abroad can trigger three Brazilian taxes, each with its own trigger. The table summarizes what the laws say.

A few points to get the calculation right:

• •IRRF: the law sets 25% for work and services remitted abroad. Tax treaties and other rules may change the treatment, so confirm the specific case before remitting. Law 9,779/1999 also applies 25% to income paid to a beneficiary in a country that does not tax income or taxes it at less than 20% (art. 8).
• •PIS/Cofins-Importação: the base is the amount paid, credited, delivered, used or remitted, before income tax withholding, plus ISS (municipal services tax) and the contributions themselves (art. 7, II).
• •CIDE: only legal entities pay it. Whether the team provides technical services or administrative assistance depends on what the contract says, and that classification should be validated by an accountant.

From January 1, 2027, Complementary Law 214/2025 repeals arts. 1 to 20 of Law 10,865/2004, and the import of services is handled under the IBS and CBS regime, which the same complementary law governs. In 2026, the rules above are still in force.

What does Law 14,286 require to send the payment?

Foreign exchange transactions can be carried out freely, with no limit on amount, subject to the law and to Central Bank regulation (Law 14,286/2021, art. 2). They can only be carried out by institutions authorized by the Central Bank to operate in the foreign exchange market (art. 3).

The institution is responsible for identifying and qualifying clients and for the lawful processing of transactions. Classifying the purpose of the transaction, however, is the client's responsibility (art. 4, § 2). In practice, describing the payment as a service, with a contract and invoice to support it, avoids problems with the institution and with the tax authorities.

If you keep an account abroad to receive and pay, you will find the context in offshore bank accounts for Brazilians.

What steps should you follow before hiring?

Follow the steps in this order, because each depends on the previous one:

1. •Define the nature of the relationship: self-employed contractor or employee, based on the elements of art. 3 of the CLT.
2. •Choose who hires: the individual, the Brazilian company or an entity abroad. Each option changes who pays and which taxes apply.
3. •Calculate the remittance taxes: IRRF, PIS/Cofins-Importação and, where applicable, CIDE, before setting the contract amount.
4. •Document the payment: written contract, description of the service, invoice and proof of the exchange transaction.
5. •Review with an accountant and a lawyer: the applicable treaty, the law of the professional's country and any labor classification.

If the hiring goes through an entity abroad controlled by a Brazilian, the controlled-company profit rules of Law 14,754/2023 and the enforcement requirements also come into play. See how Receita enforcement of offshore structures works and the jurisdiction page for Delaware or Wyoming.

What about intermediary platforms, such as EORs?

Platforms that hire the professional abroad on the client's behalf exist, but this guide does not compare names or prices: there is no official source to support such a comparison. What the law lets us state is narrower. If the platform or the professional is a resident abroad, the payment to them is a remittance to a resident abroad as consideration for services (Law 10,865/2004, art. 3, II). The contract with the platform must be read in light of the rules above.