Domestic help is a part of middle class life in Brazil. Those with the means hire house cleaners, nannies, dog walkers, gardeners, and even extra weekend help to cover when the normal help has their days off! When I started working, the first thing we did was hire someone to help. And I remember how wonderful it felt to have someone help me with the dishes and laundry, and someone who knew the products and in general, how things work in these here parts. What a gift.
And with this gift comes a responsibility: paying the benefits. I had a HELL of a time figuring out how to pay INSS (or Previdência Social) online. It's essentially the benefit that employees get, like Social Security, when they retire. It's mandatory to pay into the INSS of your hired help. I still have no idea what "INSS" stands for, but once I learned that it's also called "GPS" things got a little easier. So here is what I do:
1. Log into your bank account (I have ITAU).
2. Click on "pagamentos," and then "GPS" or "impostos ou tributos" (it is a tax, after all).
3. Click on "federais" (or GPS). It's a federal tax.
4. Then you have to enter the information for your employee. This is the "identificador" on the bank website. This number can be found on your employees Carteira (work papers). It is the "PIS" number. If your employee is older (like, older than 40 years old), you will need to confirm this number with them. If your bank does not accept the number, you may need to add three zeroes (000) to the beginning. You can go to this website to check to see if your employee is registered:
http://www.dataprev.gov.br/servicos/cadint/cadint.html
5. The Código do pagamento for domestic workers is "1600."
6. The minimum value may have to be 20% of the minimum salary (i.e. 20% of R$545 or R$109) in order for the payment to post.
7. Make sure you have a total value (Valor arrecadado).
8. Post the payment, but make sure to save a copy of the payment for your records. When in doubt in Brazil, ALWAYS make copies, save copies, print copies. You get my drift.
The payment needs to be made each month, and before the 15th of the month.
Now of course, this was all done mid-year, with a new employee, and I have not triple-checked my facts. But hopefully, maybe, JUST MAYBE, this will help someone out there who is pulling their hair out and feeling stuck.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is great. I had no idea now you can do it on line.
ReplyDeleteINSS stands for "Instituto Nacional da Seguridade Social" in other words, "National Social Security Institute"
Ray
Shelley,
ReplyDeleteWhen you pay, you pay the full 20%, but actually the employer only pays 12%. The additional 8% is the employee contribuition and should be deducted from their pay each month. Some employers who pay only minimum wage, assume the payment of the full 20%, but only the 12% is mandatory for employers.
Good information.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing!
Ray
Shelley,
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I hope you don't mind, but I've linked to this post on my "Rio das Ostras for Expats" site. Great information.
http://riodasostrasforexpats.blogspot.com/2011/08/paying-inss-online.html
Peg
Thanks for the comments! Like I said, I hope this helps, and feel free to link me. Corinne is right; as the employer I only have to pay %12, but I didn't want to get into all that. I just wanted to help people figure out how to do this online. But figuring out how to pay an empregada would be a good post to do...
ReplyDelete