July 29th 2006

Import Taxes - Importing To Brazil

19 Comments

Chinavasion sells wholesale electronics to more and more Brazilian customers and we would like to share a bit of background information we have built up on import taxes in Brazil.

When a Brazilian person imports something - i.e. buys anything from abroad regardless of place of origin (in almost all cases) - then the buyer / recipient will have to pay taxes to be able to receive the goods.

This is worth knowing if you are drop-shipping to Brazil or exporting to Brazil, as your Brazilian buyer may not be aware of the big tax bill coming their way and will need to be warned about this.

As the exporter sending goods to Brazil you also need to obtain a tax number for the recipient of the goods. If you send the goods without that, you are risking holding the goods up in customs or even having them impounded.

Brazil Import Tax Basics:

- If you want to send shipments to Brazil by door-to-door courier, Brazilian law only allows goods to enter if the goods have no commercial value, or are destined for private use only, and have a value of under USD 3,000.
- Within those limits a courier such as FedEx will be able to issue clearance.
- However, despite being within the allowed limits mentioned, the goods WILL be subject to duties and taxes if the value is over USD 50.00
- Duties and taxes could add another 100% (!) to the goods price, e.g. 60% import duty + 18% sales tax + around USD 10.00 for customs administrative charges.
- Books and documents are duty exempt, except for advertisement and printing materials.
- Goods entering Brazil destined for resale need to be cleared through customs with a broker and will attract duties according to standard Harmonised Tariff categories.

Brazilian Tax Number / Tax ID

- The tax ID required for shipments to Brazilian private individuals is called CPF - Cadastro Pessoa Fisica - and in fact will be well known to the person because it is like a Social Security Number. Format of the number would be like: 000.000.028-00
- For companies the tax needs to be charged differently and their company tax number must be delcared: CPNJ - Cadastro Nacional de Pessoa Juridica. Format of the number would be something like: 00.000.486/0001-00

Brazilian readers please feel free to add information or corrections by posting comments on this blog post!

More Information About Importing To Brazil, Provided By FedEx:

Commercial Invoices – Invoices are required for all dutiable shipments relating to commercial transactions between companies and companies, companies and individuals, regardless of the value. Commercial invoices should show freight, insurance and similar charges as separate items when applicable, regardless of the INCOTERM used on the transaction.

Specific invoice details are required for a number of commodities including the following:
* Textiles - the fabric breakdown, whether knit or woven and, for clothing articles, the gender;
* Marked/mutilated samples - the words “mutilated samples� or “ marked samples, not for resale� as applicable;
* Software on CD’s and floppy disks - The value of software must be shown separately from software support.

Air Waybill – An air waybill or carriers certificate (naming the consignee for customs purposes) is required as evidence of the consignee’s right to make entry.

Customs Valuation
On January 1, 1995, Brazil implemented the MERCOSUL Common Nomenclature, known as the NCM (Nomenclatura Comum do MERCOSUL), consistent with the Harmonized System (HS) for tariff classification.

Brazil Import Duties
Shipments by air valued between 51 USD and 3,000 USD are subject to a flat 60% duty and tax on the FOB value of the shipment regardless of the commodity. Medicaments for personal use are exempt from this duty and tax. Tobacco products and alcoholic beverages cannot be shipped via air express service.

Brazil also assesses the following taxes and fees on imports over and above duty and tax:

  • Brokerage Fee –1% of C.I.F. value
  • Warehouse Tax –1% of the import duty Fee for Handling Charges–varies according to value of product (from 20 USD to 100 USD)
  • Administration Commission–currently fixed at 50 USD Additional Port Tax–two fees totaling 3 % of C.I.F. value
  • A Merchant Marine Renewal Tax (MMR) is assessed at 25 percent of ocean freight charges on imports by sea, payable by the importer.
  • There is current legislation that proposes a reduction of the MMR tax to 10 percent.

    • Merchandise entering duty free includes newspapers, maps, books, and magazines. Passenger baggage, such as personal clothing, jewelry, consumption goods and other objects for the passenger's professional or domestic use, are exempt from duty and tax. Souvenirs with a value not exceeding 500 USD also enter duty free. Personal effects of individuals transferring residence to Brazil are duty free if accompanied by an authorization by the Brazilian Embassy or Consulate in the country of origin.

    19 comments...What do you think?

    1. Posted by Drop Ship to Brazil 15th August, 2006 at 11:42 am

      Clue:

      When you send a product to Brazil, send him as being a PRESENT and instead of they place the name of the company it places the name of a natural person, if possible they write the hand ” that a lot of times ” it helps ” to pass for the customs as a present like this, there are not taxes even USD $50.

      The district attorney of the Brazilian customs the times do rate the goods they being declared as less of $50.

      []s

    2. Posted by tulio 25th October, 2007 at 9:19 pm

      i would like to know about the tax importation.
      i am brazilian and i am making some skateboard wheels in china. prob. around 100 wheels.
      So i would like to find out about the importation tax.
      please let me know

      thanks

    3. Posted by Will 11th January, 2008 at 7:11 am

      My brazilian friend bought a mac here in America, worth USD $1,500. How much, approximately, will the taxes for bringing the computer back to Brazil be? The computer is strictly for personal use.

      thanks!

    4. Posted by Manuel 23rd January, 2008 at 4:39 am

      What are the tariff and laws regarding import classic cars to Brazil

    5. Posted by Keni Chow 26th February, 2008 at 5:12 am

      Where can I get a NCM number for importing to Brazil.
      Thanks,
      Keni Chow

    6. Posted by ???? 27th February, 2008 at 10:52 am

      where i can see the tariff and laws?

    7. Posted by Max 14th March, 2008 at 8:36 pm

      Thank you for sharing this information! It has realy helped me in calculating!

    8. Posted by Padraig Henry 20th March, 2008 at 6:21 pm

      I would like to know what value add activities are allowed within a bonded area in Brazil and under what circumstances it is allowed

    9. Posted by Kay 7th April, 2008 at 9:51 am

      I am an American tourist in Brazil for 2 more months, and my laptop has died on me. I would like to purchase a Mac and have a friend ship it (from the US) to me in Brazil. Do import taxes still apply and could you give me an estimate?

    10. Posted by juliana Pessotti 20th May, 2008 at 9:53 pm

      Hi, i would like to import clothes from China to Brazil, how could I get start?What r all the taxes and costs for?

      Thanks

    11. Posted by Gustavo 11th June, 2008 at 4:03 am

      I would like to get more information about sending things to Brazil.
      One would be cars.
      The second one would be recycle material, construction material with zero value US.

    12. Posted by Luciene Blanchette 2nd July, 2008 at 10:55 am

      hi, i’m a brazilian living in the united states, i would like to start a business exporting used cars to brazil what are de regulatios and taxes?

      thanks

    13. Posted by Beau 19th July, 2008 at 3:41 am

      How do I get a shipment to BRazil that is stuck in Brazilian customs returned to the USA?

    14. Posted by Koga 6th August, 2008 at 10:09 pm

      ola, gostaria de saber se o sistema de dropship funciona no brasil…..pois busquei no google e aparece sempre um link patrocinado de um site da china…..

    15. Posted by waco 12th August, 2008 at 2:47 pm

      Please inform what does NCN number means? Is it Harmonised System Code Number for products classification?

    16. Posted by jason dahm 17th September, 2008 at 5:21 am

      hello i am looking to export cars to brazil what would be the tax and requ or where can i get info?

    17. Posted by Roberta 18th September, 2008 at 3:07 am

      Who is the responsible party for supplying NCM
      numbers for shipment to Brazil from the U.S.?

    18. Posted by Maria 15th October, 2008 at 11:08 pm

      Hello…
      I need to find the rules and regulations for importing toys from Canada to Brazil…
      Can you please recommend a website and/or phone number where I could obtain the required information ???

      Thanks…

    19. Posted by jason 6th November, 2008 at 3:29 pm

      I need info on all i need to know on tax to export car from us to brasil pls get back to me on that i really need that info GOD BLESS YOU!THANK YOU!

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