Hi,
I am a U.S graduate student that just moved to São Paulo yesterday for 8 months in order to research and write my thesis. I arrived after a long red eye flight yesterday with most of my belongings, which included a 21inch iMac. Because it "looked new" I was charged a $600 import tax and penalty at the airport. Which is absurd. I stayed at the airport for hours trying to explain [with my very limited portuguese, I am latino and speak spanish and currently learning portuguese] that I bought the computer last year for school and brought it with me for writing my thesis. I also have a mac laptop that I bought at the same time but apparently that wasn't new looking. Can anyone recommend how I can fight this and get my money back? I know it will take ages but I can't afford to lose $600 over nothing! Any advice is appreciated. It was such a horrible way to start my time in Brasil 
Import Tax Question/Need Help
Are you Brazilian or an American? If you're not a Brazilian then you should never have been taxed on the iMac since it is only being temporarily imported to Brazil. Did you get a receipt from the Policia Federal when you paid the tax and penalty? If so I would try and find someone who speaks Portuguese to go to the Receita Federal with you to explain what happened, that you'll be taking the iMac back out of Brazil when you leave and ask about having the money refunded. Do you have the original sales receipts for the iMac and laptop? They will be of great help to you in pleading your case. If not, you may be out of luck, unfortunately.
And yes, you're absolutely right, it is something that's probably going to take the whole 8 months that you're here to resolve if not longer.
Cheers,
William James Woodward, Expat-blog Experts Team
I'm not Brasilian. I am Venezuelan American. How infuriating! Thanks for the quick response. I do have the receipt thankfully.
also, is this something I will need to keep following up with? how will I know anything is being done about it?
Permanent resident of the USA? Do you have the original receipts? You may be out of luck without them.
When you make your complaint with the Receita Federal you should get a protocolo with number, this will be what you need to follow up on the progress of the complaint if it isn't resolved quickly.
You should be warned that Brazilians are extremely prejudiced against Venezuelans, as they are of most other Latin-Americans. They're much more prejudiced against their fellow Latin-Americans than they are of any other nations for some strange reason. To me it sounds like the Federal Police Agent you dealt with on arrival just took a dislike to you based on your origins and singled you out for the unnecessary tax. If you do get your money back from the Receita Federal, I'd follow that up with an official complaint to the Policia Federal giving the date, flight no., approximate time, airport details and copy of the tax notification/receipt; but don't do that until you've either got your money back from the Receita or they tell you that you won't get it back.
Cheers,
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