International Mail Forwarding

Hello ohanasurf,

Regardless of what service you use to send things to Brazil, it is going to first pass through Customs inspection by the Receita Federal.

All merchandise imported to Brazil is subject to a 60% import tax, which is calculated on the price of the object PLUS shipping costs. If the price of the object is not stated then the Receita Federal uses their own lists to establish the fair market value of the product.

Objects may be delayed in Customs here for significant periods and you may also be subjected to any one of 6 other built-in taxes such as the ICMS which is levied on all goods and services that involve any mode of transportation, COFINS, etc. It is precisely for this reason that Brazilians and expats alike here tend to limit their online purchases to national sites as opposed to those sites abroad.

The Brazilian postal system is wholly unreliable and rife with "loss" of objects entrusted to them for delivery. Unfortunately, in many cases the protectionist laws that exist in this country give them an absolute monopoly when it comes to certain items, especially ANYTHING that can even remotely be considered as "correspondence". For example, the US Embassy and Consulates can no longer deliver passports in Brazil using FedEx, due to a court ruling here that any kind of documents of that nature are "correspondence" and thus required to be delivered by the Correios.

Cheers,
James     Expat-blog Experts Team