Importing into Brazil: how it works, steps and costs

Importing into Brazil means bringing foreign goods into the country legally: the operation is registered with the Receita Federal, Brazil's Federal Revenue Service, and the taxes due are paid. In practice it runs in three blocks: negotiation with the supplier, international transport and customs clearance. Only after release do the goods travel to their final address.

If you are starting to import, or selling to a Brazilian buyer for the first time, the purchase itself is rarely what gets stuck. The sequence is: who is allowed to import, which document comes first, what the product really costs once it lands, and what happens if the cargo is selected for physical inspection. This guide follows that path in the order it happens.

What does importing into Brazil involve in practice?

Importing means buying from a supplier outside Brazil and bringing the goods in regularly, declaring what enters and paying the taxes. There are three main structures, and choosing the wrong one makes the whole process more expensive.

The three most common configurations in Brazil are:

• Direct import (on your own account): the company buys, imports and clears the goods under its own CNPJ, the Brazilian company tax ID. More control and a better unit cost at volume, but more operational responsibility.
• Importação por conta e ordem (import on behalf of a third party): a trading company runs the process in the name of your company, which remains the actual buyer. You keep ownership of the purchase.
• Importação por encomenda (import to order): the trading company buys with its own funds and resells to you with the goods already cleared. Less operational exposure, thinner margin.

There is also a difference between formal and simplified imports. The simplified route serves lower-value shipments with a leaner procedure, and for express parcels the courier company files the declaration. The formal route is the one for recurring commercial operations, and it requires the company to be registered beforehand.

Who can import into Brazil: an individual or a company?

An individual, identified by a CPF (the personal taxpayer number), can receive international shipments for personal use within the legal limits and with no commercial purpose. That covers a one-off purchase. It does not sustain a business.

To import regularly and resell, the route is a CNPJ registered in Radar, the customs registration that opens access to Brazil's foreign trade systems. Radar has categories based on the company's estimated financial capacity. In the limited category, the ceiling is US$ 50,000 or US$ 150,000 in imports per six-month period, and above that the company is classed as unlimited. Source: Receita Federal, Normative Instruction RFB No. 1,984/2020, checked in September 2026.

An honest comparison: importing as an individual looks simpler, but you lose tax credits, build no history with the Receita Federal and have no tool to scale. Once importing becomes part of your business, moving to a CNPJ stops being red tape and becomes a saving.

What are the steps of an import, from order to delivery?

The sequence below is the backbone of almost any operation, from a full container to an express shipment of samples.

1. Select and vet the supplier. Check production capacity, certifications and track record, and order a sample before committing to volume.
2. Negotiate and set the Incoterm. This decides who pays freight, insurance and duties, and at which point the risk passes to you. The guide to Incoterms explains each term.
3. Check the product's requirements: correct tariff classification, the need for an import licence and approval from a regulatory agency. Classification starts from the product's HS code, which Brazil extends into the eight-digit NCM.
4. Ship and issue the documents. The commercial invoice, packing list and transport document must match one another, and a mismatch here is the most common reason for a hold. The full list is in the guide to documents for import and export.
5. Move the goods internationally by air, sea, road or express, depending on urgency, weight and value.
6. File the import declaration in the customs system, with the cargo data and the calculated taxes. In 2026 this is mostly the Duimp on the Portal Único, as explained in the guide to Siscomex imports in Brazil.
7. Go through channel selection. The declaration is routed to a channel that decides between document review, physical inspection or automatic release.
8. Clear customs and pay. Once the review is complete and the taxes are paid, the goods are released.
9. Deliver domestically, from the point of entry to your address or distribution centre.

How much does it cost to import into Brazil?

The classic beginner's mistake is to compare the product's price abroad with its price in Brazil. The number that matters is the landed cost: the cost of the goods delivered and cleared. The full calculation, line by line, is in the guide to landed cost.

The table lists the components that make up that number in a Brazilian import:

Two points change the calculation in 2026. For international purchases by individuals, the rule the Receita Federal applies today is zero Import Duty on shipments of up to US$ 50 bought on a platform certified under the Remessa Conforme programme, and 60% above that, with a fixed deduction of US$ 30. ICMS still applies in every case, at 17% to 20% depending on the state. Source: Receita Federal, page reviewed on September 14, 2026.

The legal basis changed in September. Law No. 15,502 of September 10, 2026 authorised the Ministry of Finance to set, by its own act, a zero rate for the bracket of up to US$ 50 and 30% for the bracket of up to US$ 3,000, depending on the shipping mode and on membership of a compliance programme. Until the act for the 30% bracket is published, the current rule applies. Source: Law No. 15,502 of September 10, 2026.

For business imports, the rate depends on the product's tariff classification and on the applicable regime, and that is what needs confirming before you close the order. If you are unsure about classification, talk to a despachante aduaneiro (licensed customs broker). A wrong duty estimate is what turns a projected margin into a real loss.

What are special customs regimes?

They are arrangements that suspend or reduce taxes in specific situations, always with conditions and deadlines. The ones that come up most often are drawback, which relieves imported inputs used to make goods for export; temporary admission, for goods that enter and later leave again; and the customs warehouse (entreposto aduaneiro), which lets you store goods with taxes suspended.

If your company imports inputs and exports finished products, study drawback with a specialist. It is the difference between paying a tax you later try to recover and not paying it in the first place.

Which government bodies take part in an import?

The Receita Federal is the customs authority and runs clearance. The operation is registered on the Portal Único de Comércio Exterior, Brazil's single foreign trade portal, which brings the trade systems together in one place.

Depending on the product, regulatory agencies join in: Anvisa for food, cosmetics and health products, Anatel for radio-frequency devices, Inmetro for goods under mandatory certification, and the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) for products of animal and plant origin. Checking this before shipment keeps cargo from sitting idle at a port or airport.

How long does an import into Brazil take?

The timeline has two parts: international transit and release time. Transit depends on the mode, and air or express saves weeks compared with ocean freight.

Release time depends on the inspection channel and on how consistent your documents are. A coherent declaration for a product with no pending approval tends to clear quickly. A value discrepancy, a doubtful classification or a missing licence puts the cargo under review, and from then on the clock belongs to the authorities, not to you.

That is why no import has a guaranteed timeline, and you should be wary of anyone who promises one. What does exist is a realistic range for your route, which your logistics partner can estimate, and a set of document habits that keeps you out of the physical inspection queue.

Which mistakes make an import more expensive?

Five mistakes account for most of the money lost by newcomers:

• Wrong tariff classification. It changes the duty rate and the licence requirement, and it can lead to a fine.
• Misdeclared customs value. Under-declaring is not a saving; it is a tax risk and an almost certain hold.
• Ignoring a regulatory approval. Finding out with the cargo at the airport means paying storage by the day.
• Picking the Incoterm out of habit. Each term shifts cost and risk, and the cheapest quote can be the most expensive in total.
• Documents that do not match. The invoice, packing list and transport document must tell the same story.

Frequently asked questions about importing into Brazil

Sources

• Receita Federal: Quanto vou pagar de impostos? (compras internacionais), atualizado em 14/09/2026
• Presidência da República: Lei nº 15.502, de 10 de setembro de 2026
• Receita Federal: Modalidades Limitada e Ilimitada de habilitação (IN RFB nº 1.984/2020)

The next step for your operation

Importing well is less about finding the cheapest supplier and more about controlling what you can control: the right documents, a suitable Incoterm, a confirmed tariff classification and a logistics partner who sees the operation end to end.

If you want to know which mode and structure fit your volume on routes into Brazil, open a DHL Express business account.