Postage is the smaller half of the answer. Brazil assesses import tax at 60 percent of the customs value, and the customs value is not the contents alone: it is the goods, plus the freight, plus whatever cover was bought on them. Then the state adds its own tax on top. The money spent on shipping the box is itself inside the amount that gets taxed, which is why a cheap postal product and an expensive one are closer together in landed cost than they look on the label.
Brazil taxes what the shipment is worth delivered, not what the contents cost. Choosing a faster product raises both halves of the bill.
Receita Federal publishes the rates for the simplified taxation regime that covers postal and express consignments. Its taxation page, read on 2026-08-07, sets the customs value as the value of the goods, the freight and the cover added together, and applies the regime to consignments up to a customs value of 3,000 United States dollars.
| Charge | Rate | Base it is applied to |
|---|---|---|
| Import tax | 60 percent | The customs value of consignments addressed to individuals or to companies |
| Import tax, certified sellers only | Zero | Customs values up to 50 dollars on purchases from e-commerce sites certified under the Remessa Conforme program, for declarations registered from 12 May 2026 |
| ICMS, the state tax | 17 to 20 percent depending on the state | Goods, freight, cover and the import tax already added |
| Fee for postal dispatch | 15 Brazilian reals at its current value | Charged by the Brazilian postal operator on items presented to customs |
The second row is where most confusion starts. A zero rate on small values does exist in Brazil, and it is widely repeated as though it were a general allowance, but it belongs to the Remessa Conforme program, which certifies e-commerce companies that collect the tax at checkout. A parcel one person mails to another from a home address is not inside that program, so the rate that applies is the one in the first row.
There is a separate ceiling worth knowing. The country listing records that imports by mail, catalog orders included, are allowed up to a value of 500 United States dollars, and up to 1,000 for computer software, without needing an import license, provided the item is not for resale. Above that line an import license enters the picture, and it is held by the recipient rather than by the sender.
Every item containing goods needs the recipient's Brazilian tax identification number on the paperwork. Individuals have a CPF and companies have a CNPJ, and the country listing gives both formats:
Ask the recipient for it before the box is taped, and copy the digits exactly, punctuation included. This is the single most common reason an otherwise ordinary parcel sits in a Brazilian customs shed, and it cannot be fixed from the sending end after the item has left.
The customs declaration has to carry the addressee's landline or mobile number and email address where available, along with detailed information on the contents and their value. Vague descriptions slow clearance more than high values do.
Invoices, licenses, certificates of origin and health certificates go affixed to the exterior of the item, not tucked inside it. A document sealed within the box is a document the inspector cannot reach without opening it.
The listing warns that leaving the applicable postage and fees off PS Form 2976-A hinders clearance and causes delays. Fill that field in even when it seems irrelevant to the contents.
Used consumer goods appear on Brazil's prohibition list. The observations carve out exactly one route for them: they may be sent only to charitable organizations recognized by the Brazilian government as entities that serve the public interest. Relatives are not such an entity, however genuine the need, so a box of outgrown clothes or a working but secondhand appliance has no lawful path through the post to a family address.
Several other prohibitions on this listing are unusual enough to catch a careful packer. Playing cards are barred. So are primary educational books not written in Portuguese, which reaches a well-meant parcel of children's readers. Seeds and seedlings of coffee are named specifically, along with shrubs. Salted or smoked meat and other foodstuffs of animal origin are out, which covers jerky and cured sausage. Items whose fragility could cause harm to people or equipment are refused on their packing alone. And the edged-weapon entry is written in period language that still bites: poniards, stilettos and poniard blades, canes and umbrellas containing swords, daggers or guns, handcuffs and blackjacks.
Tobacco is handled by shipment type rather than by substance. Commercial shipments of cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars, loose and packaged tobacco, pipes and smoking devices are prohibited, as are commercial samples promoting tobacco or smoking merchandise. Medicines need a prescription from the attending Brazilian doctor, on the chemist's form, carrying the doctor's name, address and registration number, with a Portuguese translation. Saccharine and artificial sweeteners need permission from the Brazilian health department, and seeds generally need prior approval from the agriculture ministry.
| Product | Weight ceiling | Longest side | Length plus girth | Customs form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail Express International | 66 lb | 36 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-B inside PS Form 2976-E |
| Priority Mail International | 66 lb | 42 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-A inside PS Form 2976-E |
| First-Class Package International Service | 4 lb | Sizes per the international manual | PS Form 2976 | |
| First-Class Mail International | 3.5 oz letters, 15.994 oz large envelopes | Sizes per the international manual | None, unless otherwise required | |
| Airmail M-bags | 66 lb | Sack, not a box | PS Form 2976 | |
Brazil is a price group 13 destination for every one of those products, which is the far end of the postal pricing table; the same source puts Kenya and Nigeria in group 9 and Vietnam in group 6. Areas served is all of Brazil, the reciprocal express product is called Serca, and Global Express Guaranteed has been suspended on this route since 29 September 2024. Restricted delivery, delivery duty paid, international postal money orders and international reply coupons are all unavailable here too.
An express item carrying correspondence or business papers is endorsed BUSINESS PAPERS on the form, and commercial shipments travel with an invoice. Postage stamps, if you are sending them, are admitted only within First-Class Package International Service with Registered Mail service, and on no other product.
No price is printed on this page. A Brazil-bound parcel has two costs, and only one of them belongs to the carrier: the second lands on the person opening the box, and it moves with the declared value, the state they live in and the week the item clears. Send the weight, the measurements, the contents and the declared value through freight review and a person works through both halves rather than quoting one and leaving the other as a surprise.
Domestic legs price themselves. Two ZIP codes in the calculator returns live rates in seconds, which is the fast way to cost the run to a consolidator or a forwarding address inside the United States.
Postage is the smaller part of it. Brazil charges import tax at 60 percent of the customs value under the simplified regime, and the customs value is the goods plus the freight plus the cover, so the shipping charge is inside the taxed amount. State ICMS of 17 to 20 percent follows. A person prices the lane through freight review rather than an automated quote.
Not for a parcel one person mails to another. The zero rate on customs values up to 50 dollars belongs to purchases from e-commerce sites certified under the Remessa Conforme program, for declarations registered from 12 May 2026. A gift posted from a home address is outside that program.
It is the Brazilian tax identification number of the person receiving the goods, written 000.000.000-00. The country listing requires an importer tax ID on every item containing goods, and companies use a CNPJ in the form 00.000.000/0000-00 instead. Without it the item cannot be cleared.
Only to a charity. Used consumer goods appear on the prohibition list, and the single exception in the observations is a charitable organization recognized by the Brazilian government as serving the public interest. A box of hand-me-downs to relatives does not qualify.
66 lb on Priority Mail Express International and Priority Mail International, both limited to 79 inches of length plus girth. Brazil sits in price group 13, which is at the costly end of the postal pricing table and well above the groups used for Kenya, Nigeria or Vietnam.
Brazilian import taxation has changed more than once in the past two years and the certified-seller rules carry their own start dates. Read the Receita Federal pages again before relying on a rate quoted here.