If you ship anything from the US to Brazil, you eventually run into Receita Federal. The rules are not particularly secret, but they are particularly strict — and the gap between "how it's supposed to work" and "how it actually works at a Centro de Distribuição dos Correios" is wider than in most countries we ship to. This guide walks through both.
The thresholds — what's duty-free and what isn't
Brazil's de minimis for personal imports is $50 USD per package, and the rules around that threshold are unusually specific:
- The shipment must be a "remessa internacional" between two private individuals — sender and recipient are both pessoas físicas.
- The customs declaration must indicate "presente" (gift).
- Total declared value (including shipping) must not exceed $50 USD.
If those three conditions are met, the package clears Receita Federal duty-free. If any of them fail — sender is a company, value over $50, declaration is "merchandise" rather than "gift" — the package is treated as a commercial import and dutied accordingly.
The $50 threshold has been in place for years and the political conversation about raising or eliminating it has stalled. Plan your imports assuming $50 stays.
Correios vs. DHL/UPS/FedEx — picking the right path
You have two routing decisions to make for any US-to-Brazil shipment:
Path A: USPS → Correios
Cheapest. Slowest. Most customs-review-prone. USPS hands the package to Correios at the Brazilian border; Correios handles last-mile delivery. Typical end-to-end timing: 12-25 business days, with 5-15 of those days spent at the customs hub in Curitiba or São Paulo for review.
If the package is over $50 USD or otherwise flagged for tax, Correios processes it through the Importa Fácil regime — meaning you receive a notification (via Minha Importação portal or SMS) to pay the assessed taxes online before the package is released for delivery. The pay-then-release flow takes another 3-7 days.
Path B: DHL Express, UPS Worldwide Saver, or FedEx International Priority
More expensive. Faster. Smoother customs experience because the courier acts as your customs broker. They prepay any duty on your behalf and bill you at delivery. Typical end-to-end: 4-7 business days door-to-door.
Recommendation: Use DHL/UPS/FedEx for any shipment over $50 USD. The hassle and time savings outweigh the price difference once duty applies anyway. Use Correios only for small ($50-) gift-classified parcels.
How the 60% federal + ICMS actually stacks
For shipments over $50 USD that aren't gift-exempt, here's the structure of duties:
- Imposto de Importação (federal): 60% of (declared value + shipping + insurance).
- ICMS (state): 18-25% depending on which state your delivery address is in. São Paulo state is 18%; Bahia, Minas Gerais, and most others are 18-20%; some are higher. ICMS is calculated after federal tax, on (declared value + shipping + federal tax).
The effective combined rate ends up around 89-93% on most personal imports. So a $200 USD parcel can easily generate $180+ USD in taxes before final delivery.
This is why the $50 threshold matters so much. Below it, you pay nothing. Above it, you pay nearly the value of the goods again.
Working with Minha Importação
For Correios shipments flagged for tax, Receita Federal sends you to Minha Importação (minha-importacao.correios.com.br). The flow:
- You receive an SMS or email notification when the package is held for tax review.
- Log into Minha Importação with your CPF.
- Review the customs assessment. If you disagree (e.g., the declared value or category is wrong), you can challenge it — but this adds 10-30 days.
- Pay the calculated tax via boleto, Pix, or credit card.
- The package is released for final delivery within 3-7 business days.
Common gotchas: the assessed value is based on the customs declaration, so if the sender declared the items as "merchandise" but the actual contents are personal-use goods, you might want to challenge the classification. Selectido marks declarations accurately for personal-use scenarios.
Customs declarations — what to write, what never to write
Here's where international parents and shoppers sometimes try to outsmart Receita Federal. Don't.
Write: the actual contents (e.g., "infant formula, vitamin supplements, cosmetics") and the actual retail value. Mark "presente" only if the package genuinely is a gift between two individuals (sender and receiver are different private persons).
Never write: a value lower than retail. This is illegal under Brazilian law (sub-faturamento), and Receita Federal does spot-check by comparing declared values against known retail prices for major brands. Penalty for being caught is the package being held, plus a fine of 100% of the original duty — meaning a $200 USD parcel becomes a $400+ USD parcel.
Also don't: ask Selectido or any other shipping service to mismark on your behalf. We won't, and even if a service did agree, the risk is on you when the package gets held.
✓ Do
- Declare the actual paid price including taxes
- Use clear, specific item descriptions
- Attach the original retailer invoice
- Include your CPF on the customs form
- Mark as "personal use" when applicable
✗ Don't
- Declare $50 to dodge the threshold — they audit
- Write vague descriptions like "gift" or "documents"
- Strip the invoice from inside the parcel
- Repack into multiple sub-$50 shipments — same CPF
- Lie about contents (electronics, jewelry, watches)
Splitting orders — when it makes sense, when it backfires
The strategy of splitting a $300 USD purchase into six $50 packages is technically allowed but practically risky. Receita Federal pattern-matches: if six packages with the same sender and recipient arrive at the customs hub within a few days of each other, the entire group can be re-classified as a single commercial import with combined value.
That said, splitting works well when:
- Packages go to different recipients (e.g., shipping to multiple family members at different addresses).
- Shipments are at least 30 days apart.
- Each package is a genuinely different category of goods.
It does not work well when packages stack up at customs in the same week.
What's actually worth importing
Given the duty math, what categories still make economic sense from the US to Brazil? Our experience:
Worth it:
- US-only prestige beauty from Sephora US (Drunk Elephant, Patrick Ta, Westman Atelier, Saie) — local prices 2-3× US retail when even available, so duty erosion still leaves margin
- Apple products when there's a specific configuration not sold in Brazil — duty included, often still cheaper than Apple Brasil's local pricing
- US-only pharmaceutical-grade supplements from Whole Foods or Costco — Brazilian local equivalents are often 3-5× the price
- Specialty baby formula not available locally (hydrolyzed, amino-acid-based) — see our full formula guide
- Low-volume gifts sent under the $50 threshold via Correios
Not worth it:
- Bulk Costco pantry items — too heavy and bulky after duties
- Standard Walmart-tier clothing — local prices often comparable
- Gaming consoles when local prices include warranty and reasonable margins
- Anything where the per-kg shipping cost approaches the item cost
Selectido handles all of this on your behalf — accurate declarations, carrier choice, hub-side packing optimized for Brazilian customs. If you want a specific shipment scenario quoted, the easiest path is to see our Brazil destination page or book a session with a specialist who can talk through your specific list and recommend the routing.