all international purchases will be taxed

All international purchase shipments sent to Brazil will be taxed by the new Value Added Tax (VAT), following the tax reform regulations. This includes purchases abroad of up to US$50, currently exempt from Import Tax through the Conform Remittance program.

In practice, Goods and Services Tax (IBS) and Goods and Services Contribution (CBS) will be charged on all purchases from foreign retailers such as Shein, AliExpress and Shopee. The standard rate, estimated at 26.5%, will be charged.

The extraordinary secretary for Tax Reform at the Ministry of Finance, Bernard Appy, minimized the measure. “In the new model, any international shipment pays tax, it is the concept of neutrality. Basically, the states are already talking about raising the rate, it won’t be much different from what it is today”, he said at a press conference, this Thursday (25/4).

Currently, in these shipments, purchases up to US$50 are exempt from federal tax, the tax is charged by the states, through the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS), at a rate of 17%. Since the beginning of the month, states have been discussing increasing this rate to 25%.

The tax reform regulations were delivered last night by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, to the National Congress. The proposal, which has almost 400 articles, provides that the average rate of 26.5% will be divided between 8.8% for (CBS), a federal tax, and 17.7% for IBS, a state and municipal tax.