Tax? on bringing new Apple Imac into Brazil?

While you might be tempted to put the IMac into your baggage and not declare it at Customs upon returning to Brazil you risk having it confiscated or at the very least paying a tax fine equal the value of the computer. Is it really worth that risk?

I would suggest the better way to approach the idea is to contact the Brazilian Customs office and ask if you may bring it into the country as items temporarily imported for personal use. This is assuming you are NOT a permanent resident. Usually anyone on some temporary visa, be it a tourist visa or work visa, can be exempt from any of these taxes since in theory you would be taking it back out of the country with you at some point in the future.

If you are a permanent resident you would do well to check with Customs anyway since you are allowed to bring in a certain value tax free upon returning to Brazil. Even if the computer exceded the amount allowed you would pay taxes only on the excess. At least that is my understanding on how it works.

Cheers,
William James Woodward - Brazil Animator, Expat-blog

Hi wjwoodward.

I am just now getting my permanent resident visa, cpf etc issued after 3 months in Brasilia and my wife and I are having all our belongings shipped to Rio ( our destination) from U.K. Regrettable we did not have the spare cash at the time to buy our new mac before leaving Uk and having it shipped with all our other goods.

Im going to look into this with customs.

Thanks again.

Since you are not yet a permanent resident your personal belongings should be tax exempt. If you have not already had them shipped I would suggest having someone in the UK buy the IMac for you and include it with your things to be shipped. If you have already had your belongings shipped you should still be able to bring it in with you as a temporary import, especially if you are going back there for a visit and returning to Brazil. Check it out with customs beforehand. At the very worst you will only pay tax on the excess of what you are allowed tax free and the actual price of the computer. Good luck.

Hey I've never been checked on airport. I think that you can be ok with mac on your personal baggage. Once I was able to get here a POS computer a lot of iphones and so on.
I think that you can't have more than one in your baggege. It would look strange when you have 3 macs but one is ok

thanks Gingo In Rio