Tariffs · EU → BR
Landed cost in Brazil: why four cascading taxes reshape your price
Jun 27, 2026 · 7 min read
In short
Importing into Brazil means paying at least four taxes that cascade: Imposto de Importação (II), IPI, PIS/COFINS-Importação and state ICMS. Because each tax is calculated on a base that already includes the previous ones — and ICMS is grossed up 'por dentro' to include itself — the combined burden typically adds well over half the CIF value, and often closer to double, before the goods leave customs. The exact figure depends on your NCM code and the destination state, so landed cost has to be modelled per product, not estimated from the duty rate alone.
The number on your commercial invoice is where the cost of importing into Brazil begins, not where it ends. The CIF value carries a stack of taxes that build on one another, and by the time the goods clear customs the combined burden typically adds well over half that value — on many product lines closer to double. Reading the import-duty rate as 'the cost' is the most common, and most expensive, mistake when pricing a Brazilian route.
Four taxes do most of the work, applied in order. Imposto de Importação (II), the import duty, comes first, charged on the CIF value at a rate set by your NCM code — generally anywhere from 2% to 35%. IPI, the excise tax, follows on the CIF-plus-II base, usually 0% to 15% but higher for goods deemed non-essential. Then come the federal contributions PIS-Importação and COFINS-Importação, around 2.1% and 9.65%. Last comes ICMS, the state tax, typically 17% to 20% (São Paulo sits at 18%).
What makes the arithmetic punishing is not the individual rates but the order. Each tax is calculated on a base that already includes the ones before it, and ICMS is levied 'por dentro' — grossed up so the tax forms part of its own base. In practice the pre-ICMS total is divided by one minus the rate before the rate is applied, so a nominal 18% bites considerably harder than 18% of the invoice would suggest. It is this tax-on-tax cascade that turns a modest headline duty into a landed cost half as large again as the CIF.
Above the four sit smaller but real charges — the SISCOMEX customs fee, the AFRMM levy of around 8% on ocean freight, plus brokerage and storage. The Mercosur-EU agreement is already cutting II on qualifying EU-origin goods, which helps — but it touches only the import duty. IPI, PIS/COFINS and ICMS are domestic taxes the trade agreement does not reach, so even a line that reaches zero duty still carries the bulk of the stack.
Who ultimately bears the cost depends on structure. II is a final cost that no one recovers; IPI, PIS/COFINS and ICMS can often be credited by a registered importer that resells onward, but a foreign supplier going through a distributor usually sees the full stack baked into the shelf price. That is why the choice of entry model — importer of record, distributor or local entity — changes the effective number as much as the rates do. One shift to watch: the CBS/IBS tax reform is in its pilot phase in 2026, with test rates already shown on import documents, and will gradually replace PIS, COFINS, IPI and ICMS through 2033 — a different regime, but not yet your operating reality.
Because every figure here turns on your specific NCM code and destination state, the only reliable landed cost is the one modelled for your product. A short scan maps your goods to their tariff line, the taxes that cascade on top and the entry model that minimises what sticks — so you price the route on the real number, not the invoice.
Business intelligence, not legal or tax advice.