To receive money from Brazil, you give the sender in Brazil your full legal name on the account, your U.S. bank’s ABA routing number, your account number, the branch address, and your bank’s SWIFT (BIC) code; then, once the wire arrives, you handle any documentation your bank asks for and file the IRS forms that the size or source of the transfer triggers. The sender pays Brazilian taxes and fees on their end, but the reporting risk sits with you: a large family gift can carry IRS penalties of up to 25% if you skip the paperwork.
Banking Details to Send the Person in Brazil
The sender’s bank needs a specific set of information to route a wire into a U.S. account:
- Your full legal name exactly as it appears on the account
- Your account number
- Your bank’s ABA routing number
- The physical address of your bank branch, including city and ZIP code
- Your bank’s SWIFT code, sometimes called a BIC code1Swift. International Bank Account Number (IBAN)
U.S. banks do not use the IBAN system that Europe and much of Latin America rely on, so the routing-plus-account-number combination is what the sender’s institution will require. The SWIFT code is separate from the routing number and identifies your bank within the global interbank messaging network. You can find it in your online banking portal, on the bank’s website, or by calling the bank.
Check every character before you pass the details along. Transposing a single digit in a SWIFT code or account number can send the money to the wrong institution, and recovering a misdirected international wire is slow and not always successful.
What the Sender Handles in Brazil
Most of the compliance work in Brazil is the sender’s responsibility, not yours, but it helps to know why things sometimes stall on their side. Every individual sending money out of Brazil must supply a CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas), the Brazilian equivalent of a Social Security number; businesses use a CNPJ instead.2Ministério das Relações Exteriores. CPF for Foreigners The sender also selects a “Natureza da Operação” code telling the Central Bank the purpose of the payment: gifts and family maintenance, payment for services, education, and so on. A wrong code can get the transfer rejected or held for review.
Brazil also levies the IOF (Imposto sobre Operações Financeiras) on outbound foreign exchange, withheld automatically when reais are converted to dollars. The rate has shifted repeatedly through Brazilian court and legislative action; as of mid-2025 the rate for general outbound remittances stood at 3.5% following a Supreme Court ruling. The sender should confirm the current rate with their bank, because the tax comes out before the money leaves Brazil and directly reduces what lands in your account.
How the Money Reaches Your Account
Most transfers from Brazil travel through the SWIFT network, the messaging system behind the majority of cross-border bank payments. The sender submits your banking details through their bank’s foreign exchange portal or at a branch, confirms the rate, and the wire moves through one or more correspondent banks before landing with you. This typically takes one to five business days depending on the number of banks in the chain and whether any compliance reviews get triggered along the way.
Licensed digital foreign exchange platforms are a common alternative. They often offer tighter exchange rate spreads and lower flat fees than traditional banks. The sender funds the transfer from a Brazilian bank account through a domestic wire or a Boleto payment slip, and the platform handles the conversion and routes the funds to your U.S. account, sometimes faster than a bank wire because the platform holds pre-funded accounts in both countries.
Fees That Reduce the Final Amount
Several layers of cost sit between what leaves Brazil and what shows up in your U.S. account:
- IOF tax withheld in Brazil before the money leaves
- The sender’s bank or platform fee for the foreign exchange transaction, which varies widely
- The exchange rate spread: the offered rate is almost never the mid-market rate you see on Google, and the gap is an invisible fee that often exceeds the flat fees combined
- Correspondent bank fees for each intermediary in the SWIFT chain, typically $15 to $50 per bank
- Your U.S. bank’s incoming wire fee, commonly around $15, though some banks charge nothing and others more
On larger transfers, the exchange rate spread matters far more than any flat fee. A 1% spread on a $50,000 transfer costs $500. Comparing the offered rate to the mid-market rate at the time of conversion is the most effective single step to hold costs down.
What Happens When the Wire Arrives
Your bank may place a temporary hold while its compliance team reviews the incoming funds. On smaller amounts the review is usually invisible and the money posts within a business day. On larger amounts, expect questions. The bank may ask for a written explanation of the deposit, a gift letter if the sender is a family member, or documentation of the source of funds such as an invoice or contract.
Answer quickly. U.S. banks operate under anti-money-laundering obligations and can return the funds to Brazil if you don’t provide satisfactory documentation within their internal timeline. Having a gift letter or invoice ready before the wire lands saves days of back-and-forth.
Do You Owe U.S. Tax on the Money?
The answer depends entirely on what the money is for. The United States and Brazil do not have an income tax treaty, so there is no bilateral agreement to simplify reporting or prevent double taxation.3Internal Revenue Service. United States Income Tax Treaties – A to Z
Gifts and Family Support
A genuine gift or family support payment from a foreign individual is excluded from your gross income for U.S. tax purposes.4Internal Revenue Service. Gifts From Foreign Person You owe no federal income tax on a gift from a relative in Brazil regardless of the amount. You may still owe a reporting obligation, covered below, even when no tax is due.
Payment for Services or Business Income
If the money is compensation for work you performed, consulting fees, rent, or any other earned income, the full amount is taxable as ordinary income on your federal return. Without a U.S.-Brazil tax treaty, you cannot automatically claim a credit for the IOF the sender paid, because the IOF is a financial transaction tax rather than an income tax, and generally only foreign income taxes qualify for the U.S. foreign tax credit.5Internal Revenue Service. Foreign Tax Credit If Brazilian income tax was separately withheld on the payment, that withholding may qualify for the credit, but the mechanics are complex enough that a tax professional is worth consulting.
Inheritance
Money you inherit from a person in Brazil is generally not subject to U.S. income tax, similar to a gift. Brazilian estate or inheritance taxes may have been deducted before the funds reached you, and the reporting thresholds below still apply.
IRS Forms You May Have to File
Even when no tax is owed, U.S. law requires disclosure of certain foreign financial transactions. Missing these filings triggers some of the steepest penalties in the tax code.
Form 3520 for Foreign Gifts Over $100,000
If you receive gifts or bequests totaling more than $100,000 in a single tax year from any one nonresident alien individual or foreign estate, you must report those amounts on Part IV of Form 3520, and you must separately identify each individual gift over $5,000.4Internal Revenue Service. Gifts From Foreign Person A lower threshold applies to gifts from foreign corporations or foreign partnerships: the aggregate reporting threshold was $19,570 for 2024 and is adjusted annually for inflation.
Form 3520 is due April 15 following the tax year in which you received the gift. If you get a filing extension for your income tax return, the Form 3520 deadline extends to October 15.6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3520 (12/2025) It is an information return, not a tax payment; you are reporting the gift, not paying tax on it.
FBAR (FinCEN Form 114) for Foreign Accounts
This one applies if you hold any financial account in Brazil, not only if you receive a transfer. If the combined value of all your foreign financial accounts exceeds $10,000 at any point during the calendar year, you must file a Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts with FinCEN. The FBAR is filed electronically, is due April 15, and carries an automatic extension to October 15 without any paperwork to claim it.7Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) Many people receiving regular transfers from Brazilian family also keep a Brazilian bank account, which is what triggers this filing.
Form 8938 (FATCA) for Higher-Value Foreign Assets
A separate filing kicks in under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act when foreign financial assets get larger. Single filers living in the United States must file Form 8938 if specified foreign financial assets exceed $50,000 on the last day of the tax year or $75,000 at any point during the year. For married couples filing jointly, those thresholds double to $100,000 and $150,000.8Internal Revenue Service. Do I Need to File Form 8938, Statement of Specified Foreign Financial Assets Form 8938 is filed with your income tax return, not separately.
FBAR and Form 8938 are not interchangeable. They go to different agencies (FinCEN and the IRS), have different thresholds, and you may owe both for the same accounts in the same year.
Penalties for Missed Reporting Deadlines
The penalties for failing to report foreign gifts and accounts are disproportionately harsh compared to most IRS penalties, and they apply even when no tax is owed on the transfer itself.
- Form 3520: 5% of the gift amount for each month the filing is late, up to 25% total. On a $200,000 gift, that is $10,000 per month and up to $50,000 total. You can avoid the penalty by showing reasonable cause, but the IRS interprets that standard narrowly.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 6039F – Notice of Large Gifts Received From Foreign Persons6Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 3520 (12/2025)
- FBAR: non-willful violations up to $16,536 per account, per year. Willful violations jump to the greater of $165,353 or 50% of the account balance, per account, per year, and can include criminal penalties.
- Form 8938: $10,000 for failure to file, with additional penalties up to $50,000 for continued non-compliance after IRS notice.
For a large one-time transfer or recurring transfers from Brazil, a consultation with a tax professional generally costs a small fraction of a single month of Form 3520 penalties. They can confirm which forms you owe, help characterize the transfer correctly, and make sure everything is filed on time.