To send money to Brazil from the US, you need the recipient’s Brazilian tax ID (CPF for a person, CNPJ for a business), their bank details or a PIX key, and a transfer method that fits your timeline and budget. Expect three costs: a flat fee, an exchange rate markup, and Brazil’s IOF tax on the currency conversion. Large or cash-funded transfers can also trigger US reporting.
Recipient Information You Need Before You Start
Every transfer to Brazil requires the recipient’s tax identification number. For an individual, that’s the eleven-digit CPF (Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas). For a business, it’s the fourteen-digit CNPJ. The name on the transfer must match the name registered to that tax number exactly. A minor mismatch will cause the transaction to fail.
You’ll also need the recipient’s bank details:
- COMPE code, a three-digit number identifying the Brazilian bank
- Branch number (agência)
- Account number, including the verification digit at the end
- SWIFT/BIC code for international routing
Some platforms ask for the bank’s eight-digit ISPB code, used inside Brazil’s payment infrastructure. For major banks like Banco do Brasil, Itaú, or Bradesco, the SWIFT code is usually enough.
If your recipient gives you a PIX key instead of full bank details, that can work too. PIX is Brazil’s instant payment system, run by the Central Bank of Brazil, and it moves money between Brazilian accounts around the clock using a single identifier: a CPF, phone number, email, or a random alphanumeric code.1Banco Central do Brasil. Pix Cross-border PIX is still limited, but some remittance platforms convert your dollars to reais and then deliver the funds to the recipient’s PIX key as a domestic Brazilian transfer. Check with your provider before you send if PIX is how your recipient wants to receive.
Choosing How to Send
Bank Wire
A traditional wire moves money directly from your US bank to the Brazilian bank through the SWIFT network, sometimes via an intermediary bank along the way. Transfers usually clear in one to three business days, with delays possible around Brazilian holidays. Outgoing international wire fees at major US banks generally run $25 to $65, and some reach $85 depending on how the wire is initiated and the destination currency.
Digital Remittance Platforms
Online transfer services hold accounts in both countries. They collect your dollars in the US and pay out reais from local reserves in Brazil, which skips some of the intermediary steps that slow down wires. Flat fees are often under $15. The trade-off is the exchange rate: these platforms set their own, and the markup over the mid-market rate is part of how they earn. Compare the total amount your recipient will actually receive, not the headline fee.
Cash Pickup
If the recipient doesn’t have a bank account, some providers let them collect cash in person at a retail partner in Brazil using a reference number and valid ID. Fees and exchange rate markups are typically higher than for bank-to-bank digital transfers.
Submitting the Transfer
Once you have the recipient’s details, log into your bank’s portal or your remittance app and enter the recipient’s full legal name, CPF or CNPJ, and banking information. Pick a funding source. Debit from a linked checking account is usually cheapest; credit card funding, where offered, generally costs more.
Before you confirm, the platform will show the exchange rate, the flat fee, and the IOF that will be deducted. This is the moment to check the final amount the recipient will receive against another service’s quote. On larger transfers, a small difference in the exchange rate can outweigh a bigger flat fee. After you confirm, you’ll get a reference number to track the transfer.
You may also be asked to select the purpose of the transfer, such as family support, payment for services, or investment. This maps to a classification code the Central Bank of Brazil uses for foreign exchange reporting. Your provider handles the filing, but the code you pick has to match the real reason for the transfer. The wrong category can trigger audits or administrative penalties from Brazil’s Receita Federal.
What It Costs
Three things determine the total cost: the flat fee, the exchange rate markup, and Brazil’s IOF tax.
The flat fee is the visible number. Bank wires charge $25 to $65 or more; digital platforms often charge under $15 for the same route.
The exchange rate markup is less visible and often the bigger cost. Banks and services usually quote a rate worse than the mid-market rate you’d see on Google. The gap between the two is their margin. On a $1,000 transfer, a 1% markup costs your recipient about $10 in delivered value. Some platforms advertise the mid-market rate with a transparent fee; others advertise low or zero fees and bury the margin in the rate. The only fair comparison is the amount the recipient receives after everything.
The IOF (Imposto sobre Operações Financeiras) is a Brazilian federal tax applied automatically to foreign exchange conversions and deducted from what your recipient receives. The rate depends on the transaction category, and rates have moved recently: in mid-2025 the Brazilian government issued decrees that changed IOF rates across several foreign exchange categories, with some going up and some going down. Brazil has also signaled longer-term plans to phase out certain IOF charges on foreign exchange by the late 2020s. Because the rate that applies depends on your transaction category and the decree in force when you send, confirm the current rate with your provider or a Brazilian tax professional. The IOF amount should appear on the review screen before you confirm.
US Reporting That Can Apply to You
Cash-Funded Transfers Over $10,000
If you fund a transfer with more than $10,000 in physical cash in a single day, the bank or provider must file a Currency Transaction Report with FinCEN.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 US Code 5313 – Reports on Domestic Coins and Currency Transactions The institution files it; you don’t do anything, and it doesn’t mean your transfer is being investigated. Deliberately splitting a large cash transaction into smaller pieces to stay under $10,000 is called structuring, and it’s a federal crime even if the money is entirely legitimate.
Gifts to Someone in Brazil
If you’re sending money as a gift rather than as payment for goods or services, US gift tax rules apply to you as the sender, no matter where the recipient lives.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 US Code 2501 – Imposition of Tax For 2026, you can give up to $19,000 per recipient per year with no gift tax and no return to file.4Internal Revenue Service. What’s New – Estate and Gift Tax Above that, you’ll need to file IRS Form 709, though you likely won’t owe tax until your cumulative lifetime gifts exceed the lifetime exemption, which is over $13 million for 2026.
If You Hold a Brazilian Account Yourself
If you have your own financial account in Brazil, say one you use to manage funds for a family member, and the combined balance of all your foreign accounts tops $10,000 at any point in the year, you have to file an FBAR (FinCEN Form 114).5Internal Revenue Service. Report of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) The threshold is aggregate across all foreign accounts, not per account. FBAR is separate from your tax return and is due April 15, with an automatic extension to October 15.
What Happens on the Brazilian Side
Your provider handles Central Bank of Brazil reporting for the transfer itself. Larger transactions get reported through the Central Bank’s electronic system (SISBACEN); the threshold for mandatory reporting of deposits into Brazilian reais accounts was raised from BRL 10,000 to BRL 100,000 in September 2020.6KPMG. Brazil – Central Bank Has New Thresholds and Reporting Requirements Your job is to give the provider accurate information, including the correct purpose code for the transfer. The provider does the rest.