How to import IT equipment into Brazil without a Brazilian company

To import IT equipment into Brazil without a Brazilian company, you need a Brazilian legal entity qualified in Siscomex to act as the importer: your customer, a trading company or an Importer of Record. That party files the declaration, pays the import taxes and answers for Anatel homologation and the rules on used goods.

Brazil is one of the largest technology markets in Latin America, and it is also one of the few large markets where a foreign company simply cannot appear as the importer on a customs declaration. Every import needs a local entity with a tax ID (CNPJ) and an active Siscomex qualification, known as Radar. For a vendor shipping servers to a Brazilian client, or a multinational opening a data center before its local subsidiary is ready, that rule changes the whole plan.

This guide explains how companies import IT equipment into Brazil when they have no entity there: which import routes the law allows, when Anatel homologation applies, how the tax cascade works, what happens with used or refurbished hardware, and how long clearance usually takes. If you are new to the concept, start with our explanation of what an Importer of Record is and when you need one.

Can a foreign company import IT equipment into Brazil?

Not in its own name. Brazilian customs only accepts declarations from a person or company registered in Brazil and qualified in Siscomex, so a foreign seller always needs a local party to take the importer role. The question is which local party that should be.

This is a sharper rule than in the United States, where a nonresident company can be its own importer with a bond and a resident agent, as we explain in our guide to the Importer of Record USA. In Brazil there is no equivalent shortcut. The importer must hold a CNPJ, have a responsible person registered with the Receita Federal and obtain a Siscomex qualification under Instrução Normativa RFB nº 1.984/2020, which governs the Radar qualification.

The Radar modality matters more than most foreign sellers expect. Each modality sets how much the company can import in a six-month period, and a recently created or small company may reach its ceiling with a single rack of servers. Raising the limit means a new request to the Receita Federal, supported by financial information, and that takes time. A company that plans to import high-value hardware should check its qualification before the purchase order is signed, not when the cargo is already at the airport.

The importer is also more than a name on a form. It carries the tax liability, it is the party the Receita Federal audits, and it answers for the accuracy of the classification and the value declared. Whoever takes that role needs to be solid, properly qualified and comfortable with the risk of the goods it declares.

Who can be the importer when you have no Brazilian entity?

There are three realistic routes: your Brazilian customer imports directly, a trading company imports on behalf of a Brazilian buyer, or an Importer of Record imports on its own account and resells the goods in Brazil. Each one puts the tax and compliance responsibility in a different place.

When the customer imports directly, the foreign vendor sells abroad and the Brazilian buyer handles everything else. It is simple on paper, but it only works when the customer has its own Radar, a customs broker and the appetite to manage the process, which many end users do not.

The second route uses a trading company under the rules of Instrução Normativa RFB nº 1.861/2018, which regulates imports on behalf of third parties. In an import "por conta e ordem", the trading company handles the customs clearance while the Brazilian buyer pays for the goods and is identified in the declaration as the real acquirer. In an import "por encomenda", the trading company buys the goods with its own funds and resells them to a Brazilian customer that ordered them in advance. In both cases, the end customer is also identified to customs and shares responsibility for the taxes.

The third route is the closest to what international companies mean by an Importer of Record in Brazil. A local company qualified in Siscomex imports the hardware on its own account, pays the import taxes, issues the Brazilian invoice (nota fiscal) and delivers the equipment to the final user. For a foreign vendor with a Brazilian customer that does not want to import, or for a group that needs equipment installed before its own subsidiary exists, this is often the cleanest structure.

Does your IT hardware need Anatel homologation?

If the equipment transmits radio signals or connects to a telecommunications network, it most likely does. Anatel's conformity regulation, Resolução nº 715/2019, makes homologation a mandatory prerequisite for using and selling telecom products in Brazil, and it lists the import of non-homologated products as a sanctionable conduct.

In practice, the question comes up with switches and routers that have Wi-Fi or cellular modules, wireless access points, network interface cards with radio functions, 5G and microwave equipment, satellite terminals and many accessories that ship with servers. A plain server without radio functions is usually treated differently, but the same order often carries optics, network cards and management modules that need to be checked one by one.

Homologation is product-specific and depends on certification by a designated certification body (Organismo de Certificação Designado) and, in many cases, on tests in an accredited laboratory. When the manufacturer already holds a Brazilian homologation for the exact model, the importer can rely on it. When it does not, the timeline changes: certification and testing can take weeks or months, so the review has to start before the shipment is booked, not after the cargo lands.

Anatel enforcement is real. Customs and Anatel cooperate at airports and ports, and shipments of non-homologated products can be held, returned or seized. For high-value hardware, a homologation gap is one of the most expensive mistakes because it blocks the entire lot, including the items that were compliant. That is why the review should cover every line of the packing list, including the small accessories.

How much tax will you pay to import IT equipment into Brazil?

More than in most markets, because several federal and state taxes are charged on top of each other at the moment of clearance. The main ones are the Import Duty (Imposto de Importação), the IPI, PIS/PASEP-Importação, COFINS-Importação and the state ICMS, and together they often add a large share to the customs value.

The Import Duty depends on the NCM code of each item in the Mercosur Common External Tariff, so servers, switches, storage arrays and accessories can carry different rates in the same shipment. The IPI is a federal excise tax with its own rate table. PIS and COFINS on imports have general rates of 2.1% and 9.65%, set by article 8 of Law nº 10.865/2004. ICMS is charged by the state where the importer is located, and because it is calculated "por dentro", it is included in its own tax base, which raises the effective burden.

The cascade is why the landed cost of a server in Brazil can be very different from its invoice price, and why the choice of importer and state matters. Sea freight adds the AFRMM, a merchant marine fee, and every shipment carries broker fees, storage and Siscomex charges. It is wise to model the full landed cost per item before you quote a Brazilian customer, not after the first invoice from the airport.

There are legal ways to reduce the bill. The Ex-tarifário regime managed by the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services temporarily reduces the Import Duty on capital goods (BK) and IT and telecom goods (BIT) when there is no equivalent production in Brazil. Since October 1, 2026, new requests go through an automated service on the gov.br portal. A request takes preparation and must describe the equipment precisely, so it works best for projects with repeated purchases of the same models.

Keep an eye on the tax reform as well. Brazil has started replacing PIS, COFINS, IPI, ICMS and ISS with two new taxes on goods and services, the CBS and the IBS, under Lei Complementar nº 214/2025, with a transition that runs into the next decade. For importers, that means quoting with today's rules while watching how each year of the transition changes the calculation.

Can you import used or refurbished servers into Brazil?

Only in limited cases. Brazil treats used goods as a special category: under Portaria SECEX nº 249/2023, imports of used goods require a non-automatic import license from Decex, and a license for used capital goods is only granted when identical goods are not produced in Brazil.

This rule catches many international companies by surprise. Refurbished servers are common in data center projects in other markets, and a lab or a group transferring equipment between subsidiaries may assume that moving its own hardware is a formality. In Brazil, the import license has to be requested and granted before shipment, the importer has to prove the lack of national production and the process involves the Department of Foreign Trade Operations (Decex), not only customs.

The ordinance has a short list of exceptions, and some situations allow temporary admission instead of a definitive import, for example equipment that enters for a defined project and leaves again. Each case needs a specific analysis, and the conclusion has to come before the equipment is bought or packed. If you are planning a project with second-hand hardware in several countries, our guide on how to import ASIC miners shows how differently destinations treat used machines.

How long does customs clearance take for IT hardware in Brazil?

When the documents are complete and the hardware needs no license, clearance of an air shipment can take a few days. When the declaration is selected for document review or physical inspection, or when a license or homologation is missing, it can take weeks.

Brazil now processes most imports through the Single Import Declaration (Declaração Única de Importação, or Duimp) in the Portal Único Siscomex. The government has been migrating operations from the old import declaration (DI) to the Duimp in phases, with the latest deadlines published in 2026. For the importer, the Duimp brings more data up front: the product catalog, the classification and the supplier data have to be registered and consistent before the declaration is filed.

After registration, the declaration is assigned to a verification channel. The green channel releases the goods automatically, yellow means a document review, red means a document review plus physical inspection, and grey adds a deeper check of the declared value and possible fraud. High-value technology shipments, new importers and new suppliers are more likely to be selected for review, so the documents have to be consistent from the start.

Most delays we see come from three places: a description on the invoice that does not match the classification, missing technical details for each item, and permits that were left for the last minute. A complete commercial invoice, a packing list with serial numbers, technical datasheets and any Anatel certificate or import license, all aligned with the Duimp data, are the best protection against a long hold.

What does a well-planned import of IT equipment into Brazil look like?

It starts weeks before the goods ship. The importer, the classification, the permits and the landed cost are settled first, and only then is the freight booked. In practice, a well-run project follows a clear sequence.

1. Define the import route and the importer, and confirm that its Radar qualification covers the value of the shipment.
2. Classify every item by NCM, check Anatel homologation for anything with radio or telecom functions and check whether any item is used or refurbished.
3. Model the landed cost per item, including Import Duty, IPI, PIS, COFINS, ICMS, fees and freight, and consider an Ex-tarifário request for repeated purchases.
4. Prepare the commercial invoice, packing list and technical documents so they match the product catalog and the Duimp data.
5. Ship, clear customs, pay the taxes and deliver the equipment with a Brazilian invoice to the installation site.

The order matters. Most of the expensive problems in Brazilian IT imports start when someone books the freight first and asks the customs questions later. If you also need export authorization at origin, for example for advanced GPU servers leaving the United States, add that step at the very beginning, as we describe in our guide on how to import AI servers.

When does an Importer of Record make sense in Brazil?

When you need equipment delivered in Brazil and neither you nor your customer has a qualified import structure, or when the structure exists but the project cannot wait. An Importer of Record lets the hardware enter legally, with the taxes paid and the compliance documented, while the business decides whether a local entity is worth it.

That situation is common in technology projects. A foreign vendor wins a Brazilian client that does not import. A multinational needs servers in a São Paulo data center before its subsidiary has a Radar. A company wants to test the Brazilian market with a few deployments before committing to a local entity. In each case, the alternative is either delaying the project for months or pushing the import onto a customer who does not want it.

An Importer of Record still follows every rule: the correct classification, the homologations, the licenses and a value that reflects the real sale. The gain is in responsibility and speed, because the qualification, the broker relationships and the procedures are already in place when your project starts.

If you already have a shipment in mind, tell us what it is and where it needs to go. The team at Comex IOR Services will look at the equipment, the route and the timeline and tell you honestly whether working with an Importer of Record in Brazil is the right structure for your project.