Pix has made the last step of a transfer from the US to Brazil close to instant: once a provider releases the money in Brazil, it reaches the recipient's account in seconds, at any hour. What still varies is everything before that step, from the exchange rate and the 0.38% IOF tax on the conversion to the identification rules built around the CPF taxpayer number. Each is covered below, along with Brazilian tax on gifts and the dates that slow deposits. For the basics of any international transfer, see the money transfer hub.
Can you send money from the US to a Pix key?
Yes, if your provider pays out through a Brazilian partner institution: the recipient gives you a Pix key, and the reais land in their account within seconds.
Pix is the instant payment system the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB) launched in November 2020. Like Colombia's Bre-B, it is domestic: the US provider sells your dollars through an exchange institution authorized in Brazil, which then credits the reais by Pix. Recipients pick their keys from four types: the CPF, a mobile number with the +55 country code, an email address or a random 32-character key. An individual can register up to five per account. Inside Brazil, a Pix payment shows the payee's name before it is confirmed; ask whether your provider shows the same check before you pay.
Pix limits mostly affect the payments your relative makes, not the money arriving. By default, transfers an individual sends to other individuals between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. are capped at R$1,000, a limit the account holder can adjust in the bank's app. Fees, key management and security features are covered in our guide to Pix in Brazil.
How much IOF applies to money sent to Brazil in 2025 and 2026?
It is 0.38% of the reais received in both years, because the 2025 decrees that raised IOF on many currency purchases left inbound transfers alone.
IOF is Brazil's tax on financial operations, and every foreign-exchange conversion carries it. Decree 6,306 of 2007 sets the rates. In May and June 2025 the government raised them on many operations, so a Brazilian resident buying dollars or sending money abroad now pays as much as 3.5%. Congress voted to suspend those decrees, but the Supreme Federal Court restored them on July 16, 2025, leaving Decree 12,499 of June 11, 2025 in force. Money entering Brazil to be converted into reais kept the 0.38% rate throughout, and nothing changed for 2026. The episode is a reminder that IOF moves fast: Brazil's constitution lets the executive change its rates by decree, without the waiting period that applies to most new taxes, so check the current rate before a large transfer.
The Brazilian institution that converts the money collects the tax, usually by deducting it from the reais credited or by building it into the quoted rate. Brazilian rules also require it to disclose the VET (valor efetivo total), an all-in rate that includes its charges and the IOF, so offers can be compared on one number.
Worked example: What $1,000 sent to a Pix key delivers
The mid-market rate stood near R$5.396 per dollar on November 1, 2026, which put $1,000 at R$5,396.00 before any cost. Now take a quote with a $6.00 fee and a rate of R$5.30:
- Conversion: 1,000 × 5.30 = R$5,300.00, a margin of (5.396 − 5.30) ÷ 5.396 = 1.78%, which costs R$96.00, or $17.79.
- IOF: 0.38% of R$5,300.00 is R$20.14, or $3.73, leaving R$5,279.86 for the Pix credit.
- Fee: $6.00, paid on top, so you pay $1,006.00 in all.
The total cost is $17.79 + $3.73 + $6.00 = $27.52, or 2.75% of the $1,000 sent. Put another way, the all-in rate is R$5,279.86 ÷ $1,006 = R$5.25 per dollar paid, the number to compare across quotes.
World Bank costs and real rates for the US to Brazil route
The World Bank's total is the fee plus the exchange-rate margin, so the IOF comes on top of the averages below.
| Amount sent | Average fee | Exchange-rate margin | Total cost (% of amount) | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $200 | $5.29 | 2.98% | 5.63% | $11.24 |
| $500 | $7.72 | 2.98% | 4.52% | $22.62 |
The average margin does not shrink as the amount grows: it is the same on $500 as on $200, so on the larger transfer it costs nearly twice the fee. Nearby corridors behave differently, since the average margin narrows on $500 for transfers to Colombia, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic. On this route, the exchange rate is the number to push on. The table below prices each amount at today's mid-market rate and again with a 1% or 3% markup; for the IOF, take a further 0.38% off each result.
| You send | At the mid-market rate | With a 1% markup | With a 3% markup |
|---|---|---|---|
| $500 | R$2,718 | R$2,691 | R$2,637 |
| $1,000 | R$5,437 | R$5,383 | R$5,274 |
| $2,500 | R$13,592 | R$13,457 | R$13,185 |
How providers build their markups into a rate is explained in exchange-rate markups.
Account and Pix details to get from the recipient
Whatever the payout, ask for the recipient's full name and CPF, then either a Pix key or the bank details below.
| Item | How it is written | Placeholder |
|---|---|---|
| Recipient's name | As registered with the Receita Federal under the CPF | João Exemplo da Silva |
| CPF | 11 digits, written 000.000.000-00 | 000.000.000-00 |
| Pix key | CPF, mobile number, email or a random key (32 letters and digits in five groups, 36 characters with the hyphens) | +55 11 90000-0000 |
| Bank code | 3 digits | 000 |
| Branch (agência) | 4 digits | 0001 |
| Account number and type | Number plus check digit; checking, savings or payment account | 00000000-0, checking |
| Address and purpose | Recorded by the exchange institution before it converts | Family support |
| IBAN, for SWIFT wires only | 29 characters, starting with BR | BR00 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000 000C 1 |
Account type matters as much as the number. A checking account (conta corrente), a savings account (conta poupança) and a payment account at a digital institution (conta de pagamento) can all receive transfers, but the type on your form must match the account. Brazilian mobile numbers have a 2-digit area code followed by 9 digits starting with 9. For a SWIFT wire, the receiving bank may ask for the IBAN, explained in IBAN explained.
Why does a Brazilian recipient need a CPF?
Because Brazilian rules tie every foreign-exchange operation to an identified customer, and for a Brazilian resident that identifier is the 11-digit CPF taxpayer number.
The Receita Federal issues the CPF, and foreign residents of Brazil can get one too. When money arrives from abroad, the Brazilian institution records the recipient's name, CPF, address and the reason for the payment, along with the bank details, before converting it. If the name on your transfer does not match the one registered to the CPF, the payout can stall while the institution checks. Before a large transfer, the recipient can also confirm on the Receita Federal website that the CPF's status is regular, since a pending or suspended registration can hold up banking operations.
Two thresholds shape larger transfers. Exchange operations of up to R$10,000 can be settled in cash, while anything larger must be paid into an account or by check. Services that use the eFX model, in which a foreign provider works through an authorized Brazilian partner, can handle personal transfers of up to US$10,000 per operation, and splitting a larger sum to stay under that cap is not allowed; bigger amounts have to go as a regular exchange transfer through a bank or broker.
Do Brazilians pay tax on money from relatives abroad?
Not income tax: gifts are exempt under Brazil's income tax law, though the conversion pays IOF and large gifts may face state gift tax from 2027.
Law 7,713 of 1988 exempts donations and inheritances from personal income tax (IRPF). A recipient who files a return anyway reports the money as exempt income, on the donations and inheritances line, which also documents where savings or a property purchase came from.
The state gift and inheritance tax, ITCMD, is the open question. Brazil's Supreme Federal Court ruled in 2021 that states could not tax gifts from abroad without a national law, and Complementary Law 227, signed on January 13, 2026, now supplies one: when the donor lives abroad, the tax belongs to the state where the recipient lives, at progressive rates. Each state still has to pass its own law, and constitutional rules on timing mean the tax cannot be charged before 2027. For a family receiving a few hundred dollars a month for living costs, the practical burden is the IOF; for a large sum toward a house, check the rules of the recipient's state first.
US rules that still apply when the money goes by Pix
Pix speed does not change how the US treats the sending side. The federal excise tax on remittances, in place since January 1, 2026, comes to 1% of the amount sent, on transfers paid with cash, a money order, a cashier's check or a similar physical instrument. Fund the transfer from your bank account or a US-issued card and no tax is due; the proposed rules are summarized in US remittance transfer tax.
Federal disclosure rules require the receipt to list taxes that others collect on the transfer, such as Brazil's IOF, and the reais that will arrive after them. The right to cancel lasts 30 minutes after paying, for a full refund, but only until the money is deposited, which by Pix can be almost immediate. Errors can be reported for 180 days after the promised delivery date; both rights are set out in remittance transfer rights.
The error rules have a gap that matters for a key-based system. If you supply wrong account details and the money lands in someone else's account, the rules do not require a refund, as long as the provider warned you of that risk before you paid and makes reasonable efforts to recover the funds. Read the key back to your relative before you send.
Which dates slow down or speed up transfers to Brazil?
Brazilian bank holidays slow deposits by account number but not Pix, and the busiest month changes from year to year.
Central bank data show no fixed peak: the strongest month for personal transfers was March in 2023, July in 2024 and December in 2025, when US$437.2 million arrived, about a quarter more than the year's monthly average. Family dates still prompt transfers: Brazilian Mother's Day comes on May 9 in 2027, and Dia dos Pais, Father's Day, on August 8.
TED transfers and other bank clearing stop on national bank holidays, while Pix runs every day, according to FEBRABAN, the banking federation. The rest of 2026 brings Friday, November 20 (Black Consciousness Day) and Friday, December 25, and bank branches do not serve the public on December 31. In 2027 the weekday bank holidays are January 1, February 8 and 9 (Carnival), March 26 (Good Friday), April 21, May 27 (Corpus Christi), September 7, October 12, November 2 and November 15; branches usually open at noon on Ash Wednesday, February 10.
What can your family do if a Pix scam hits them?
Report it to their bank at once and ask it to open a MED claim, the Pix refund mechanism, which allows up to 80 days from the payment.
The Mecanismo Especial de Devolução (MED) covers fraud, scams, crimes and operational failures, not regret over a purchase, a wrong amount typed by the payer or a mistaken key. The bank has up to seven days to assess a fraud claim, and any refund depends on money still being available in the accounts involved. Since February 2026, MED 2.0 can follow the money through later transfers to other accounts, which improves the odds of recovery when victims act quickly. Since September 1, 2026, a merchant or other recipient whose legitimate payment was clawed back through a false MED claim also has 80 days to contest it.
That change targets a trick aimed mainly at shops and service providers, though it works on anyone with a Pix key. A fraudster sends a real Pix, claims it was a mistake and asks for the money back by a new Pix to a different key, then files a fraud claim on the original payment, so the victim loses twice. The fix is to return any mistaken payment with the refund function attached to the original transaction in the bank's app, never with a new transfer.
The MED protects people paying by Pix inside Brazil. A transfer you make from the US falls under US rules instead, and those cover provider errors rather than a payment you authorized to a scammer; the warning signs are listed in money transfer scams.
How much money do Brazilians abroad send home?
About US$4.2 billion a year: personal transfers to Brazil totaled US$4,227.0 million in 2025, slightly below 2024, according to the Banco Central do Brasil.
| Country | Year | Remittances received | Share of GDP | 10 years earlier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brazil | 2025 | $4.8 billion | 0.2% | $2.9 billion |
The World Bank's series adds compensation of employees to personal transfers, so it sits above the central bank's figure. 2026 is running ahead of 2025: January to September brought US$3,268.0 million, 7.2% more than a year earlier, with March the strongest month so far at US$411.6 million. Measured against GDP, remittances matter far less to Brazil than to the Dominican Republic or Jamaica, as the World Bank table shows.