Sending Money to Brazil to Buy Property

From foreign account to registered deed

Get the CPF and pick the route

You need a CPF before a Brazilian bank, notary or tax office will deal with you. Decide whether the money lands in your own non-resident account in reais or goes through the exchange institution directly to the seller or an escrow arrangement your lawyer has set up.
Who: you and your lawyer. Time: days to a few weeks. Cost: low; a CPF is covered in its own guide.
Fix the price in the contract

State the price in reais, or take a lawyer's advice before writing it in foreign currency. Say who carries the risk if the exchange rate moves between signing and closing.
Who: lawyer. Time: with the promise-of-sale contract.
Open with an authorized institution

Use a bank or broker licensed for foreign exchange. Ask for the Valor Efetivo Total (VET) in writing, send them the contract and ask what else their compliance desk wants. Confirm the purpose code before you wire.
Who: you. Time: varies by institution, so start before you sign. Cost: the margin, shown in the VET.
Wire from an account in your own name

Send from your own foreign account. Money from a relative or a company creates a second question: a gift or an investment. Tell the institution before it happens.
Who: you. What can go wrong: a third-party sender stalls the compliance check.
Settle the exchange and pay IOF

The institution closes the exchange, collects 0.38% IOF and credits reais. Download the exchange confirmation the same day.
Who: exchange institution. Time: usually within days of the funds arriving.
Pay the seller, the city and the notary by traceable transfer

Pay the seller by bank transfer or Pix from the account that received the money. Pay ITBI before the deed unless the city says otherwise. Keep each receipt under the same reference.
Who: you or your attorney-in-fact. Cost: see closing costs.
Have the deed tell the story of the money

Ask the notary to record the amounts, dates, sending bank and exchange references in the payment clause. Read the draft before signing.
Who: notary, checked by your lawyer.
Register, then archive the file

Ownership moves at the Registro de Imóveis. When the registered certificate arrives, put it with the exchange and payment records and keep several copies, in Brazil and at home.
Who: you or your lawyer. Time: the registry has 5 or 10 business days from filing under Law 6.015/1973, art. 188, if nothing is missing.

How the money gets to Brazil

Foreign money reaches a Brazilian seller in two moves. You sell dollars, euros or pounds to an institution the Banco Central has authorized to deal in foreign exchange, and that institution credits reais to an account in Brazil. Then reais travel from that account to the seller. Law 14.286/2021, the exchange law in force since the end of 2022, says exchange operations run only through authorized institutions (art. 3). A swap with a friend who holds reais in Brazil sits outside that system and leaves you with no record that the money ever came in.

The exchange is a contract even if you never see paper. Banco Central Resolution 277/2022 leaves the form free, but the institution must be able to prove both sides agreed the terms (art. 2). It may ask for any document it needs to understand the operation, following the anti-money-laundering rules in Circular 3.978/2020 (art. 7). It must hold on to those records for a minimum of ten years after the year of the event (art. 8).

For a purchase, expect the compliance desk to ask for the promise-of-sale contract or draft deed, your passport and your CPF. No national list fixes those documents, so two institutions can ask for different things. Ask for the list in writing before you commit to one of them.

You don't need to be in Brazil for any of this. A lawyer or an attorney-in-fact holding a power of attorney can sign at the notary while you send the wire from home. Check first that your institution accepts that power, because banks set that policy themselves.

The purpose code on the exchange

Every exchange carries a code saying what the money is for, and Resolution 277 puts the duty to state that purpose on the client (art. 4). Amounts up to US$ 50,000 use a short list in Annex III. Amounts above US$ 50,000 use Annex IV, where the entry for property is code 46215, compra e venda de imóveis (sale and purchase of real estate). Annex III has no property line, but the client can ask to use the longer list for a smaller transfer if the institution agrees (art. 4, § 2).

That matters when you pay in stages. A R$ 200,000 deposit is about US$ 36,900 at R$ 5.42, so by default it falls under the short list. Ask for code 46215 anyway, so every transfer on the same purchase carries the same label. A deposit labeled as a family transfer and a balance labeled as a property purchase look like two unrelated stories when a bank reads them ten years later.

Don't split a payment to stay under a limit. The eFX rule in article 49, covered further down, bans that outright, and a pattern of small transfers is what a compliance desk is paid to notice.

Whether you must register with the Banco Central

Older guides tell every foreign buyer to register the purchase with the Banco Central. That advice comes from the earlier rules. Under Resolution 278/2022, the reporting system called SCE-IED covers foreign direct investment, defined as a non-resident's direct stake in the capital of a company in Brazil, or other economic rights whose return depends on business performance (art. 2, V). The resolution's definitions don't name property.

Read that way, an individual who buys an apartment in their own name has no SCE-IED filing to make. One law firm, Alves Jacob, says so directly and adds that the use of the home, personal or rental, doesn't change the answer. That is a private reading of the text. The resolution does not state it in those words, and if your case is unusual you can ask the Banco Central at the address printed in its SCE-IED manuals.

Buying through a Brazilian company changes the picture. The company becomes the recipient of foreign investment, and it files. Transfers of US$ 100,000 or more must quote the SCE-IED code in the exchange, and the same threshold triggers an update of the company's information (Resolution 278). The company also takes on company tax and, from 2027, sits inside the new consumption tax on rentals.

A mortgage from your home bank doesn't enter this system either. Under Resolution 278, external credit means a debt a resident owes to a non-resident creditor (art. 2, I). A foreigner living abroad who borrows from a foreign bank is not a resident debtor. If you later move to Brazil and the debt is yours, reporting starts at US$ 1,000,000 for direct loans. Financing options covers the loan side.

What the transfer costs

Two charges matter: the IOF tax and the institution's margin. IOF is a federal tax on financial operations. Decree 6.306/2007, in the wording given by Decree 12.499/2025, puts 0.38% on money coming in that no other rule covers (art. 15-B, XXV). The Supreme Court restored Decree 12.499 by injunction in July 2025, and one law firm reported on 1 November 2026 that ADI 7.827 still had no final ruling. So the rate could change. Check it again the week you wire.

The margin is the gap between the rate you get and the market rate. Resolution 277 defines the Valor Efetivo Total (VET), a single figure in reais per unit of foreign currency that bundles the rate, taxes and fees (art. 18). On spot operations up to US$ 100,000 the institution must tell you the VET before the deal. Ask for it above that amount too, because it is the only number that lets you compare two offers.

Worked example at PTAX of R$ 5.42 (Banco Central, 30 Oct 2026), with an illustrative 1% margin
Item	Amount
Reais needed: R$ 1,000,000 price plus R$ 45,000 costs	R$ 1,045,000
Rate after the 1% margin	R$ 5.3658 per US$ 1
Gross reais so that R$ 1,045,000 is left after IOF	R$ 1,048,986
IOF at 0.38%	R$ 3,986
Dollars you send	US$ 195,495
Dollars at PTAX with no costs	US$ 192,804
Cost of the transfer	US$ 2,691

The 1% is an example for the arithmetic, not a market figure. Margins vary by institution and amount, and they are worth negotiating. The IOF is not.

Your own bank at home may also charge a wire fee and take a margin of its own if it converts the money before sending. Sending in the original currency and letting one institution do the conversion keeps the chain short and the paperwork clean.

Exchange rate risk and the currency of the contract

The real moves. A 5% swing around R$ 5.42 shifts the dollar cost of a R$ 1,000,000 price by about US$ 9,000 in either direction: US$ 175,747 at R$ 5.69 and US$ 194,175 at R$ 5.15. That is arithmetic, not a forecast. If the promise-of-sale contract gives you 60 days to close, you carry that risk for 60 days unless you bought the reais at signing or hedged.

Should the contract be in reais at all? The Civil Code voids agreements to pay in foreign currency unless a special law allows them (art. 318). Law 14.286/2021 is such a law, and its article 13, II allows foreign currency in obligations where the creditor or debtor is a non-resident, with an express exception for leases of property in Brazil. A clause that breaks article 13 is void.

So the text seems to allow a sale priced in dollars when the buyer lives abroad. At least one law firm sees it the other way: Alves Jacob says paying the seller directly in foreign currency isn't allowed, citing article 318 without weighing article 13. The two positions don't match, and the notary and registry in your city may have their own habit. The common route avoids the question: price in reais, exchange through an authorized institution, pay in reais.

If you want protection against the rate, put it in the commercial terms. You might agree a price in reais and fund it early, or set a date by which the exchange must be closed. Ask your lawyer to draft it, and don't leave it to an email between you and the seller. Buying directly from an owner covers the contract itself.

Fintech apps, crypto and suitcases

Consumer transfer apps usually run on the eFX license. Resolution 277 caps unilateral transfers, transfers between a person's own accounts and investment transfers through eFX at US$ 10,000 per operation, and it forbids splitting an operation to get around that cap (art. 49, § 1). They can suit a small deposit or a utility bill. They won't carry a purchase price.

Stablecoins and bitcoin got new rules in 2026. Resolutions 519, 520 and 521/2025 took effect on 2 February 2026 and treat international operations with foreign-currency stablecoins as foreign exchange. Resolution 561/2026, in force since 1 October 2026, then barred eFX providers from settling with their foreign counterparts in virtual assets; settlement must go through a normal exchange operation or a reais account held by a non-resident. Lawyers read the reach of 561 differently: some headlines called it a ban on stablecoins, while one lawyer quoted in the press said it limits only that settlement rail. IOF on these operations is also unclear. The Banco Central's rules don't set a tax, and press coverage treats a charge as a possibility.

For a property buyer the practical point is narrower. Paying a seller in crypto leaves you with no exchange contract to show a bank later, and a bank asked to send sale proceeds abroad wants to know how the funds arrived. If the only record is a wallet address, you have a harder conversation.

Cash is worse. Law 14.286/2021 lets a traveler carry up to US$ 10,000 or its equivalent outside the banking system (art. 14). Anything above that must pass through an authorized institution, and the excess can be forfeited after due process, along with whatever criminal rules apply (art. 14, § 3). Notaries also report suspicious transactions to the financial intelligence unit under CNJ Provimento 88/2019.

What the deed should show

The law's list for the deed is short. Under Law 7.433/1985, the notary notes three things as presented: proof of ITBI, tax certificates, and a certificate on ownership and liens (art. 1, § 2). The seller's statement under penalty of law, written into the deed, counts as proof that the seller's condominium dues are settled (art. 2, § 2). That law sets no wording about how the price was paid or about exchange contracts.

That is why you ask for more. A one-line clause saying the price "was received in full, of which the seller gives receipt" satisfies the deed and tells a future bank nothing. A better payment clause, and one your lawyer can request, gives:

the total price in reais, the same figure as the contract and the ITBI declaration;
each installment with its date and amount;
the method of each payment and the receiving account;
the amount of foreign currency converted for each one, the date, and the name of the institution;
the reference number of each exchange operation.

Notaries differ on how much they'll add, and it is their document. If yours won't include this, attach a signed payment schedule to the promise-of-sale contract and keep it with the file.

The price in the deed has to be the real one. Declaring less to shave ITBI and notary fees is a false statement, and it also cuts your own tax cost base. If you remit R$ 1,000,000 and the deed says R$ 700,000, you have R$ 300,000 you can't explain on the way out and a capital gain R$ 300,000 larger when you sell.

Keeping the evidence to take the money home

Brazil has no rule that traps foreign capital in a property. Law 14.286/2021 gives foreign capital the same legal treatment as national capital (art. 9). What you face at sale is a practical test. A bank has to accept the outbound exchange, and it will ask where the money came from and whether the tax was paid. The amended article 9 of Law 4.131/1962 makes remittances of profits, dividends, interest and similar amounts depend on proof of any income tax due.

The Receita Federal has a harder rule that many buyers miss. A non-resident seller's cost must be proved with sound documents, and if it can't be proved, the cost counts as zero (Normative Instruction 208 of 2002, art. 26, §§ 3 and 4). If the home sells for R$ 1,500,000, a lost file means tax on all of that instead of on the real gain. Selling as a foreigner shows what that does to the tax bill.

What each record proves later
Record	Who holds it	What it proves
Exchange confirmation	Institution for 10 years; you for as long as you own	Money came in legally, and how much
Foreign bank statement	You	The money was yours
Registered deed	Registry, you	Price and ownership
ITBI receipt	You, city	Value declared to the city
Invoices for documented works	You	Additions to your cost

Ten years sounds like a long time until you remember you might own the home for twenty and the institution has merged twice. Scan everything at closing and keep your own copies. If you are heirs dealing with a parent's purchase, see inheritance and property: this file becomes the cost record for the estate.

Whether you need a Brazilian account

A person living abroad can hold a real-denominated account in Brazil without a visa. Law 14.286/2021 and Resolution 277/2022 (arts. 67 to 68-A) give non-resident accounts the same treatment as residents' accounts, and the old "CDE" category was revoked at the end of 2022. The account must be opened at an institution licensed for foreign exchange. Each bank writes its own admission policy, so opening one from abroad can be easy at one and impossible at another.

An account helps if you'll collect rent, pay IPTU and condominium fees, or hold the sale money for a while. The limits worth knowing: an ordinary deposit account has no cap on exchange operations, while a prepaid payment account is capped at R$ 100,000 per movement outside exchange-linked transactions (art. 67). Payments above R$ 10,000 in a non-resident account held by a foreign institution have their own rule (art. 68), which doesn't affect an individual buyer.

Your account is for your money. Under this part of the resolution, an individual can't let a third party use it to receive funds. If a tenant pays you there, or your property manager sends rent, the rent is yours and the tax on it has to be dealt with before you send it abroad. Your CPF must stay current too: foreigners with an address abroad update it each year through the Receita Federal's app, and a missed update can put the CPF itself in trouble.

Money from a relative or a company

Parents often fund a purchase, and companies often hold the savings. Both turn a simple transfer into a question the bank and the tax office will each ask.

A gift from a parent abroad to a child who is buying in Brazil is a donation. Since Complementary Law 227/2026, the state where the donee lives can tax that donation under ITCMD, and if both people live abroad the tax goes to the state where the asset sits in Brazil (art. 159). Each state still has to pass its own law, so a state law published in 2026 applies from 2027 at the earliest. The rules are in the ITCMD chapter of the inheritance guide.

A loan from a parent is different in law but looks the same on a bank statement. Write it down, with a date and terms, before the money moves. If the money comes from a company you control, the buyer should normally be that company, or the company should first pay you a documented dividend, salary or loan so the money is yours when it leaves your account.

When the property changes the plan

Some homes change the payment plan. If you buy off-plan, as many do in Florianópolis and São Paulo, you may wire money every month for three years, and each transfer needs its own record. Index-linked installments under off-plan contracts also grow in reais, so a small monthly wire can fall short.

On the coast, a home on federal marine land can require a payment to the federal government before the sale goes through. By law the seller owes the 5% laudêmio, but the deed won't go ahead without it (Decree-Law 2.398/1987, article 3). So before you send the balance for an apartment on the beachfront in Jurerê Internacional or a house in Búzios, read the marine-land guide and agree in writing who pays, and when.

Land sold with possession rights only needs extra care. In Trancoso and other coastal villages you may be offered a home with posse and no registered title. There may be no deed for the notary to write and no registered price to back up your exchange file. Your contract and bank records then carry the whole weight of proof.

When you're ready to compare homes, the listings show owner and broker offers with prices in reais, which is the figure your exchange plan has to reach.

Questions

Do I have to register my property purchase with the Banco Central?

An individual buying in their own name generally has no SCE-IED filing, because Resolution 278/2022 defines foreign direct investment around stakes in Brazilian companies and business returns. A company that buys does report. The resolution doesn't address individuals and property in so many words, so ask a lawyer if your case is unusual.

Can I pay the seller in dollars outside Brazil?

Art. 13, II of Law 14.286/2021 appears to allow foreign currency in obligations with a non-resident party, but at least one law firm reads the rule against it on property sales, and you lose the exchange record you would need later. The usual route is an exchange through an authorized institution and payment in reais.

How much tax is charged when I send money in?

IOF at 0.38% on the exchange under art. 15-B, XXV, of Decree 6.306/2007. There is no income tax on bringing your own money in, but the rate decree has been challenged at the Supreme Court, so check it the week you wire.

Can I use a transfer app to buy a home?

Only for small sums. eFX services are capped at US$ 10,000 per operation for these transfers, and splitting a payment to beat the cap is forbidden by Resolution 277/2022, art. 49, § 1.

Can I bring cash in a suitcase?

Up to US$ 10,000 or its equivalent can be carried without going through a bank. Above that, Law 14.286/2021 requires an authorized institution and the excess can be forfeited.

Do I need a Brazilian bank account to buy?

Not by law, though most buyers find one useful for paying the seller, taxes and bills. Non-residents can hold one without a visa, subject to each bank's policy, under Resolution 277/2022, art. 67.

What happens if I lose the exchange contract?

Ask the institution for a copy: it must keep the records for at least ten years. If you can't show what you paid when you sell, the Receita Federal treats a non-resident's cost as zero under Normative Instruction SRF 208/2002 (§ 4 of art. 26).

Is the money stuck in Brazil once I buy?

No rule locks it in. When you sell, a bank needs to see your paperwork and proof of capital gains tax paid, and the outbound exchange carries its own IOF.

Sources

Written by Lucas Andrade. Updated November 2026. General information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Ask a Brazilian lawyer about your own case.