How to get paid by international students when you teach from Brazil

When teachers work out how to get paid by international students, almost everyone ends up at one of these four doors. The difference is who pays the fee, how much you lose on the exchange rate and what the student needs.

• International card through a payment platform (Stripe). The student pays by card through a link or checkout, in dollars, euros or reais. It's the most familiar route for the person on the other end.
• Foreign-currency account details (Wise). You activate bank details in dollars, euros and other currencies, and the student sends a transfer the same way they'd pay someone in their own country. You can also send a payment request by link.
• Digital wallet (PayPal). Handy with students who already have PayPal, but according to its published table it has one of the most expensive currency conversions in this guide.
• Receiving account (Payoneer). It accepts payment requests by card and by bank debit in the United States, and receiving from another Payoneer customer is free.

There's also a Swift wire straight to your Brazilian bank. It works for large, occasional amounts, but there may be fees at more than one bank along the way and an exchange rate set by yours. Ask your bank for its fee table first.

Fees published on the official pricing pages, for accounts based in Brazil, checked in October 2026:

Fees change without notice, and each company calculates its exchange rate its own way. Before you choose, run a test: receive US$ 20 and see how many reais arrive. That's the number that matters.

The fee shows up on your statement; the spread doesn't. The spread is the gap between the commercial exchange rate and the rate the company uses to convert your money. That's what a pricing page means by "3.5% above the base rate".

Do the math per lesson. On a US$ 40 payment, every 1% of exchange-rate gap is US$ 0.40. Sounds small, but over 40 lessons a month that's US$ 16. At a 3% gap it's US$ 48, more than a whole lesson that disappears without showing up anywhere.

With a card through Stripe, the math is simple: with a foreign card, you pay 3.99% + 2% = 5.99% on the amount converted to reais, plus R$ 0.39. In return, the student pays the way that's easiest for them.

It depends on what you do with the money. If your bills are in reais, converting right away keeps things simple. If you pay for things in dollars, a dollar balance saves you from converting twice.

• Stripe with a Brazilian account converts the charge into your bank account's currency. You don't pick when the conversion happens.
• Wise and Payoneer let you hold a foreign-currency balance and convert whenever you want. That gives you control, but the dollar can drop before you convert.
• A Brazilian bank receives the Swift transfer and converts it on arrival, at the bank's rate.

What about IOF, Brazil's tax on foreign-exchange operations? Under Decree 6,306/2007 (art. 15-B, as currently worded), the exchange of incoming revenue from exports of services is taxed at zero, and other non-exempt inflows from abroad pay 0.38%. In practice, the rate depends on how the exchange operation is classified. Ask your platform or bank which category they use for teaching income, and keep the receipts.

Charging in dollars doesn't mean converting your price in reais. A student abroad compares you with their own market. Start from that range and check that, after fees, the numbers still work (the guide on how much to charge for private lessons helps).

• A round number in their currency. US$ 35 or US$ 40 a lesson reads better than US$ 36.47.
• Packages paid up front. A pack of 4 or 8 lessons paid in advance cuts the number of charges, and almost every charge has a fixed part in its fee. See how to put together a lesson package.
• Who pays the fee, in writing. Either build the fee into your price or tell the student it's on them. What you can't do is let them find out at the first payment. Put the rule in your lesson contract.
• Clear time zone and price changes. Say which time zone your calendar runs on and, if the exchange rate turns against you, adjust at package renewal, with written notice.

Students and companies abroad often ask for an invoice, a commercial document that records the charge. It doesn't replace a Brazilian nota fiscal (official tax invoice) when you're required to issue one, but it helps you prove where the money came from. Include:

• your full name and, if you have one, your CNPJ (Brazilian business ID); address and email;
• the student's or company's name, country and email;
• an invoice number and issue date;
• a clear description, such as "8 online Portuguese lessons, October 2026";
• amount, currency and payment method (card, transfer, link);
• payment terms and, if any, your cancellation rule.

Keep each invoice with the platform's receipt: together they back up what you report through the carnê-leão or as an MEI.

This is a summary of what we checked in official sources in October 2026. It isn't tax advice: it's the map for your conversation with an accountant (contador).

As an individual. Under Brazil's Income Tax Regulation (Decree 9,580/2018, art. 118), anyone who receives income from another individual or from a source abroad that wasn't taxed at source in Brazil pays tax every month, through the carnê-leão. Lessons paid directly by the student, in Brazil or abroad, fall here.

• Conversion: money received from abroad is converted to reais at the Central Bank's dollar buying rate for the last business day of the first half of the month before you received it (art. 119).
• Deadline: the tax is due by the last business day of the month after you receive the money, according to the Receita Federal.
• Expenses: running costs needed for the activity, recorded in a cash book (livro-caixa), can be deducted (arts. 68 and 69).
• 2026: Law 15,270/2025 introduced a tax reduction on income subject to monthly taxation. Up to R$ 5,000 a month, the reduction brings the tax to zero; between R$ 5,000.01 and R$ 7,350, it phases out gradually.
• Annual return: whatever went through the carnê-leão goes into your annual tax return, and the tax already paid is credited (art. 120).

As an MEI. Language teachers can register as an MEI, Brazil's micro-entrepreneur status (independent language instructor), and income from abroad counts toward the same R$ 81,000-a-year cap: according to the Receita Federal, the MEI has no extended limit for exports. Details in the guide on MEI for private teachers.

As a Simples Nacional microbusiness (ME). On export revenue, the Simples payment drops the share for Cofins, PIS/Pasep and ISS, among others (Complementary Law 123/2006, art. 18, § 14). But the ISS law (Complementary Law 116/2003, art. 2) doesn't treat as an export a service performed in Brazil whose result is verified here. Whether your online lessons count as an export is a question for your accountant. And in any case, income from financial investments abroad follows its own rules (Law 14,754/2023).

Tax rules change, and every case has its details: other income, a formal job, a student who is a company, an account abroad. Before choosing between paying as an individual and opening an MEI, or when the money from abroad grows, talk to a contador.

On Ludi, billing lives in the same dashboard you teach from. You set up lesson packages in reais, dollars or euros and choose how the student pays:

• Stripe: dollars and euros are charged by card, through Stripe.
• Wise: the student pays straight into your Wise account, in reais, dollars or euros, without Stripe's conversion. When the money arrives, you confirm receipt and the lesson credits are released.

The finance dashboard shows what has come in and what's still due, with no spreadsheet. See how it works on the for teachers page.