Yeap! That will be our wonderful "tax on imported goods": 60% on most purchases nowadays if I'm not mistaken, and certainly the reason your friend asked for a laptop. If the ppl at customs had suspected your laptop to be a new one, they would have searched it and, if/upon confirming it was new, would have charged u the tariff. It's one of the reasons why the ps2 was never officially launched by sony in brazil.