If my wife and I sell our home in Brasil, and we haven't lived there in a while, will we be hit hard w/ tax

Answer 1

Don't know about Brazilian taxes, but if you're a US citizen or resident it's treated exactly the same as if it was here in the US. If you didn't live in it as your principal residence for 2 of the 5 years prior to the sale the gain is fully taxable.

Assuming that you owned it for more than 1 year it will be taxed as a long term capital gain. The rate is normally 15%, unless your marginal rate is already 15% or less in which case it's 5%.

If you rented it out, you must recapture any depreciation allowed or allowable. That will increase your gain and therefore the tax.