TCU calculates that R$ 300 million were no longer collected with the exemption given by Bolsonaro to pastors

A report by the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU) estimated that Brazil failed to collect R$300 million in taxes after the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) published an act that expanded the exemption from taxes paid by religious leaders. This Wednesday, the 17th, the Federal Revenue Service suspended the measure, which ended up creating a precedent for churches to question the collection of million-dollar social security debts.

The million-dollar amount appears in a confidential report carried out by an audit by the Court of Auditors last month. The figure considers amounts with “suspended liability” or “installments” between the years 2017 and 2023. The information is from the newspaper The globe.

“Also according to the RFB (Federal Revenue), the amounts involved that are suspended or in collection add up to a total of approximately R$300 million, of which almost R$285 million are suspended”, says the text.

The act that benefited religious leaders was published on the eve of the 2022 elections and was signed by the then special secretary of Revenue, Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes. The measure freed churches from collecting social security contributions on so-called prebends, a type of special remuneration through which churches pay pastors and other leaders. They are not considered “salaries”, but a type of payment “for religious purposes or for subsistence”.

At the time, Bolsonaro sought to consolidate the support of the evangelical segment for his campaign for re-election. But, according to Revenue technicians, prebends ended up becoming a mechanism for religious denominations not to collect social security contributions and Income Tax.

TCU requested the opening of an investigation to investigate alleged misconduct by the former Revenue Secretary

According to the newspaper O Globo, the TCU audit also recommended the opening of an investigation against Vieira Gomes. The process would be carried out by the Internal Affairs Department of the Ministry of Finance and needs to be analyzed by the plenary of the Court of Auditors. The report points out that the former secretary granted tax benefits “without observing legal and regulatory formalities” and that he may have committed a “disciplinary infraction and potential act of administrative improbity”.

Vieira Gomes was also a central character in the case of Saudi jewelry. The former Revenue Secretary acted personally to pressure agency officials to release a set of jewelry sent by Saudi Arabia to Bolsonaro. The entry of items into the country with an official delegation from the Bolsonaro government was blocked by tax officials in October 2021, as revealed by Estadão.

The secretary was dismissed at the end of May 20232. He had requested his resignation in April, but the current Revenue management blocked his departure, claiming that it was necessary to wait for the conclusion of an investigative procedure opened against him at the Federal Comptroller General ( CGU).

Estadão contacted the TCU, the Ministry of Finance and Julio Cesar Vieira Gomes, but has not yet received a response.