Government bill marks a new phase in the Tax Authority's stance, says Revenue Secretary

The Secretary of the Federal Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated this Friday, 2, that the bill that will deal with compliance programs, tax benefits and persistent debtors marks a new phase in the Tax Authorities' stance, less punitive and more orienting, guided by increasing information. The idea is to see who enjoys benefits before cutting them and rewarding taxpayers' good behavior.

Divided into three pillars, Barreirinhas is committed to dialogue with Congress and society to advance the proposal, especially for more sensitive topics such as the reduction of tax benefits. “We have 4.5% of GDP in tax benefits, but who has these benefits? We are taking an obvious step, which is to see who enjoys the tax benefits in Brazil. It makes more sense before cutting the benefit, to exclude those who are there unduly,” she stated.

The other points of the project tend to generate less controversy. Compliance programs already exist or have already been tested and persistent debtors represent a very small universe, of around a thousand taxpayers, out of more than 20 million.

The bill was sent by the government to Parliament on Thursday, but the text has not yet been released. Even so, the Tax Authority called a press conference to explain the content of the proposal.

The secretary avoided talking about negotiations with Congress, and only emphasized that the government chose to send the proposal as a bill with constitutional urgency and not as a provisional measure – in this way, the deadlines for legislative evaluation are the same, but parliamentarians have more autonomy to suggest changes.

Conformity.

To encourage taxpayer compliance with the IRS, the agency wants to institutionalize three programs. One of them, “Confia”, has already been tested in a pilot project with nine companies and is aimed at companies with high revenues of R$2 billion annually.

When joining, the taxpayer has a prior opportunity to settle their debt within 120 days, with removal or reduction of fines.

“Sintonia” is aimed at all taxpayers in the country and has a universal nature. Anyone who has been certified as a good payer for a year will, for example, have a progressive reduction in CSLL payments of up to 3%.

There will also be a prior opportunity for self-regularization within 60 days, prohibition of listing of assets, in addition to preference in bidding.

Finally, on the compliance axis, the IRS wants to institutionalize the Authorized Economic Operator (OAS). If you join, the taxpayer will have priority in clearance, reduced customs checks, and faster release of their cargo. You can also count on a deferral in the payment of customs taxes.

According to Barreirinhas, the OAS is already a respected program in the area of ​​foreign trade, but it lacked a legal framework to provide security to the model.

Benefits.

In the Benefits Control pillar, the aim is to expand compliance and control of the more than 200 tax benefits with low governance currently granted by the government and approved by Congress.

According to Barreirinhas, with this initiative the IRS is implementing an “umbrella” rule for all tax benefits. The proposal is that every beneficiary will have to fill out an electronic form, “simple and quick”.

The idea is that the mapping can help the Revenue have more information about the tax benefits used in the country, which can help the government in the task of reducing benefits.

In 2021, Congress approved an amendment that determines that by 2028 the cost of these measures will be limited to 2% of GDP – currently the estimate is that they are equivalent to 4.5%.

Contumacious debtor.

Finally, the third pillar of the project wants to establish a registry of persistent debtors – the taxpayer who chooses not to pay as a “strategy”. According to Barreirinhas, the mapping should affect a very low number of tax payers, representing around a thousand out of a universe of 20 million taxpayers.

To be classified as habitual, they must accumulate an irregular debt greater than R$15 million, for more than one year.

Another criterion is that the debt is greater than the taxpayer's assets.

Furthermore, the persistent debtor is also the one who was involved in the excessive opening and closing of companies, and appears as a related party to the company written off or considered unfit in the last five years.

Upon entering this registry as a persistent debtor, if the taxpayer commits a crime, he will not have the benefit of extinguishing punishment through payment or installments.