Publications

Recent Federal Tax Rules Issued in Brazil

Boletim, Tax

Recent Federal Tax Rules Issued in Brazil

2/5/2023

In the last few months, Brazilian legislators published a series of new legal regulations that considerably affect the Brazilian tax scenario regarding taxes administered by the Federal Union.

These rules brought a lot of changes in the assessment of taxes, as well as the Federal Tax Transactions carried out before the Federal Revenue.

In order to point out these changes, we have compiled below, in chronological order, the main legislations published during this period.

November 22, 2022 – Ordinance RFB No. 247/2022: Brings new regulations regarding the Federal Tax Transaction, revoking the rules contained in Ordinance RFB No. 208/2022. The main changes introduced by this Ordinance can be found in the Tax Bulletin of 12.22.2022.
November 29, 2022 – Provisional Measure No. 1.152/2022 – Repeals articles 8 to 23 of Law 9.430/1996, changing the rules for the calculation of Corporate Income Tax (‘IRPJ’) and Social Contribution on Net Profits (‘CSLL’), especially regarding the transactions subject to Transfer Pricing rules. In view of the numerous changes brought about by said Provisional Measure, we list the main changes in the Tax Bulletin of 01.05.2023.
December 20, 2022 – Regulatory Instruction No. 2.121/2022: Consolidates the administrative rules regarding the calculation, collection, inspection, tax revenues and administration of Social Integration Program (‘PIS’) and Social Contribution on Revenues (‘COFINS’), as well as , PIS/Pasep-Import and COFINS-Import. We listed the main highlights of this Ordinance in the Tax Bulletin of 12.29.2022.
December 30, 2022 – Decree No. 11.322/2022: Reduces the rates of PIS and COFINS levied on financial revenues, including those arising from transactions carried out for hedging purposes, earned by the legal entities subject to the non-cumulative calculation system for those contributions. In sequence, on January 1st, 2023 the Decree No. 11.374/2023 revoked the Decree No. 11.322/2022 and reestablished the PIS and COFINS rates on financial revenues. With the possibility of the discussion over the need to respect the principle of anteriority for rate reestablishment in mind, we have commented on this revocation and the possibility of filing a lawsuit in the January 4th, 2023 Tax Bulletin 01.04.2023.
January 12, 2023 – Provisional Measure No. 1.159/2023 – Amends the Laws No. 10.637/2002 and 10.833/2003, that refers to PIS and COFINS contributions. The changes introduced by the Provisional Measure involve the calculation of the tax, especially regarding the following points: (i) the exclusion of some items from the calculation basis used for crediting in non-cumulative operations, such as Tax on Goods (‘ICMS’) and Tax on Manufactured Products (‘IPI’), and (ii) the exclusion of other items from the PIS and COFINS calculation basis, such as ICMS and revenues related to the amount of the tax that is no longer paid due to exemptions and reductions.
January 12, 2023 – Provisional Measure nº 160/2023: Reestablishes the so-called “quality vote” in the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (CARF). In addition, the Provisional Measure also brought provisions that encourage self-regulation, among which we highlight the exemption of the late payment fine and the ex-officio fine, if the debtor taxpayer confesses and, concomitantly, makes the full payment of the due taxes, after the beginning of the tax procedure and before the constitution of the tax credit, until April 30, 2023.
January 12,2023 – PGFN/RFB Joint Ordinance no. 1 of 2023: Publishes and establishes the Tax Litigation Reduction Program. This Program includes a series of measures aimed at settling transactions between the tax authorities and taxpayers, among which we emphasize the reduction of fines and interest, and the possibility of using tax losses and the negative tax base of the CSLL to offset a portion of the debt in some situations. Taxpayers may join the Program until March 31, 2023.
January 12, 2023 – Decree No. 11.379/2023: Creates the Council for Monitoring of Judicial Tax Risks. This Council will be a collegiate body with an advisory nature, whose purpose is to propose measures to improve governance in relation to the macro-process of monitoring judicial fiscal risks of the federal government, its independent agencies, and their foundations.