The month of August began with a lot of action in the tax field, with important matters being voted on in the Plenary Sessions of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

Below we provide a summary of the main topics that were highlighted this week.

Urgency in voting on Tax Reform

In a vote held this Wednesday (04/08), the Plenary of the Chamber of Deputies approved, by 278 votes to 158, the request for urgency in the vote on PL nº 2337/2021 for the tax reform project, which aims to change the taxation of Income Tax, tax dividends, in addition to changing the taxation on investments.

The decision allows the proposal to be put ahead of other projects so that it can be put to the agenda immediately. The expectation is that the bill will be voted on next week by the Chamber of Deputies.

Senate approves bill regulating interstate ICMS collection

In a session also held this Wednesday, the Senate approved the complementary bill that regulates the collection of ICMS on the sale of products and provision of services to end consumers located in another state, the so-called “Difal”. The bill (PLP 32/2021) was approved unanimously, with 70 votes, and now goes to the Chamber of Deputies for analysis.

The proposal regulates Constitutional Amendment 87 which, although inserted into the Federal Constitution in 2015, was pending regulation by means of a complementary law, as decided by the STF in February of this year, with the establishment of the thesis: “The collection of the difference in the ICMS tax rate, as introduced by EC 87/15, presupposes the enactment of a complementary law containing general rules.”

Following the regulation of the matter, in transactions between companies and consumers who are not ICMS taxpayers from different states, it will be up to the supplier to collect and pass on the difference to the consumer's state.

Opening of new Refis approved

Bill 4728/2020 was approved yesterday (08/05) in the Senate, which reopens the deadline for joining the Special Tax Regularization Program (Pert). The proposal provides for special conditions for payments, allowing the use of federal court orders, owned or third parties, or of the taxpayer's liquid and certain credits, for amortization or settlement of the outstanding balance.

Taxpayers will be able to join the program until September 30, 2021, to pay off or pay off tax debts in up to 144 months, with the amount reduced in the first 36 installments.

For companies, the conditions for regularizing debts will vary according to the drop in revenue when comparing the months of March to December 2020 with the same period in 2019, due to the crisis caused by the pandemic. Thus, the greater the drop in revenue, the more advantageous the conditions for settling debts will be, with discounts on interest and fines that can reach 90%. In addition, more affected companies will be able to use a larger portion of tax losses and negative CSLL calculation basis to reduce debts, in addition to having a smaller down payment.

The project, named “Covid Refis”, now goes to the Chamber of Deputies for consideration.