By Guilherme Martins and João Pedro Riccioppo Cerqueira Gimenes*
Last Wednesday, the Plenary of the Federal Supreme Court (“STF”), when judging the General Repercussion Theme No. 1,184, decided that Tax Executions of low value can be extinguished, if so desired by the Federated Entity (Union, States or Municipalities) that understands the lack of interest in acting or continuing with such Executions of little revenue relevance.
The following Theses were established:
- The termination of low-value tax enforcement is legitimate due to the lack of interest in acting in view of the constitutional principle of administrative efficiency, respecting the constitutional competence of each federated entity.
- The initiation of tax enforcement proceedings will depend on the prior adoption of the following measures: a) attempted conciliation or adoption of an administrative solution; and b) protest of the title, except for reasons of administrative efficiency, proving the inadequacy of the measure.
- The processing of tax enforcement actions does not prevent federated entities from requesting the suspension of the process for the adoption of the measures provided for in item 2, in which case the judge must be notified of the deadline for the appropriate measures.
The decision reflects detailed discussions already underway between the President of the STF and the National Council of Justice (“CNJ”), Minister Luís Roberto Barroso and the Ministry of Finance regarding the “shelving” of low-value Tax Executions, with the main objective of unclogging the Judiciary and the Treasury Prosecutors’ Offices with such processes of low economic relevance.
Thus, subsequent regulations will come on the matter, mainly regarding the definition of the figure to be considered low value, so that such Tax Executions are effectively extinguished.
Our team will continue to closely monitor the development of the topic and is at your disposal.
willingness to provide any clarifications.
(with the collaboration of Pedro Antônio GM Buzas)