Put Mariana Martins and Marcelo Blecher – 01/07/2020
Ordinance 15,413/2020 was published in the Official Gazette of the Union (“DOU”) this Wednesday, July 1, 2020, through which the PGFN extends to 07/31/2020 the deadline for joining the extraordinary transaction, which initially expired yesterday (06/30/2020), due to the effects of the pandemic caused by COVID-19 on the ability to generate results of debtors registered in the Union's active debt.
The rule did not bring any change to the membership system and the benefits initially brought by PGFN Ordinance No. 9,924/2020, but only the aforementioned extension.
In short, the extraordinary transaction of active debt constitutes a linear benefit, very similar to an ordinary installment plan, especially for not granting any type of amnesty (discount) to negotiated debts, but only the possibility of paying a low down payment (1 or 2% of the debt in up to three installments) and paying off the remaining balance in up to 81 (eighty-one) months for legal entities in general, and in up to 142 (one hundred and forty-two) months for the debtor who is an individual, individual entrepreneur, micro-enterprise or small business.
According to data released by the PGFN, around 30,000 taxpayers entered into this type of tax transaction between April and June 2020, which covered the negotiation of a total of 8 billion in active debt.
It should be noted that the following is also in force: exceptional transaction, regulated by PGFN Ordinance No. 14,402/2020, which, unlike the extraordinary, is necessarily linked to the degree of recoverability of the debt and the payment capacity of the debtor taxpayer, with discounts that can reach up to 100% of the value of interest, fines and legal charges, except for the limits of up to 50% or 70% of the total value of each transacted debt established by Law 13,988/2020.
At first glance, it does not seem to make sense to us to extend the deadline for joining the extraordinary transaction brought by Ordinance PGFN 15,413/2020, especially due to the absence of discounts and the context of its creation, which is to allow the regularization of registered liabilities in a way that does not compromise the cash flow and performance of companies during and immediately after the pandemic. It seems much more reasonable to us to extend the ordinary transaction, regulated by Ordinance PGFN 9,917/2020, which, although not directly correlated with COVID-19, is more in line with the needs of companies at this time, with discounts and deferrals that vary according to the debt profile and the debtor taxpayer. It should be clarified that, to date, the deadline for joining the ordinary transaction, as per Notice No. 3/2020, ended yesterday (June 30, 2020).
Finally, it is worth highlighting that Ordinance PGFN 15,413/2020, in addition to determining the postponement of the deadline for joining the extraordinary transaction, as mentioned above, also determined the extension of the temporary suspension of administrative measures for the collection of the Union's outstanding debt until 07/31/2020. As a result, deadlines for filing administrative appeals, protesting active debt certificates and offering advance guarantees in tax enforcement proceedings, among other deadlines, are suspended until the end of July.
Our tax team is at your disposal and at your company's disposal to assist you in the formalization stages of the extraordinary or exceptional transaction, as the case may be.