São Paulo City Hall to Increase Self-Employed ISS in 2022

The ISS (Tax on Services of Any Nature) paid by self-employed workers will rise in São Paulo starting in February 2022. The measure should affect professionals such as doctors, engineers, architects, economists, psychologists, veterinarians, lawyers, auditors and accountants.

The new ranges of values ​​are in law 17,719, of November 26, 2021. They will apply in the case of uniprofessional companies, which are those whose professionals (partners, employees or not) are qualified to exercise the same activity and provide services in a manner personal, on behalf of society, taking personal responsibility for the work.

Currently, companies of this type pay ISS on a fixed tax basis, which does not take into account the local revenue. As of February 2022, the rates will be staggered, according to the number of professionals in the society.

Until January 2022, the calculation basis for paying the tax is R$1,995.26, regardless of the number of professionals in the company or income. The rate is 2% or 5%, depending on the field of activity. As of January 2022, the R$1,995.26 will be maintained, but for companies with up to five licenses, in the first range defined by law.

In the second range, the value rises to R$5,000 for companies with between six and ten professionals, until reaching R$60,000 for companies whose number of professionals is above one hundred. To calculate the tax, you need to multiply the number of professionals by the rate of payments and then apply the ISS percentage for the activity to know how much you will pay.

Today, the City of São Paulo has a little more than 7,000 companies of this type, with more than 34,300 professionals.

Check out the new ranges of values ​​to calculate the ISS:

Attorney Rodrigo Prado, a partner in the Tax area at Felsberg Advogados, says that the calculation for paying the tax is done in a staggered manner, applying the amount per band. He says that, however, the new legislation took professionals by surprise and there are complaints, since, in some cases, the increase in values ​​could reach 1,000%.

According to Prado, the expressive increase may violate constitutional principles and be challenged in court. “Every tax, to be instituted, has to observe some rules. There are two principles that must be respected, which are reasonableness and proportionality. The increase must be reasonable and proportional. It is reasonable to have an increase from one year to another that can exceed 1,000%, even more in this complicated pandemic time?”

The expert says that the new values ​​will come into force in February 2022, according to the text of the law itself, which determines the application of the measure on January 1st or 90 days after publication, whichever occurs last.

According to tax expert Robson Brasil, senior consultant at IOB, the new rule requires attention from companies classified as uniprofessional companies when making the calculations. Payment of this tax is not monthly, but quarterly. However, the calculation must be done month by month, depending on the number of professionals.

In a statement, the Municipality of São Paulo informed that the measures will be valid from February 28, 2022 and reinforced that “the value of the calculation basis of uniprofessional companies in 2021, of R$1,995.26, will continue as such in 2022 for companies uniprofessional companies with up to five partners. In the following years, this value will be updated according to inflation, in line with what is already happening.”