Chamber approves new Taxpayer Code, criticized by tax auditors

The Chamber approved this Tuesday (8), by 301 votes to 106, the project that establishes the Taxpayer Defense Code, which redefines the rights of taxpayers and, according to tax auditors, can make it difficult to inspect irregularities.

The proposal opened a dispute between Congress, which defends clearer rules on who pays taxes, and members of the Federal Revenue and the State Treasury, who see the possibility of increasing evasion and money laundering.

The text was processed on an emergency basis since May 24, but had the vote postponed several times due to pressure from entities linked to the Revenue, until it was approved this Tuesday. The matter now goes to the Senate for consideration.

“It is regrettable that a project that fully affects the collection of funding for public services is presented only at the time of voting, in order to make it impossible for each parliamentarian to reflect on the topics that are so under discussion”, said the president of Sindifisco. (National Union of Tax Auditors of the Federal Revenue), Isac Falcão.

He refers to the fact that the text appreciated on Tuesday night was released shortly before the voting began.

The main points contested by auditors are the need for judicial authorization for various investigation procedures and the long process in administrative instances, which could make the attempt, for example, to combat the creation of orange companies unfeasible.

Falcão explains that the code proposes such a long procedure for the determination of possible oranges —by requiring a court decision to start the process— that the most likely is that the case lapses before the violator can be penalized.

“If people who are interested in evading will have this type of resource at their disposal [que facilita a sonegação]this will result in the need for additional collection on all other taxpayers”, added Falcão.

On the other hand, the author of the proposal, Felipe Rigoni (União-ES), argues that the text seeks to prevent abuses by the Federal Revenue against the taxpayer and guarantee the right to prior defense and adversarial proceedings.

The substitute presented by Deputy Pedro Paulo (PSD-RJ) establishes a regressive discount on fines and interest on late payment to encourage the taxpayer to voluntarily pay off the debt.

According to the text, a 60% discount will be granted if payment is made within the deadline to contest the launch.

The percentage drops to 40% if the debt is paid during the administrative process in the first instance and 20% if the settlement occurs later.

If the taxpayer confesses the debt and gives up contesting it, the discount will be increased by 20 percentage points.

The approved proposal also reduces the statute of limitations for debts from 5 to 3 years and allows the taxpayer to be compensated when incorrectly charged for a tax.

The bill also provides that the Treasury must act to impose the “less burden on taxpayers” and establishes that any person subject to a tax administrative proceeding may present a broad defense and a double degree of deliberation, with analysis in the second instance.

In his last opinion, Pedro Paulo gave in to at least one claim by the auditors. The change allows inspectors to be accompanied by the police force in assessments without the need for prior judicial authorization.

According to the text, the use of the police “is conditional on the just fear of resistance to the inspection act, which must be reduced to term and included in the document to be delivered to the inspected taxpayer”.

This was the way found by the rapporteur to prevent auditors from taking police officers on routine visits, but it also does not prevent agents from accompanying inspectors on customs inspections at borders, where there is a risk of retaliation.