Government renews IPI exemption on the purchase of vehicles for taxi drivers and people with disabilities

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) sanctioned, in an extra edition of the Diário Oficial da União on December 31, a law to renew the exemption from IPI (Industrial Products Tax) on the purchase of cars for taxi drivers and people with disabilities.

“The measure heats up the auto industry and does justice to taxi drivers and people with disabilities,” the president wrote through his Twitter profile.

According to the General Secretariat of the Presidency, the new law extends the exemption from IPI on the purchase of new vehicles until December 31, 2026 and benefits professional drivers, taxi drivers, people with severe or profound physical, visual, hearing and mental disabilities and people with autism spectrum disorder.

Among the novelties, according to the government, is the inclusion of people with hearing impairment, which were not provided for in the previous legislation.

According to the sanctioned law, the maximum price of the car that can be purchased with IPI exemption by the disabled person, including taxes, is now R$ 200 thousand. The limit was R$140 thousand.

The president vetoed a device that expanded the exemption to include non-factory car accessories in the exemption. Planalto argued that there was no calculation of the financial impact and compensatory measures.

The president also sanctioned a complementary law that creates the MEI (individual micro-entrepreneur) Trucker.

According to the text, autonomous cargo carriers can act as individual micro-entrepreneurs even with a billing ceiling of up to R$251.6 thousand. For the other categories, the earning limit per year accepted when registering as a MEI is lower, at R$81 thousand.

MEI Caminhoneiro’s project was presented by senator Jorginho Mello (PL-SC), Bolsonaro’s ally. The president has been nodding to the category that helped him get elected in 2018 and is exerting constant pressure on the government.

The measure came on the same day that the president signed the law that extends the exemption from the payroll of 17 sectors of the economy until the end of 2023.

According to the Planalto Palace, an orientation from the TCU (Court of Accounts of the Union) made it possible for the exemption to be extended without the need for compensation.

The president also ended tax incentives for companies in the petrochemical sector, with the end of the Reiq (Special Regime for the Chemical Industry) through an MP (provisional measure).