Project will change “cat and mouse relationship” between tax payer and Revenue

The bill for the Taxpayer’s Code seeks to define the principles that govern the actions of tax authorities, such as the Federal Revenue Service and the state Treasury departments, with whom you pay taxes. The idea is to provide greater predictability and ease with tax obligations, reduce litigation, repress evasion and the taxpayer’s presumption of good faith in the judicial and extrajudicial scope.

According to Alexis Fonteyne, a businessman and former deputy for the Novo party in São Paulo, this review of the tax authorities’ treatment of taxpayers will avoid “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”. “What we ask is, at the very least, is that the Revenue Service, in an insensitive way, perhaps in a view that is only collection, does not destroy value, does not destroy jobs, does not destroy competitiveness, does not destroy tax payers. We’re talking about the big ones, but when you talk about the individual, it’s really a feeling, many times, of violence, of excess, that ends up happening”, criticizes Fonteyne.

For Fernando Pimentel, executive president of the Brazilian Textile and Apparel Industry Association (Abit), approval of the text will create a new mentality in the relationship between tax authorities and taxpayers. “We were in a cat and mouse fight, of lack of confidence, and a country only grows with confidence, with solid institutions, and the Federal Revenue, obviously, is very important for our nation, it provides a great service. But we need to create something that is feasible and that people feel encouraged to invest, employ and work”, defended the representative of the textile segment.

Since November of last year, the proposal of the Taxpayer Code is being discussed in the Federal Senate, as the complementary bill 125/2022. The text, which aims to establish “general rules relating to the rights, guarantees and duties of the taxpayer, mainly regarding their interaction with the Public Treasury”, is treated as a defense code for the tax payer, precisely because it changes the relationship of the taxpayer with the Federal Revenue.

On the last day 29, the matter had advances in the processing. Senator Soraya Thronicke was assigned to report on the text at the Transparency, Governance, Inspection and Control and Consumer Protection Commission of the Federal Senate. In addition to this commission, the project will still have to go through the Economic Affairs Commission and the Constitution and Justice Commission before being voted on in the Senate plenary.

legislative agenda

The matter is on the list of 12 priorities identified by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI) in the 2023 Legislative Agenda. The document brings together 139 bills of interest to the industrial sector, with a positive impact on the social and economic development of the country, National Congress. In total, 668 propositions were considered by entities representing the industry.