Auditors protest against Haddad and Carf sees counselors disband

Federal Revenue tax auditors installed a panel in Brasília, close to the Ministry of Finance, in which they demand that Minister Fernando Haddad comply with an agreement for the full payment of the Efficiency Bonus, which was originally estimated at R$ 2.4 billion, but reduced by 30% to R$735 million.

This agreement, according to the auditors, is contained in a decree published in June that includes “locks” in the text that, according to them, prevent the full payment of the bonus. In one of the sections, the percentage will be “up to 25%” of the items in the Fundaf Application Plan, in order to make up the global value of the bonus limited to the resources provided for in the Annual Budget Bill (PLOA) for payment of the bonus.

Revenue employees have been idly by for a month due to the reduction in the bonus, which had been promised by Haddad to comply with the agreement signed in 2016.

“By when will the 2016 agreement be breached”, asks the entity.

According to the director of professional defense and technical affairs at Unafisco, George Alex Lima de Souza, the auditors’ message “is exactly for Minister Haddad, because he said that, historically, he always complies with agreements. We do not want, for the first time in its history, the minister to fail to comply with an agreement.”

The Ministry of Finance was approached by People’s Gazette and said he will not comment.

Stampede in Carf

In addition to the auditors’ protest, 48 advisors from the Administrative Council for Tax Appeals (Carf) also resigned from their positions due to the reduction in the value of the efficiency bonus.

The resignation document highlights the concern of tax auditors about the possible reduction in the category’s remuneration, which they consider low compared to other state and municipal tax authorities. The resignation occurred in response to the determination of Minister Regina Helena Costa, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), which required the maintenance of the necessary quorum for Carf trials.

The president of Unafisco Nacional, Mauro Silva, highlighted that the minister’s decision puts tens of billions of tax credits at risk. The mass resignation of Finance advisors is considered a reflection of the government’s failure to comply with the agreement and the disastrous actions to prevent the right to strike.

“The unprecedented resignation of Finance advisors is the result of the Government’s failure to comply with the agreement and the disastrous initiative of the RFB secretary [Robinson Barreirinhas] in the desire to prevent the right to strike. The proposed legal action ended up making the sessions unfeasible, in addition to the potential annulment of tens of billions of reais in trials without the quorum defined by the STJ”, said the first vice-president of Unafisco Nacional, Kleber Cabral.

Barreirinhas is being pressured by auditors to resign from his position. The press office stated that he guaranteed the employees an increase in their bonus from R$3,000 to R$5,000.

The resignation of the Carf advisors, says the entity, should have an impact on the government’s accounts, which sees the collegiate as one of the ways to increase tax revenue next year and try to reach the goal of zeroing the fiscal deficit.