Carf undergoes new reform almost a decade after Zelotes and will have 204 advisors – 01/05/2024 – What tax is this

Carf, the body of the Ministry of Finance responsible for judging appeals on Federal Revenue assessments in tax and customs matters, now operates with 204 advisors, as determined by the institution’s new regulations, which come into force this Friday (5) .

The 2015 regulations already provided for the possibility of 204 counselors, but Carf effectively considered only 180 in its composition.

There will also be an increase in the number of trial groups and a reduction in the number of counselors per group, within the strategy of reducing the backlog of cases that exceeds R$1 trillion, around 10% of GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

The new rules prioritize the analysis of high-value cases, concentrating the others in a new virtual plenary system to speed up the number of trials.

The new rules also include simplification of votes, reduction of the deadline for publishing rulings and rules for the application of treaties, laws, decrees and decisions of the Supreme Court, among other changes.

The restructuring of the body is one of the measures adopted by the government to increase revenue in 2024. The Treasury expects extra revenue of R$55 billion from the resolution of these processes.

Report from Sheet This Thursday (4) shows that the council achieved the best result last year in terms of values ​​judged since 2019, despite having operated precariously due to strikes and discussions about the functioning of the body.

The last major change in the composition of Carf (Administrative Council of Financial Resources) occurred in 2015 and 2016, after Operation Zealots, which investigated the sale of judgments to some taxpayers.

The new regulations were published at the end of last year. This Friday (5) ordinances were published in the Official Gazette of the Union that deal, for example, with the minimum value of processes that will be analyzed outside the virtual plenary in this first semester and the new division of the 102 counselors who represent taxpayers.

“These measures today [sexta] they give concreteness to what the government expects from Carf, which is a reduction in inventory and speedy judgment. The only problem I see is a restriction on the right to defense”, says Carlos Henrique de Oliveira, former counselor (2012-2018), former president of Carf (2022) and partner at Mannrich Vasconcelos Advogados.

He mentions the sending of a large part of the processes to the new virtual plenary system, similar to that of the STF (Supreme Federal Court), in which votes will be cast over a period of five working days. Oral arguments will be made via video submission.

Under the new rules, it will not be possible for the defender’s lawyer to request the transfer of the case for in-person, hybrid or synchronous virtual analysis (in real time).

The former president of Carf states that the new ordinances also make clear the interest in prioritizing higher value processes.

In the first session, which deals with large Corporate Income Tax cases, cases below R$60 million will be in the virtual plenary, leaving values ​​equal to or above that for the real-time sessions.

“The new regulations seek speed, delivery, a greater number of trials, and when you analyze these ordinances, we clearly see that the government is prioritizing higher value cases”, says the lawyer.

For him, other factors that will speed things up are the reduction of counselors per group from eight to six, which reduces the time for debate and reading of votes, and the reduction in the time for preparing rulings from 30 to 15 days.

In a presentation made after the publication of the new regulations, the current president of Carf, Carlos Higino Ribeiro de Alencar, said that the government’s objective is to increase the body’s productivity, but without loss of quality in the trial and without affecting the right to full defense and contradictory.

According to him, the most valuable and complex processes will be analyzed in face-to-face or hybrid sessions. Those with lower value will initially go to the virtual plenary in an asynchronous session, but guaranteeing the right to oral arguments by defense representatives. The January sessions will already be under the rules of the new regiment.

In a note, Carf states that, with the entry into force of the new internal regulations, the difference that existed between full and substitute counselors was eliminated and, in this way, the need to give greater publicity to the current composition of the Ordinary Panels was imposed. and the Superior Chamber of Tax Appeals, as well as the Extraordinary Panels, which was done through Ordinance SE/MF No. 2 of January 3, 2024, already considering a total of 204 counselors. It remains to fill the vacancies that are open and listed in the aforementioned ordinance.

Regarding the priority of judgment, the council states that it has been a relatively long time since cases worth more than R$15 million have received priority treatment.

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