Parliamentarians ask Haddad to end Chinese women like Shein – 03/15/2023 – Market

Deputies and senators from the FPE (Mixed Parliamentary Front for Entrepreneurship) this Wednesday (15) asked the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad (PT), to act for the end of “digital smuggling” carried out by Chinese companies, such as Shein. According to them, Asian companies sell products without taxation or underpriced in the country.

In an interview at the end of the meeting, the president of the FPE, Deputy Marco Bertaiolli (PSD-SP), spoke about the damage that the practice has to Brazilian companies.

“Brazil today receives 500,000 daily packages from China, in which the amounts are under-invoiced and the packages are multiplied”, he said. “You buy five T-shirts from Shein. She sends five packages, one with each T-shirt, to be below the amount charged, which is US$ 50 (R$ 262). invoice value is underinvoiced.”

Bertaiolli stated that this practice harms the country’s industry and trade. “We have billions that are not taxed, nor the IOF [imposto sobre operações financeiras] it’s paid. It’s not just taxing what we have, it’s having a general perception of what is not contributing in Brazil.”

Founded in China, Shein is headquartered in Singapore and is one of the most accessed clothing sites in Brazil. The business, which was born in 2008, has seen its popularity skyrocket during the pandemic by offering a catalog of products at low prices.

The taxation of ecommerce and the confrontation with foreign platforms, such as Shein, are prominent points among the claims of the textile retailer, which draws attention to the lack of isonomy in taxation.

While Brazilian companies are subject to charging taxes along the production chain, foreign platforms would be using the benefit of exemption for exchanges between individuals, as long as the value of the goods is below US$ 50, to avoid import tax (which would make the product more expensive).

Entrepreneurs also complain that companies are defrauding data by registering more expensive products priced below US$50 as a way of evading taxation.

In March last year, the Federal Revenue announced that it was studying an MP (Provisional Measure) to prevent foreign e-commerce companies from selling goods to Brazilians without paying the due taxes. The change would hit marketplaces like AliExpress and Shopee.

Then-president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) said at the time that he did not intend to sign the measure to tax app purchases.

“Tax evasion today is a problem for Brazil. This evasion is what is disturbing revenue, which will even ensure compensation for changes in taxes. , on the issue of gaming and betting applications [esportivas]”, said deputy Danilo Forte (União Brasil-CE), vice-president of the FPE.

At the meeting, tax reform was the main topic discussed by parliamentarians. Bertaiolli said that updating the Simples Nacional table will be left out of the changes being discussed by the Chamber, according to a statement given by Haddad on Monday (13).

“Today we had the position of the Ministry [da Fazenda] that Simples Nacional will not be changed in the tax reform”, he pointed out. “Within the reform we have the guarantee of maintaining Simples and the answer they will give us is this update.”

Another demand brought to the minister was a broad payroll exemption, and not just for the current 17 sectors benefiting from the measure.

“What we said to the minister is that, despite the fact that payroll has another objective, which is Social Security, the exemption can help the tax reform with the calibration of the rate of service companies in Brazil”, said Bertaiolli .

“We already have 17 sectors of the economy exempted, it is not fair that all are not. The minister knows that in December of this year, when the exemption of these 17 sectors expires, he has a problem. He will hardly be able to reencumber what is exempted. And it’s not fair to the rest of the economy.”

According to the deputy, the FPE suggested to the minister a calibration in which the payroll burden would be reduced as the VAT rate was gradually raised.