Petrobras and Vale are on the list for R$215 billion in waivers – 01/25/2024 – Market

Petrobras and Vale lead the list of companies benefiting from tax waivers totaling R$215 billion.

The data was released this Thursday (25) for consultation on the federal government’s Transparency Portal. The two companies total, respectively, R$29.5 billion and R$19.2 billion in waivers.

Next are GE Celma (R$5.2 billion), Fiat (R$4.6 billion) and TAM Linhas Aéreas (which currently operates under the Latam brand, with R$3.8 billion).

The information refers to amounts that were no longer collected in federal taxes and incentives related to government programs in 2021.

The Federal Revenue began publishing the same information in May 2023, but separated into several spreadsheets. The CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) organized the values ​​on the portal which already presents, among other data, government expenses, civil servant payments and values ​​for parliamentary amendments.

In addition to Petrobras and Vale, car manufacturers and companies linked to agribusiness, such as fertilizer and fertilizer producers, are among the biggest beneficiaries of tax exemptions.

In a statement, Vale said that its information on tax exemption and investments related to tax incentives is public. “In 2022, according to the latest Fiscal Transparency Report, published in July 2023, the total value of incentives available to Vale in Brazil was approximately US$1.4 billion,” he stated.

“These tax incentives are part of regional development policies and are maintained through a series of counterparts and continuous compliance with legislation and environmental protection and control standards,” said the mining company.

GE Celma stated that it operates in accordance with current legislation, “being regular with regard to fiscal nature”, and that the main program used by it is Recof (aimed at exporting companies).

When contacted, the other companies that lead the ranking released this Thursday did not comment until the conclusion of this text.

The portal also shows a list of around 260 thousand companies considered immune or exempt from taxes, such as religious and non-profit entities. It also provides a list of around 20 thousand companies qualified to receive tax benefits, registered in special taxation regimes, not all of which have already benefited.

In addition to pointing out the amount of tax waiver, such as Import Tax, PIS/Cofins-Importation and IPI (Tax on Industrialized Products), the portal shows the type of government incentive related to the benefit.

The waivers linked to the PAT (Worker’s Food Program), in which companies subsidize employee meals, total R$2.5 billion. Vale benefited by R$400 million from this program, according to data from the Transparency Portal.

Incentives for universities registered with Prouni reached around R$1.5 billion in 2021.

The portal also allows you to filter the municipality in which companies are registered. In this case, the largest waivers, of R$68.2 billion, were directed to legal entities registered in Rio de Janeiro, driven by the presence of Petrobras and Vale.

The first city on the list among those that are not capitals, São Bernardo do Campo (ABC São Paulo) is home to companies that received R$5.8 billion in tax benefits, mainly car manufacturers.

The Ministry of Health is the seventh legal entity with the highest volume of waivers, R$2.9 billion. The department receives exemptions for purchasing medicines, for example.

At the beginning of 2023, the IRS published the ordinance that regulates the disclosure of data on incentives, waivers, benefits or tax immunity. The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, even defended exposing the “black box” of tax benefits.