Quality vote was used in 4% of Carf judgments – 02/16/2023 – Panel SA

The casting vote of CARF (Administrative Council of Tax Appeals), which gained evidence because of the new government’s provisional measure, was used in 28 cases by the councilors of the body this month. Among the 28 ties that needed a casting vote, 13 were favorable to taxpayers and 15, to the government.

Resumed through the economic package announced by Minister Fernando Haddad in January, the casting vote was used as a tiebreaker in taxpayers’ disputes with the Federal Revenue Service in the past, but was overturned in Congress in 2020, during the Bolsonaro administration, as part of the decisions lean towards the taxpayers, which are mainly large companies, imposing billionaire losses on the Union.

The new numbers point to a tendency in the opposite direction, but not unanimity against the taxpayer.

In all, nine Carf classes met between the 1st and 3rd of this month, already under the effects of the provisional measure. According to the minutes of the meetings, 683 cases of companies and individuals requesting the review of tax fines were analyzed. Companies such as Petrobras, Rumo, Vale, Alliance One Brasil, General Electric, Intercement Brasil and Fratelli Vita Bebidas are among those who lost funds in part or in full through the quality vote.

Six companies obtained legal measures to overturn the analysis of their cases: Santher, Yolanda Participações, Furnas, Banco Cetelem, Marfrig and Zena Móveis (Lojas Marabraz).

Since it was resumed by the provisional measure, business groups and entities such as the OAB have tried to review the rules of the quality vote in the government and in the STF. Many companies also went to court to ask for the suspension of their judgments while the measure does not pass through Congress.

After pressure from the business sector and government meetings to ease the impasse, Carf suspended, on the 6th, the sessions of that week’s classes. The act was repeated last Friday (10), when the agenda from the 14th to the 16th were also postponed.

In a statement, Carf says it is waiting for negotiations between the government, the judiciary and companies on the issue.

Joana Cunha with Paulo Ricardo Martins It is Diego Felix

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