Revenue says it wants to be more of a “partner” to increase revenue and avoid litigation

The Federal Revenue launched this Tuesday (1st) two new initiatives to improve relations with companies and taxpayers in a type of “partnership” to collect taxes. Revenue Soluciona and Revenue Consensus intend to implement compliance and self-regulation actions to avoid tax disputes.

During the launch, the Federal Revenue Secretary, Robinson Barreirinhas, stated that the objective is to make the Tax Authority more of a “partner” of the productive sector, and that this change in stance has already contributed to the increase in revenue for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

“A large part of the extraordinary revenue that has come in via the Federal Revenue is due to compliance actions and self-regularization of tax transactions”, stated the secretary.

The two ordinances presented focus on preventing and resolving tax conflicts. Barreirinhas explained that, since last year, there have been no major inspection operations, but rather an effort to bring taxpayers into compliance without severe punishment.

“We are making a huge effort to spend less energy on punishing taxpayers and much more energy on guiding and solving their problems,” he said.

The Consensus Recipe program was described by Barreirinhas as “revolutionary”. He explained that the Federal Revenue Service will create an internal body, the Center for the Prevention and Resolution of Tax and Customs Conflicts (Cecat), which will operate autonomously in relation to inspection, acting as a mediator of conflicts between taxpayers and the Tax Authorities.

“We will have within the Federal Revenue almost a ombudsman of the taxpayer”, he stated, highlighting that the objective is to prevent tax issues from turning into litigation.

Cecat will be accessible to taxpayers with high classification in Compliance Stimulation Programs and can be activated both in situations of tax divergences during inspection procedures and in cases in which there are doubts about the tax consequences of a legal transaction.

The Revenue Soluciona program focuses on creating a direct communication channel – referred to as the “VIP channel” – between Revenue and entities representing the productive sector, such as confederations and federations. The idea is to give priority to the doubts of these entities, such as the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) and the National Confederation of Industry (CNI).

Barreirinhas also pointed out that trade unions will also have access to this “VIP channel”, strengthening dialogue with the Federal Revenue Service and promoting closer collaboration to resolve tax issues in an agile and efficient manner. According to him, the measure also aims to encourage entities to become active partners in communication with the Tax Authorities.