The definition of in the bill being discussed at the Economic Development Commission is the target of criticism from sectors of the industry for not making clear the provision of willful conduct for the practice.
The expectation is that the report will be voted on next Wednesday (11) in the collegiate body. The latest opinion from the text’s rapporteur, deputy (União-CE), establishes that a persistent debtor is one who has tax debts without suitable guarantees in excess of R$15 million and corresponding to more than 100% of the disclosed assets.
For Guilherme Hakme, director and coordinator of the tax council at Fiep (Federation of Industries of the State of Paraná), the text has a series of problems. “There is a difference between that and the text of the bill”, he states. “The discourse is that this is what it is. The problem is that, in the text of the bill, the characterization is based on the amount of the tax credit, so if this exceeds the company’s assets, you are included.”
He argues that it is natural for companies to go through moments of financial instability and that, therefore, the characterization to punish the persistent debtor must include the demonstration of intent and fraudulent conduct on the part of the company.
The director of Fiep also says that those who have unrecognized debt are being considered, that is, when the trial in the administrative phase has not yet been concluded. “The discourse is that the bill is to target the persistent debtor. But all these points lead us to believe that it is to target the occasional debtor.”
In his report, Danilo Forte included the provision that national employer union confederations may challenge the classification of persistent debtors of their members and represented, “as long as they attest to the occurrence of an exceptional factual situation that has led to default without intent or fault on the part of the managers .”
Hakme says that the measure is insufficient, as it opens up the possibility of the Federal Revenue Service disagreeing with the question and keeping the company on the list of persistent debtors. “Several companies are finding themselves falling within the criteria set out in the bill.”
The rapporteur states that he met all the requests he could from the business side of the project. “But I could not mischaracterize the merit of the proposal at the risk of making the fight against tax evasion ineffective”, he argues.
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