The Supreme Court validated a rule that allows low-value, non-moving legal charges to be closed
The STF (Supreme Federal Court) consolidated the understanding that the CNJ (National Council of Justice) can establish rules for efficiency in the processing of judicial collection processes for tax debts, known as tax foreclosures.
Among these rules is the definition of criteria for cases in which the State is no longer interested in maintaining the charge – when, for example, the amount is very low or the process has been stopped for a long time.
The decision was taken in the ARE (Extraordinary Appeal with Appeal) trial, with general repercussions (Theme 1,428), and the understanding must be followed by all courts in the country in similar situations.
Or case
The process originated in Osório (RS). The municipality appealed a decision by the TJ-RS (Court of Justice of Rio Grande do Sul) that had terminated an IPTU tax foreclosure as it understood that there was no longer interest in collection (interest in taking action).
This decision was based on CNJ Resolution 547/2024 and a previous understanding of the STF (Theme 1,184) which recognizes the possibility of extinguishing low-value executions, in the name of administrative efficiency.
In the thesis of this judgment, the Court defined that, before filing the tax foreclosure, other measures must be taken, such as an attempt at conciliation, the adoption of an administrative solution and the prior protest of the title.
Based on this guidance, the CNJ created rules to guide courts on these actions. The rule establishes the value of R$10,000 as a parameter for terminating a tax foreclosure that, one year after the filing, has no useful movement or summons to the defendant.
In ARE, the Municipality of Osório claimed that the decision would violate the autonomy of the federative entities and the separation of Powers, because a municipal law already provides that only amounts lower than a minimum wage will not be charged in court.
Competence
The rapporteur, Minister Roberto Barroso (retired), explained that the CNJ has constitutional competence to create public policies and standards to improve the management of the Judiciary, and Resolution 547/2024 was issued within this competence.
According to him, setting a reference value for closing stalled tax processes does not interfere with municipal tax laws or the autonomy of local governments. The CNJ only guides the functioning of the courts, without changing the competence to define when a debt should or should not be collected.
With information from .
