Federal Accounting Council calls for presidential veto on article that limits profit exemption until 2025; Former Revenue Secretary Everardo Maciel says the law is of low quality
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) has until Tuesday (25.Nov.2025) to sanction the Income Tax reform, which includes a provision on exemption for profits calculated until 2025, which would imply closing balance sheets and recording them on December 31, 2025.
The CFC (Federal Accounting Council) recommended the veto of this device, on the grounds that the rule is technically unfeasible and could create legal uncertainty. Experts agree that the president should veto the device due to its technical unfeasibility.
The CFC released a technical note warning that the requirement for corporate approval by December 31, 2025 of profits to guarantee exemption is incompatible with the accounting, corporate and tax regime, with the potential to compromise the reliability of the financial statements.
Former Federal Revenue Secretary Everardo Maciel confirmed the technical unfeasibility of determining the law. “It will be necessary to close the balance sheets and approve the statements at a meeting. This is unfeasible, because the year ends on December 31st and the law requires everything to be investigated and recorded by that date. It is impossible to do it on the same day”he warned.
Everardo explained that this rule creates an operational contradiction: “To resolve this, you can only try to draw up a balance in November and complete it the following January, but the law says that it must be calculated and registered by December 31. All companies would face this difficulty”.
According to the former secretary, the law is of low quality: “Clearly poorly done. Prepared by someone who is not in the industry”he said. He added that there are other complicated points, such as determining the effective tax rate for presumed and Simple profit companies. “A task that makes systems unfeasible. The law encourages tax planning because of flaws, and this creates insecurity”.
RISKS AND LIMITATIONS
Tax lawyer Letícia Rocha said that companies can try accounting maneuvers, but that there are risks and limitations. “As a palliative and high-risk measure, companies could prepare interim balance sheets at an earlier date, such as November 30, 2025, and decide on the distribution of profits accumulated up to that moment. But this could generate distortions”he declared.
Furthermore, according to her, if they do this, the data will not include December’s results, which, in many sectors, are the most relevant of the year. “This is an accounting maneuver that does not resolve the illegality and technical impropriety of the standard”, these.
MADNESS AND CHAOS
For tax lawyer Bruno Medeiros Durão, president of Durão & Almeida, Pontes Advogados, the operational unfeasibility of this deadline is clear: “No serious company in Brazil can close an audited balance sheet, make year-end adjustments, raise inventories and even call a meeting in 37 days, even more so in December”he stated.
According to him, the CFC, Ibracon (Institute of Independent Auditors of Brazil) and Fenacon (National Federation of Accounting Services Companies and Advisory, Expertise, Information and Research Companies) have already called “crazy and asked for a presidential veto”.
“If Lula does not veto these 2 items, there will be chaos: either the company forces a half-assed approval (subject to questions from minority shareholders and the IRS) or it loses the exemption and pays 10% IR on dividends that were supposed to be exempt”, these. SAccording to him, there is “99% chance of veto or extension”.
The Federal Revenue and the Ministry of Finance were contacted by email by Poder360 at 2:20 p.m. The request was reinforced by message at 2:22 pm. There was no response until the publication of this report. The space is open for manifestation.
