Experts point out that the new Income Tax (IR) law, sanctioned this Wednesday (26), will bring relevant impacts to the private sector. In addition to the end of the dividend exemption from next year, which has already prompted decision-making, the text imposes a deadline for deliberating profits that is not compatible with the accounting reality of companies.
The law that eliminates Income Tax for people who earn up to R$5,000 and benefits those who receive up to R$7,350, sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this Tuesday, resumes taxation of dividends after 30 years of exemption. The text establishes that from January 2026 the payment, delivery or crediting of profits and dividends from a legal entity to an individual in excess of R$50,000 will be subject to a withholding of 10% Income Tax Withheld at Source (IRRF).
As confirmed by the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dario Durigan, the law was sanctioned in full by Lula, following what was approved by the Chamber and the Senate.
The project guarantees exemption from Income Tax on profits and dividends calculated in 2025, but only if the distribution has been approved by December 31st – which worries companies, since profits are only actually recognized after the turn of the year. The law says that the payment of these dividends must occur between 2026 and 2028.
Impacts of taxation
Soon after being approved by the National Congress, the text began to make companies race against time to deliberate and pay dividends, taking advantage of the exemption before the end of the year. The impact of this, according to experts, is the restructuring of companies’ capital to have cash and make payments.
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“Although many companies have already started discussions about deliberating dividends, with the approval of the Law this movement will intensify, leading companies to discuss with their shareholders a possible partner remuneration policy”, says Carlos Eduardo Orsolon, partner at Demarest Advogados.
For Mauricio Braga Chapinoti, partner at Gasparini Barbosa e Freire Advogados, “companies will have to restructure their capital, probably migrating to debt instruments, to reduce the impact and attract capital”.
For experts, the new rule could encourage companies to take on debt, since taxes on interest could be lower than on dividends. In view of this, according to sources heard by the report, banks are already proposing loans for companies to increase their cash flow and be able to take advantage of the last days of the exemption even more.
Deadline for deliberation raises concerns
The rush for payment arises from the exemption forecast only if the distribution is approved by December 31, 2025. However, the section is one of the main points viewed with concern by tax experts, since many companies end up closing their accounts in the year following the calculation of profits, meaning that the total value will only be definitively known after the turn of the year.
Tax experts estimate that companies may, in December, take risks in deliberating their profits accumulated until then. The value, however, may end up being higher after the accounting balance in the following year.
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For Carlos Henrique de Oliveira, former president of the Administrative Council for Tax Appeals (Carf) and partner at Mannrich Vasconcelos Advogados, “it is a concern”. According to him, if there was no need to determine the deliberation of profits calculated in 2025 until the last day of the same year, companies would have the legal deadline until April 2026 to calculate them. This would generate greater security regarding the values actually calculated.
Incompatibility
Another impact pointed out by experts is the part of the text that determines that, after being deliberated within the deadline, the payment of these dividends must occur between 2026 and 2028. This is because the section conflicts with what the Corporation Law says, which obliges the SA to pay the dividends in the same year in which they were declared.
