Launched in September, Operation Hidden Carbon dismantled a fraud scheme in the fuel sector and shook Faria Lima. After the Federal Revenue’s offensive in the case, the processing of the stubborn debtor accelerated in Brasília and is now seen as the main bet by businesspeople in the segment to compete on an equal footing with fraudsters.
The Taxpayer Defense Code — also known as the law — was sanctioned by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) at the beginning of 2026. With this, the Federal Revenue prepares a normative instruction to regulate the new legislation.
The law will be applied to direct and indirect public administration bodies and entities in the Union, states, Federal District and municipalities. Those entities of the Federation that already have legislation on persistent debtors will have to adapt their compliance programs to the rules of the Tax Authority’s normative instructions within a maximum period of one year.
By being qualified as a persistent debtor, the company may have its CNPJ considered unfit or even lowered in more serious cases, it will not be able to enjoy tax benefits, participate in tenders, formalize any type of link with the public administration and be prevented from requesting judicial recovery, while those that are in progress may be transformed into bankruptcy.
“In addition, there may be repercussions in the criminal sphere. In the case of committing crimes against the tax system or tax evasion, payment of the debt will not extinguish the punishment”, said the Federal Revenue Service in a note sent to CNN Money.
For Emerson Kapaz, president of the ICL (Emerson Kapaz, president of the ICL), tightening the rules to combat tax evasion will improve competition in the sector. In an interview with CNN Moneyhe explains that the practice has become a competitive factor, as persistent debtors are able to sell cheaper fuel by not paying taxes.
“As they are not penalized, tax evasion becomes a competitive factor. I evade, sell cheaper, earn more money and take away market share from those who pay taxes on time,” said Kapaz.
A subject whose fiscal behavior is characterized by substantial, repeated and unjustified tax default is considered, differentiating himself from those who face occasional financial difficulties. At the federal level, characterization occurs when the irregular tax debt reaches a value equal to or greater than R$15 million and exceeds 100% of the taxpayer’s known assets.
“Without the law, what happens today? The company has a debt that is accumulating. There is a renegotiation of the debt and goes to court with it. This debt with the Revenue increases. When there is a penalty, it automatically enters into a Refis, pays an installment, postpones it and continues without paying. It becomes an active debt and the cake increases”, said Kapaz.
Although the Tax Authorities say that the qualification of persistent debtor is not intended to raise revenue, the ICL estimates that the legislation should increase the coffers of municipalities, states and the Union in . In the fuel sector alone, the ICL calculates that the debt accumulated by persistent debtors in the sector exceeds R$174 billion.
“The qualification of a persistent debtor has no collection objective, as, due to its characteristics, it does not and will not collect the taxes due. The primary objective is to maintain the soundness of the tax system and its morality, removing this bad taxpayer from the market, which harms free competition and, consequently, taxpayers in tax compliance”, states the Federal Revenue Service.
Tax reform
Another bet by the sector to eliminate fraud is tax reform. With the implementation of the new taxation regime, a single-phase fuel regime will be created, focusing on a single phase, whether import or production.
The single-phase fuel regime has been in force since 2022, but does not include ethanol. The legislation includes gasoline, diesel, naphtha and liquefied petroleum gas, including natural gas derivatives.
In the single-phase regime, states and the Federal District can only charge ICMS at refinery exits, with no other phase of taxation, whether at distributors or retail stations, even if subsequent interstate sales occur between taxpayers.
Therefore, the monophase concentrates tax collection on a single link in the chain, reducing the complexity of the system and opportunities for evasion, including in fuel import operations.
Alcohol taxation is different. Currently, taxation via distributor involves a two-phase taxation stage. Look:
- producing plant can choose to sell directly to retailers: hypothesis in which the rate is increased and which corresponds, for PIS, to R$ 23.38 and for Cofins to R$ 107.52 per cubic meter of alcohol for the producer in sales to distributors;
- direct sale from producer to retailer: the specific rate corresponds to R$43.19 for PIS and R$198.62 for Cofins per cubic meter of alcohol;
- distributor: the rate corresponds to R$ 19.81 for PIS and R$ 91.10 for Cofins, both per cubic meter of alcohol.
In the tax reform, the single-phase regime will be adopted, that is, taxation will be carried out in a single stage of the chain. But ICL wants to bring forward the implementation of the monophase for ethanol. The objective is to combat tax evasion in the production and sale of fuel.
“The monophase in diesel and gasoline caused tax evasion to decrease significantly because taxes start to be imposed at the beginning of the production chain and not as tax replacement. Today this still happens in ethanol. Ethanol is one of the biggest tax evasion problems in the fuel sector”, Kapaz told the CNN Money.
According to the president of ICL, there is already a dialogue with UNICA (Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry Union) and with the state finance departments to reach an agreement on the anticipation of the monophase for ethanol. The entity represents the main sugar, ethanol, bioelectricity and bioenergy producing units in the Center-South region of Brazil.
Based on an agreement, the ICL wants to present a proposed bill to the National Congress to be approved later this year. THE CNN Money He contacted UNICA, but received no answers. The space remains open.
Regarding the anticipation of single-phase taxation for ethanol, the Federal Revenue responded that the adoption of the regime depends on a legal change, which is not expected to occur.
In a note sent to CNN Moneythe Ministry of Mines and Energy reported that it is adopting a set of structuring measures to strengthen the integrity of the fuel sector, in conjunction with the ANP (National Agency for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Biofuels), control bodies and other instances of the federal government.
“These actions include regulatory improvements, integration of databases, reinforcement of supervision and greater transparency in the production, distribution and commercialization chains”, declared the ministry.
