The Attorney General’s Office of the National Treasury filed, this Thursday (April 9, 2026), an appeal to the TRF-2 (Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region) against the decision that suspended the collection of tax on crude oil exports from five multinationals. Here’s the (PDF – 480 kB).
The injunction had been granted on Tuesday (April 7) by judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio, of the 1st Federal Court of Rio. The companies benefiting are Shell, Equinor, Petrogal, TotalEnergies and Repsol Sinopec. Here’s the (PDF – 174 kB) of the decision.
The 12% tax was instituted by the government of (PT) in March 2026 by . The judge assessed that the charge has a collection nature, which could make it unconstitutional.
The federal government, in turn, declared that the judge based his decision on a text that was not in the MP. The document signed by attorney Vinícius Vaz Sanches states that the decision cited an article with 3 paragraphs, the last item of which stated that the revenue would be destined to “emergency fiscal needs of the Union”.
According to the government, this text does not exist in the Official Gazette. “The decision uses as the main basis for granting the injunction an absolutely non-existent normative text”, wrote Sanches.
The Attorney General’s Office of the Treasury classifies the MP as extra-fiscal and not exclusively tax collection. THE .
UNDERSTAND
Judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio based the suspension on the assessment that the tax has a collection purpose. The judge cited an excerpt from the Provisional Measure itself: “The revenue arising from the collection of the tax will be used to meet the Union’s emergency fiscal needs”.
According to the judge, the text demonstrates that the Executive Branch itself recognizes the collection objective of the charge. This sets “true misappropriation of purpose”he stated.
While the injunction is in force, the 5 multinationals are exempt from paying the 12% tax on crude oil exports. The TRF-2 will analyze the appeal from the Attorney General of the National Treasury. The decision may maintain, modify or reverse the suspension granted by the first instance.
CUSTOMIZED
Lula’s package was adopted after the rise in the price of oil on the international market, associated with the escalation of tensions in the Middle East involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Diesel is considered strategic for the Brazilian economy because it influences the cost of transporting cargo and, consequently, the price of food and other products.
The government’s plan has two main actions: reducing federal taxes and creating a diesel subsidy. According to the Ministry of Finance, the MP was designed to prevent the international rise in oil from directly translating into price increases in the country.
In the case of diesel, a subsidy of R$0.32 per liter was created for producers and importers. At the same time, decree 12,875 reduces federal taxes on fuel.
The economic team’s estimate was that the measure would result in a drop of around R$0.32 per liter in the price of diesel. Together, the two measures sought to reduce the price of diesel by R$0.64 per liter.
In the case of fuel, the cost would be R$10 billion for the Treasury.
WHO PAYS THE BILL
The total cost of the measures would be financed by the federal budget. In practice, this means that taxpayers would bear the fiscal impact of R$30 billion.
The government’s assessment is that reducing the price of diesel can help contain inflation, as the fuel has a strong influence on the cost of transporting goods in the country.
When announcing the package, Lula said that the government made a “huge sacrifice” to reduce the price of fuel. The president also asked governors to evaluate reducing the ICMS on fuels in the States.
ICMS is a state tax and represents a relevant portion of the final price paid by the consumer at the pumps.
Crude oil was the main Brazilian item exported in 2025. In December, Brazil sold US$3.88 billion of the commodity. Of this total, 12% represents US$465 million, the equivalent of R$2.4 billion that could be collected by the federal government if the export level is maintained in 2026.
