Federal judge Humberto de Vasconcelos Sampaio, from the 1st Federal Court of Rio de Janeiro, suspended on Tuesday (April 7, 2026) the collection of the 12% Export Tax on crude oil, instituted by the government of (PT) away on March 12th.
Only in 2026 will the federal government impose the tax. According to estimates by the IBP (Brazilian Institute of Petroleum and Natural Gas), adding royalties, special participations and other revenues linked to oil production, the figure would reach R$69.2 billion.
The decision complied with a writ of mandamus filed by 5 multinationals in the oil and gas sector: Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Repsol Sinopec and Petrogal.
The companies argue that the government used the Export Tax, a typically regulatory tax, as a collection instrument, which would violate the Constitution.
According to the government, the initiative would include reducing taxes and creating a fuel subsidy, with an estimated impact of R$30 billion on public accounts by December 31, 2026. “The revenue arising from the collection of the tax will be used to meet the Union’s emergency fiscal needs”, says the . Read more below.
For the federal judge, by admitting in the rule itself that the objective is to cover government expenses, the Executive declared the purpose of collecting the tax.
“The wording of the art. 10 of MP No. 1,340/2026, by expressly providing that the revenue arising from the Export Tax will be used to meet the Union’s emergency fiscal needs, unequivocally reveals the collection purpose of the measure”, wrote Sampaio. Here’s the (PDF – 174 kB) of the decision.
The judge stated that there was a “true misappropriation of purpose”, because the Executive Branch “confessed” in order to generate revenue, “which attracts the incidence of constitutional guarantees to the taxpayer, including anteriority“. The principle of precedence requires that a new tax only comes into force in the year following its creation or, at least, after 90 days.
The exception for Export Tax exists only when it has a regulatory, not fiscal, function.
The Union, in turn, had argued that it did not create a new tax, just changed the rate — which was zero before the MP. The judge rejected the thesis. In the decision, he states that the lack of a previous tax burden was not a cyclical fluctuation, but a “stable normative option”, and that imposing 12% at once represents, in practice, the creation of a new tax burden with immediate economic impact.
The injunction also prohibits any penalty resulting from non-payment: companies cannot be registered with Cadin, have protests filed or have difficulties renewing tax regularity certificates while the suspension is in effect.
The judge ordered that the tax authority be notified to provide information, after which the injunction could be reevaluated. The case has the potential to reach the Federal Regional Court of the 2nd Region and, depending on the outcome, the Superior Court of Justice or the Federal Supreme Court. There are still resources available.
UNDERSTAND
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 2 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 of diesel for producers and importers. At the same time, decree 12,875 reduces federal taxes on diesel. The economic team’s estimate is that the measure will result in a drop of around R$0.32 per liter in the price of fuel. Together, the two measures seek to reduce the price of diesel by R$0.64 per liter.
In the case of diesel, the cost is R$10 billion for the Treasury. The government did not detail how it will monitor whether the benefit will actually reach the pumps, a historic problem in the sector.
WHO PAYS THE BILL
The total cost of the measures will be financed by the federal budget. In practice, this means that taxpayers bear the tax 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, as far as possible.
ICMS is a state tax and represents a relevant portion of the final price paid by the consumer at the pumps.
Furthermore, the government also announced that oil exports will now be taxed at 12% to balance the gains of producers with the protection of Brazilian consumers in the face of the international rise in the commodity.
Crude oil was the main Brazilian item exported in 2025. In December, Brazil sold US$3.88 billion of the commodity. 12% of this amount represents US$465 million, the equivalent of R$2.4 billion that can be raised by the federal government if the export level is maintained in 2026.
