This Tuesday, the Federal Revenue notified 13 companies in the cigarette sector that they could join the list of persistent debtors, whose combined debts exceed R$25 billion.
According to information from the Revenue and the Attorney General of the National Treasury (PGFN), only two of these companies owe less than R$1 billion. Seven of these notified companies control at least 12% of the cigarette market in Brazil.
“The cigarette sector is highly contaminated by persistent debtors. Furthermore, taxation on this sector is high, not for revenue purposes, but to discourage cigarette consumption”, stated Robinson Barreirinhas, secretary of the RFB.
Furthermore, investigations by the Revenue and PGFN identified signs of concealment of the real owners of the companies, in some cases, and of money laundering. The Federal Public Ministry and the Federal Police were also called in to investigate the criminal liability of those responsible for these companies.
The measure is in accordance with the Contumaz Debtor Law, approved at the end of last year by the National Congress. The legislation provides that companies have a period of up to 30 days to settle debts after notification. Companies must also increase their equity, cover debt and make the company “healthy” within this period.
If the company does not present an appeal within these 30 days, it falls under the concept of a persistent debtor. From the moment it enters the list, the company’s National Register of Legal Entities (CNPJ) becomes invalid and loses the right to file a request for judicial recovery.
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The law defines that persistent debtors are those with irregular debts equal to or greater than R$15 million and greater than 100% of the assets; irregular debts in at least four consecutive or six alternating periods within 12 months; or with the absence of objective reasons that explain the lack of payments, assessed by the PGFN and the Revenue.
