Revenue inspection must advance, says expert

Operation Caixa Rápido, launched almost two weeks ago by , scared supermarkets and raised an alarm in the business community when it identified a billion-dollar volume of undue PIS, Pasep and Cofins credits. The action has already identified inconsistencies in more than 55 thousand requests for reimbursement and compensation, with an estimated disallowance of around R$10 billion. In total, 2,959 companies were notified to review their declarations and regularize the situation by June 30th.

The operation, however, signals that the inspection movement is far from over and what began with a focus on supermarkets should escalate into new waves reaching other sectors, such as pharmacies, for example, as explained by lawyer and CEO of tax consultancy TAX Group, Luis Wulff.

The expert states that the action was based on the automated crossing of tax data, which targeted companies that benefited from tax credits without legal support.

The focus of the Federal Revenue is mainly on the misuse of credits related to products subject to the single-phase regime or zero rate. In these cases, the tax is collected in the initial stages of production, generally in industry, and does not generate the right to credit in the subsequent stages of the chain, as has been done by the supermarket sector. “If the company does not pay the tax at its stage, it cannot claim it either. This is the basic logic of the system”, explains the lawyer.

According to Wulff, a relevant part of the inconsistencies arises from misinterpretations disseminated in the market in recent years. “Many companies were induced by tax consultancies to believe that they could take these credits, when, in fact, they simply do not exist from a legal point of view”, he states.

Expansion of supervision

Although the volume of the operation draws attention, the expert believes that the action was predictable. Wulff states that the risk of this type of credit has been highlighted for years and that the current movement represents only the first stage of a broader process.

“This is the first wave, focused on supermarkets. The tendency is for inspection to advance to other sectors that also work with single-phase products, such as pharmacies, beverages, fuels, auto parts and tires”, he says.

The Revenue’s logic, according to him, is to act where there is a greater concentration of risk and financial volume, which explains the initial focus on food retail, heavily exposed to the sale of beverages, one of the main examples of single-phase taxation.

Impacts

The risk for taxpayers is not limited to the collection of unduly compensated amounts. If there is no regularization within the deadline, companies may be fined with fines of up to 150% of the debt amount, in addition to interest.

“In this case, a company with R$10 million in undue credits could see this account jump to R$25 million if the situation is not corrected”, says Wulff.

Another sensitive point is the possibility of holding partners accountable. In situations where the Revenue understands that there was fraud – that is, deliberate intention in using the credit –, the charge may affect the personal assets of the administrators.

Regularization

Despite the rigor, the IRS explains that it structured the operation with a guiding nature, allowing companies to spontaneously regularize their situation before the formal assessment.

Taxpayers with signs of irregularities will be notified through a regularization notice sent by the Post Office so that they can review their information and regularize their situation spontaneously by June 30, 2026.

To do this, according to the IRS, you will need:

– Review of tax and accounting records;

– Rectification of EFD-Contributions to exclude undue credits;

– Recalculation of PIS/Pasep and Cofins contributions;

– Adjustment of the DCTF, when there are differences to be collected;

– Cancellation of reimbursement requests and compensation statements (PER/DCOMP) based on irregular credits.

For Wulff, this possibility of redoing the calculations and declarations represents a good opportunity to mitigate losses, albeit with relevant costs. “The correction tends to cost, on average, around 20% of the value of the credit taken incorrectly, considering accounting, tax and technological adjustments. But it is better than paying the fine for non-compliance”, he says.

An accumulated problem

The episode also reveals a typical effect of the Brazilian tax system, with distortions that accumulate over time and are only addressed years later, according to the expert. This is because the misuse of these credits had already been observed for at least seven years, a period in which irregular practices spread without effective challenge. “The market was being contaminated by misinterpretations. Now, the bill has arrived, and it will be high.”

New phase of inspection

Operation Caixa Rápido demonstrates the advancement of the Federal Revenue Service’s ability to cross-reference data using technology to identify large-scale inconsistencies. More than a one-off action, the movement signals a new phase of inspection based on the massive use of data for comparisons, focusing on specific chains.

For companies, the tip is that tax practices, previously tolerated or little monitored, are now monitored with greater precision. And, given the possibility of new waves of inspection, the topic is no longer restricted to supermarkets and gains relevance for different sectors of the economy.

Find out what a single-phase product is

Single-phase products are those in which PIS and Cofins are charged only once in the chain, generally at the industry or at the importer, and not throughout the chain. This even occurs to facilitate inspection in a smaller number of companies, unlike retail, which is more dispersed. Therefore, distributors and retailers do not pay the fees again and, consequently, cannot generate tax credits, according to Wulff.

See examples:

– drinks (beer, soft drinks, water)

– fuels

– medicines

– auto parts

– tires