Source: InfoPessoal (Taxes), 14/04/2008

SAO PAULO - According to the rapporteur of the Temporary Subcommittee on Tax Reform, senator Francisco Dornelles (PP-RJ), the main advantage of electronic invoices (NF-e) for taxpayers is that when everyone pays taxes, without evasion , each pays less.

 

For companies, on the other hand, the major advantages are the simplification and lower cost of the administrative cost of paying taxes. The tax authorities, in turn, benefit from the reduction of loopholes for tax evasion. The statements were made last Thursday (10) during a debate on the subject.

 

Universalization
As announced by Agência Senado, the end of tax posts at the borders between states will be one of the consequences of the universal use of electronic invoices, which are already adopted in 18 federal units, as a basis for charging ICMS (Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services).

 

According to the general coordinator of Inspection of the Federal Revenue of Brazil, Marcelo Fish de Berredo Menezes, at the moment, there are two bases of digital bookkeeping of the purchase and sale of goods.

 

One of them was created by the IRS itself, Sefaz Virtual, with the accession of seven states, and the other was developed by Rio Grande do Sul and serves 11 units of the Federation.

 

Tax integration
According to Menezes, the SPED (Public Digital Bookkeeping System), where the Federal Revenue Service base is located, has issued, since March 2007, around 1,2 million electronic notes, involving R $ 10,3 billion in transactions . The balance sheet also includes the documents issued through the federal tax modules, in the period when the companies' adhesion was voluntary.

 

However, as of this month, the compulsory adherence phase began, at first with the entry of cigarette manufacturers and distributors, fuel carriers and distributors and retailers and traders.

 

And according to Etco (Brazilian Institute of Competition Ethics), during the first ten days of mandatory electronic invoice for the tobacco and liquid fuel sectors, more than 1 million documents were issued across the country, which corresponds to R $ 25 billion in goods handling.

 

São Paulo
Still in the debate at the Subcommittee, the Assistant Secretary of Finance of the State of São Paulo, George Tormin, addressed the experience with the so-called Electronic Invoice for Farm Services, from the City of São Paulo.

 

The system, which records the operations related to ISS (Tax on Services), was created just over two years ago, and service providers gained a stimulus to join, by means of a credit of 5% or 10% of the incident tax , which can be used for the reduction of up to 50% of the IPTU (Urban Property and Land Tax).

 

According to Tormin, consumers also gained a greater incentive, of 30% of the ISS levied on the contracted service, so that they feel encouraged to charge providers for issuing the electronic note.

In this case, the accumulated credit can also be used to reduce up to 50% of the IPTU, but the benefit applies both to own property and to that of relatives, friends and even third parties.