Author: Xavier Sabadell and Luis Reis

Source: Rio Claro Guide - SP - 29/07/2009

In the last 12 months, we had the opportunity to discuss with more than 200 companies, multinationals, nationals and from the most varied business segments, the paths taken to meet the requirements demanded by SPED (electronic invoice, digital tax bookkeeping and digital bookkeeping).

In this very rich experience, from the point of view of learning about the concerns of organizations on the subject, we were able to deduce, in the first instance, that the market in general was quite confused in relation to the depth of the changes and impacts on their businesses that the new milestone regulatory framework will bring.

In general, out of every three companies contacted, two understood that this was a topic purely linked to information technology and that the simple implementation of some systemic module would solve the issue.

Regardless of this preliminary understanding, we note that companies have faced this challenge, and much has been done to ensure the implementation of the technical requirements demanded by SPED within the deadlines defined in the tax schedule.

In the information technology dimension, in which the greatest efforts were made, new tax systems were implemented, new fields were customized, new interfaces were created, among other achievements related to technological infrastructure.

In relation to the dimension of processes and, in particular, registration of suppliers, products and customers, the changes were less comprehensive and focused on direct service to the new fields and layouts of tax and accounting information required by the Tax Authorities.

Among the many novelties, uncertainties and various interpretations on the theme, the years 2008 and early 2009 stood out, mainly, for the maturation of the market in relation to SPED and for the effective mobilization for its solution, that is, about 2/3 of the companies obliged to attend SPED, in this first cycle, did, in some way, their homework, overcoming this first challenge. On the other hand, there are still about 30% left to adjust.

This first cycle of adaptation to SPED will consolidate in September, when the SPED Fiscal files for the months of January to August of this year will be transmitted for the first time.

The extension of the deadline for the delivery of the fiscal SPED to September 2009 proves that in fact companies are facing difficulties in adapting to this new reality. In any case, as of September 2009, when the fiscal SPED is in effect, much information that has never been disclosed about the companies' operations will be available from the tax analytical point of view.

It is interesting to note that, after a year of hard work and learning, thoughts and reflections on the challenges that are yet to come after the implementation of SPED begin to emerge. In fact, the introduction of the new standard in the corporate world will represent a radical change in the inspection paradigm and will transform the relationship between tax authorities and organizations.

Henceforth, we will live a much more effective model with access to an often greater volume of operational and tax data, online and on a permanent basis, allowing multiple cross-checks to verify the adequacy of tax, accounting and tax collection procedures. .

Thus, this new inspection model, made possible by the introduction of SPED, will bring organizations a much higher level of exposure than the current one, mainly in a scenario, already proven, of a drop in tax collection as a result of the global economic crisis, which is also already reflected in Brazil with the fall in economic activity.

The quality of transactional information will become the main risk to be mitigated. Companies, in order to ensure the quality of the data that will be sent to the Tax Authorities, must necessarily visit their operation and make significant changes in culture, systems, organizational structure, processes and procedures and the training of their professionals.

Thus, it will be able to reduce the tax exposure and, consequently, eliminate any financial losses arising from assessments applied by the Tax Authorities or by the adoption of inappropriate tax and accounting procedures. In addition to causing the need for changes in the entire value chain of companies and tax assessment processes, organizations must also pay attention to the correct integration with the value chain of their main customers and suppliers in order to ensure “tax compliance” since the origin of the information, mainly due to the NF-e.

It is clear that this new standard of Digital Inspection will demand deeper and more complex changes to address the old structural problems existing in the tax management of companies that until now had never been dealt with in the origin of their cause.

In fact, this reflection firmly leads us to understand SPED as a great opportunity for the development of new sustainable tax management models that can make the corporate tax area no longer a mere expense center, but a results. After all, correctly managing a company's high tax burden is an investment that makes perfect sense from a competitive point of view.

* Xavier Sabadell and Luis Reis are partners of PricewaterhouseCoopers - Brasil and specialists in process management and in the tax area, respectively.