Source: Diário de Canoas - Canoas / RS - INTERNACIONAL - 13/07/2010

The measure has the objective of adapting the calculation base to the market reality.

Porto Alegre - Governor Yeda Crusius signed decree nº 47.363 reducing the ICMS on generic and reference drugs in Rio Grande do Sul. The measure, published in the Official Gazette of the State (DOE), on July 9, has the objective of adapting the calculation base to the market reality, verified in a price survey carried out in the sector, so that the tax burden falls on the price actually practiced.

For generic drugs, the reduction in the ICMS calculation base goes from 75% to 70% of the Maximum Consumer Price (PMC) and, for reference or brand, it goes from 85% to 80%, in the entire state of São Paulo. Rio Grande do Sul.

According to the State Secretary of Finance, Ricardo Englert, the payment of ICMS on medications is done through tax substitution. "Under this system, the tax is levied on the industry or the wholesaler," he said, noting that, in most segments, a value margin on which the tax is levied is calculated.

In the case of medicines, this reference value is defined by the pharmaceutical industry. The drug leaves the industry with the maximum price to be charged, the PMC. The Secretariat of Finance found that pharmacies practiced a discount to the largest consumer in the case of generics and reference products and lower in the case of similar ones, whose calculation base was adjusted from 60% to 70% of the PMC.