Author: Mara Puljiz

Source: Correio Braziliense Online - Brasília / DF - 21/08/2010

The inspectors started work around 5 am and were at the Interstate Bus Station, Núcleo Bandeirante, Recanto das Emas and Riacho Fundo - (Elio Rizzo / Esp. CB / DA Press)

The inspectors started work around 5 am and were at Rodoviária Interstate, Núcleo Bandeirante, Recanto das Emas and Riacho Fundo

The tax inspection seized yesterday more than R $ 400 thousand in electronic products, clothes and accessories, motorcycles, boats, construction material, food products and auto parts that did not have an invoice. The mega-operation, called DF Legal, was carried out by the Department of Finance for Transit Inspection (GFMT) of the Secretariat of Finance in order to inspect the establishments and ascertain whether companies were evading taxes. In all, the tax assessment notices applied due to lack of tax credit documentation totaled R $ 200 thousand. Until 14 pm, 13 fines were imposed due to some type of fiscal irregularity, among them, the lack of registration of the establishment with the Federal Revenue Service.

The action started at 5 am, when five trucks were sealed at the fiscal post of BR-060 (highway that connects Brasília to Goiânia) after checking the goods at the carrier. At the same time, another team was taking off to the Interstate Bus Station, located on the margins of Estrada Parque Indústria e Abastecimento (Epia) and opened at the beginning of the month. Only in the morning, two buses that came from Valença, in Bahia, and from Maringá, in Paraná, could not continue their journey because they loaded goods with invoices in the luggage rack without the stamp of the tax inspection. One of the buses carried boxes of honey and the other was full of electronic devices and medicines. The goods were taken to the Inspection Management deposit of the Secretariat of Finance, in the Industry and Supply Sector (Sia).

Routine action

Housewife Divaneide dos Santos da Silva, 38, was outraged. Accompanied by her son Guilherme, 8, she was worried about arriving until 17 pm yesterday in Goiânia, where she would get on another bus bound for Várzea Grande, in Mato Grosso. “Passengers cannot pay for the irregularity. The worst thing is that I have a child, ”he said. According to João Urbano Dias, inspection manager and operation coordinator, blitzes have been carried out routinely throughout the Federal District. Last Friday, the inspection caught the delivery of 500 kilos of buffalo mozzarella in Gilberto Salomão's restaurants. The invoice for the cargo was not stamped. The problem ended up being solved after the carrier managed to prove the payment of the tax, but it was one of the motivations for the action carried out yesterday. “The operation at Rodoviária occurred because we had indications that the goods were not being subjected to inspection at the stations and often circulated without invoices”, explained Dias.

Around 7:30 am, a convoy of 25 cars headed towards Riacho Fundo, Núcleo Bandeirante and Recanto das Emas. Two stores that were not registered with the IRS were fined. At the locations, the entire inventory was surveyed and the tax not collected was collected. In addition, the inspectors applied a fine of 200% under the ICSM (1) not paid and another for the lack of documentation, the amount of which is R $ 1.194. “Registration, even if the establishment is exempt, is mandatory. It identifies the suitability of the people and proves that the place is suitable for the type of commerce ”, said the inspection manager. Feirão Goiano, in Quadra 101 of Recanto das Emas, was also the target of the operation and is still under investigation.

The inspectors even lowered the doors of the place, since the marketers did not present the documentation when they were approached. After two hours, the space remained closed and reopened afterwards, with the arrival of the president of the cooperative that gathers the sellers, Jean Souza, who presented the registration of the establishment of the Revenue. "We are in accordance with the law," he guaranteed. The documentation presented, however, will still be analyzed. Those who are in an irregular situation will have the goods seized.

1 - State tax
The Tax on Operations related to the Circulation of Goods and Provision of Interstate and Intermunicipal Transport and Communication Services is a state tax, that is, only the governments of the states of Brazil and the Federal District are competent to institute it, as determined by Federal Constitution. In most cases, the ICMS, which is included in the price of products, corresponds to the percentage of 18%.

The number
R$1.194
Amount of the fine applied to establishments that are not registered with the Federal Revenue Service

Pirate products
Another major inspection action was carried out this week in DF. The Public and Social Order Secretariat (Seops) seized 326.824 pirated CDs, DVDs and games at the Imported Fair in Taguatinga. The operation took place last Wednesday, but the counting of the products was only completed yesterday. 2.054 blank media and 143 reams of paper that did not have an invoice were also collected from counterfeit stores. This was the largest piracy-fighting operation carried out by Seops and the largest in the country in 2010, according to the National Council for Combating Piracy, of the Ministry of Justice.

The evidence of manufacture of counterfeit products was confirmed after the seizure of six CD and DVD recording towers - containing 10 record companies each -, laptop, CPU, several notebooks with notes of distribution of pirated products containing names, contacts and quantities passed on to resellers, in addition to more than a million inserts and plastic covers. The action was prepared for two months and had the support of 75 agents from Seops and the Military Police, in addition to assistance from the Civil Police and 10 agents from the Inspection Agency (Agefis).

What does the law say
Tax fraud or evasion consists of using procedures that directly violate tax law or tax regulation. Providing false declaration or omitting information with the intention of avoiding the payment of taxes, fees and any additional fees due by law is a crime provided for in Article 1 of Tax Law No. 4.729, of July 14, 1965. According to the norm, it also constitutes tax evasion the alteration of invoices and any document related to commercial transactions with the purpose of defrauding the Public Treasury, providing or issuing documents or altering expenses in order to obtain deduction of taxes due without prejudice to the applicable administrative sanctions. The fine applied must be computed and paid in full, as extraordinary public revenue.