Valor Econômico - Special Section - Fighting Corruption - 17/08/2012

The inspection of the Federal Revenue broke a record in 2011 when identifying R $ 109,3 billion in amounts withheld. The amount exceeds by 21,25% the total number of assessments in 2010. According to data from the Revenue, in 26,35% of the closed inspections, in theory, the practice of crimes against the tax order or against Social Security was identified. For these cases, Tax Representations for Penal Purposes were formalized, which will be forwarded to the Federal Public Ministry. Last year, the Revenue retained 569.671 statements in the fine mesh, down from 700 in 2010.

To increase the siege against tax evasion, the agency has increased the value of fines, which reach 150% of the total tax to be charged when fraud is characterized by the taxpayer, in addition to creating information systems on medical services, card credit, real estate activities. It also has advanced electronic systems, as is the case of the Public Digital Bookkeeping System (Sped), a tool that allows companies' online accounting to be followed. The intention is not to increase the number of notices, but to select the biggest offenders.

“With Sped, we gain agility as we have information in hand in a shorter time and in a more effective way of dealing with it”, says Caio Cândido, undersecretary of Revenue Inspection. “We have a database that allows us to scrutinize the taxpayer's life. Sped also offers quality information due to the various filters that are made. ”

“Today, the Tax Authorities are so equipped with tools that the taxpayer who tries to circumvent the Federal Revenue has a validity period: within two months, the Tax Authority already fines this taxpayer”, says Sebastião Luiz Gonçalves, coordinator of the 2nd State Inspection Chamber from Sao Paulo.

The numbers prove the thesis of Gonçalves, who is also a member of the Regional Accounting Council of the State of São Paulo (CRC / SP). According to the Revenue data, the industrial sector led the notices in the corporate segment, with R $ 30,9 billion. Among individuals, company owners and managers were the most fined, totaling R $ 1,6 billion, according to IRS data.

The government is committed to improving control tools to prevent fraud. In addition to Sped, Gonçalves cites controls such as the Declaration of Information on Real Estate Activities (Dimob), Declaration of Credit Card Operations (Decred) and the Declaration of Medical and Health Services (Dmed). “It was very common for taxpayers to spend R $ 1 thousand and to enter R $ 10 thousand in the Income Tax return on health expenses. Today, the service provider reports everything to the IRS. ”

For Caio Cândido, undersecretary of Revenue Inspection, if on the one hand the tax authorities gain in quality and agility, on the other hand there is an increase in work. “We had a change in the way of supervising with the adoption of Sped”, he informs, referring to the system to which companies are gradually being forced to migrate. “With the crossing of information, there was a great addition to the work of the source. Before, bookkeeping was in books, on papers within the company. Today, the auditor is able to audit data sent electronically ”, he explains.