Author: Sílvia Pimentel

Source: Diário do Comércio, 23/06/04

The tax evasion in the beverage sector seems to have its days numbered. With the installation of flow meters in the breweries - which will start at the end of this month by the AmBev unit in Jaguariúna (SP), extending to the soft drink sector in 2005 -, the São Paulo State Finance Secretariat (Sefaz) will have greater firepower to attack, from next month, the segment of national hot drinks, such as wine, whiskey and cachaça. The market data will receive special attention from Sefaz, which will also reinforce the number of inspectors, previously assigned to work in the beer sector. “With the flow meters, we will be able to relocate the inspectors who work in breweries to other sectors”, says José Luiz Mello, deputy director of the Tax Administration Executive Board (Deat).

The beverage sector has always been one of the main targets of state inspection. Today, the segment shares the attention of the tax authorities with large retailers, which also have a specialized team of inspectors. Sefaz was unable to estimate the amount of tax that is diverted by the beverage sector from public coffers, but a study recently released by the Brazilian Institute of Competitive Ethics (Etco) shows alarming data: tax evasion, globally, reaches R $ 1 , 3 billion in the beer and soft drink sectors.

Until the installation of flow meters in all units of beer production - a measure required by the Federal Revenue Service - the state inspection continues based on the crossing of data, starting with the supermarkets. “The operations are concentrated at the end of the chain, before reaching the final consumer. Through purchases made by supermarkets, for example, we are able to know the quantity that left the industry ”, summarizes Mello.

Despite passing far from the degree of sophistication that will be the inspection with flow meters, measures adopted until then, seem to give results. From January to May this year, the collection in the beverage sector showed a nominal growth of 26%. From 1988 to 2003, the increase was 32%.

“Obviously, the economy helped. There was a conjunction of factors that contributed to this performance, including the siege of the evasion of ICMS ”, adds Mello, who declined to comment on the assessment at the Schincariol brewery this week, which resulted in a fine of around R $ 170 million.

The flow meters that are beginning to be imposed by the Federal Revenue on the beverage factories are a kind of water meter, making it possible to control every drop produced. With this, the intention is to prevent tax evasion, including state taxes. Sefaz technicians in São Paulo actively participated in the development of the system required by the Treasury. Each equipment costs about R $ 40 thousand.

See also:

 McKinsey Study: Removing Barriers to Economic Growth (PDF)

 Sectorial Chambers of ETCO