In Brazil, tax evader gets free from prison after paying fine and tax or installment debt

The recent arrest of marketer João Santana, responsible for the campaign of President Dilma Roussef, showed a peculiarity of Brazilian legislation - which has the antipathy of auditors of the Federal Revenue.

Arrested in Operation Lava-lato, he justified accounts abroad alleging, through his lawyer, that it was a “simple case of tax evasion“, Which would be regularized Since 1995, the law determines that anyone who commits the crime of evasion is free from punishment after the payment or installment of the debt. Auditors responsible for the inspections of the Internal Revenue Service believe that the rule makes crime a “minor problem”: The current law provides that, even if an infraction notice concludes, in an Administrative Instance - a judgment that can take up to six years - that the taxpayer evaded taxes, he may be free of punishment after paying in full or even joining a Refis to install the debt.

In addition to the amount withheld, the taxpayer must pay a fine of 150% on the amount. The so-called punishment extinction is only valid until the moment when the process goes to the Judiciary and the complaint is accepted by a judge. From there, the taxpayer can no longer get rid of the punishment.

For the vice president of the National Association of Revenue Auditors (Unafisco), Kléber Cabral, the legislation encourages tax evasion. He says that, among those responsible for inspection at the IRS, the law is considered disrespectful to public money. “They turned tax evasion into a calculated risk practice. The most that can happen is having to pay the tax ”- said Cabral.

$ 700 BI LOST PER YEAR

According to data from the association, in the last Refis (in 2014), 23 large taxpayers assessed for tax crimes joined the installment plan, avoiding penal repercussions. On the list are notaries, notary officers, pharmaceutical companies, health pianos, advertising companies, a brokerage, a lottery shop, a college owner, the chairman of a bank and an agricultural producer.

Source: O Globo (11/03)

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