The Federal Revenue is studying changes that could lead to the extinction of the so-called PIS / Cofins, source of more than 20% of the Union's tax resources (about R $ 86 billion of the R $ 414 billion collected from January to April 2015). The idea is to replace it with a single social contribution, with a single rate. The goal is to approve the change in Congress this year so that it takes effect in early 2016.

The impact on the total amount paid by companies should be neutral, believes the IRS, for whom the measure will reduce the administrative costs of taxpayers. This is because it will simplify taxation, the complexity of which is widely recognized by the Ministry of Finance, which is linked to the Federal Revenue Service.

This legal mess that they call PIS / Cofins includes different taxation regimes, specific treatment for various sectors of the economy and different rates. In the case of Cofins, the highest reaches 7,6% of the company's revenue, which brings the maximum rate of the two taxes to 9,25%.

One of the most controversial aspects of this taxation model is that it allows, in theory, to offset certain credits, relative to the costs accumulated by companies along the production chain. In practice, its rules are so complicated that many taxpayers end up not making the compensation to which they are entitled. The IRS signs a formula that will simplify this process, making it possible to effectively offset all costs incurred.

If the Revenue plan works, the Contribution to the Financing of Social Security (Cofins) and the Programs of Social Integration and Formation of the Civil Servants' Heritage (PIS / Pasep) - which together became known by the acronym PIS will be retired. / Cofins.

End of statements

Also in line with tax simplification, the area's technicians are working on a proposal to eliminate several declarations that companies are currently required to provide to the government. Among them, the corporate income tax return (IRPJ). It is even considered to end the Annual List of Social Information (Rais), which every legal entity is obliged to send each year to the Ministry of Labor.

Gender statements form some of the so-called "ancillary obligations". That is, all the bureaucratic procedures associated with taxes or legal records that any existing organization in the country is forced to follow in order to keep up with the Tax Authorities and other State institutions: rules for issuing invoices, sending information, bookkeeping accounting books, etc. Such obligations provide a rich source of information, including to facilitate tax investigation. But they account for a significant part of the normative maze that is the hallmark of Brazilian tax legislation.

Changing part of this infernal reality will be possible because of the modernization of data processing reported by taxpayers. “With the electronic invoice, for example, what is informed by the taxpayer enters the database immediately. This will allow, through the crossing of information or the integration of different systems, to eliminate various requirements, greatly simplifying the taxpayer's life ”, explains a technician involved in the studies.

Source: Congress in focus (15/06)

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