Rio Grande do Sul has one of the most important specific laws against the country's persistent debtor. It was created in 2011 and has since managed to recover R $ 17 million owed by these taxpayers and reduce the number of companies in this situation by 26%.

The assistant attorney general for administrative affairs of the attorney general's office in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Cristiano Xavier Bayne, points out that there are 160 taxpayer companies in Rio Grande do Sul and 40 of them are classified as regular debtors. "These companies account for XNUMX% of all taxes that are not collected from state coffers annually," says Bayne.

He stresses the importance of combating these debtors, who do this on a premeditated basis. According to Bayne, of the universe of a thousand companies, only two hundred are being submitted to the inspection regime. This is because, before being included in this regime, they have the right to ample defense.

HOW IT WORKS

In order not to harm common debtors, the gaucho legislation created a criterion that determines who can be classified as a regular. This group includes the taxpayer who fails to collect the ICMS for at least eight months of the last year.

The legislation also provides for the issuance of notices so that the taxpayer has the opportunity to regularize his situation before any form of penalty. Only after that can the company be included in the differentiated regime.

Whoever enters this category should start to collect the ICMS at the time of issuing the note, instead of doing it monthly on the total of notes issued in that period. The legislation also has the support of customers of these companies. For this, the redemption of ICMS credits theoretically paid by companies classified as permanent debtors is only possible if the tax collection guide is presented.

However, the law applied in Rio Grande do Sul is still a matter of dispute. First, it was questioned by the state Court of Justice, which found that there was no reason to suspend it. The discussion was then taken to the Federal Supreme Court (STF). According to groups that question the government's initiative, the project violates the right to free enterprise by instituting rules that make it difficult to carry out the commercial activities of companies under the differentiated regime. The government of Rio Grande do Sul has the support of several institutions, such as the National Union of Fuel Companies (Sindicom), which became part of the process as an amicus curiae. There is still no date for the judgment in the STF.