‎Brazil News

The judgment sessions of the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (Carf) will not resume in August. JOTA found that there was no agreement in an attempt to negotiate between the president of the court, Carlos Henrique de Oliveira, and the farmer category. The meeting was held last Wednesday (27/7).

 

The discussion began during a meeting between counselors, the National Union of Tax Auditors of the Federal Revenue Service of Brazil (Sindifisco) and the National Mobilization Command, which since December have been demanding the regulation of the efficiency bonus. After voting between the category, the proposal to hold just one day of judgment for each class per month, in a virtual way, was taken to the presidency of Carf for negotiation. There was no agreement, however. The president wants at least three trial days for ordinary classes per month.

 

The possibility of re-attempting an agreement is low. According to sources, the president of Carf stated that he will not hold new meetings to address the matter, thus awaiting movement on the part of the category. The tax auditors, on the other hand, intend to wait for a new meeting of the National Union, which should only take place at the end of August.

 

 

Since the beginning of the mobilization of the category, the council is practically paralyzed. This is because CARF is an equal body, in which there are the same number of councilors representing taxpayers and those representing the National Treasury, who are tax auditors.

 

At the moment, only the 1st Class of the Superior Chamber is holding monthly meetings. In July, the collegiate started to adopt a hybrid face-to-face model, which should be maintained in the second week of August, between the 9th and 11th. In addition, this Friday (5/8) the 1st Panel of the Superior Chamber will hold a session of extraordinary judgment, in virtual format.

 

The decision of the category for the partial return of Carf took place after the Judgment Offices (DRJ) partially resumed their activities. The DRJ is the first instance of the administrative process. With the return of the police stations, new resources will arrive at Carf, which, until then, was not happening.

 

However, according to counselors, it is still not possible to say that the stock of cases awaiting judgment at CARF will increase for this reason. They point out that many cases are resolved in the first instance, as in cases where the DRJ judges the taxpayers' actions to be valid and the IRS does not appeal, or in the case of small-value cases that do not go up to CARF.

 

Trial in SP

Upon assuming the presidency of CARF, Carlos Henrique de Oliveira announced his intention to hold trial sessions in São Paulo, on an experimental basis. The president told JOTA that the room in the Ministry of Economy building in the capital of São Paulo has already been chosen for the first meeting, scheduled for September. According to sources, the project will involve the classes of the Superior Chamber, since the ordinary classes do not have a return forecast.

 

The experiment is motivated by the fact that many counselors reside in São Paulo and the region and spend a lot of time traveling to Brasília, where the face-to-face judgment sessions take place. In addition, the expense that Carf has with tickets and accommodation is high. It weighs the fact that, between 2021 and 2022, the budget of Carf shrunk by 52%, from BRL 22.5 million to BRL 11 million.