In a constitutional action sponsored by the law firm DB Tesser Sociedade de Advogados, the Magistrate of the 3rd Federal Court of the Judicial Section of Rio de Janeiro recognized, in a ruling, the timeliness of the administrative appeal filed by the importing company.

As outlined, the Federal Revenue Delegate did not accept the appeal filed by the taxpayer because, according to him, the company had been notified months earlier through publication in the Official Gazette of the Union – DOU.

Upon examining the case, we note that the Tax Authority had only published the Declaratory Act in the Official Gazette, which, by itself, is not sufficient to notify the taxpayer of the decisions issued by the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service.

Given the illegalities found and the irreparable damage that the aforementioned decision would cause to the company, a Writ of Mandamus was filed against the aforementioned coercive act.

In light of what was stated in the initial pleading, the Magistrate argued that the tax legislation itself provides for the sending of an informative message to the taxpayer, which is why the mere publication in the Official Gazette cannot be considered a valid means of informing the company.

In this scenario, the Magistrate granted the injunction, ordering the Tax Authority to proceed with the analysis of the administrative appeal filed, thus ensuring compliance with the fundamental principles of the Federal Constitution.

Thus, the indispensability of a specialized team to provide the necessary legal support to foreign trade operators is demonstrated, since, often, even when they carry out their commercial activities in accordance with current regulations, they are surprised by arbitrary conduct, which ends up making it impossible to continue their regular functions.

For more information, contact our team!

Decision commented on by Pedro Guzenski, Lawyer, graduated in Law in 2019 from the Catholic University of Santos/SP, Specialist in Customs and Tax Law. OAB nº 445.637