In a tax enforcement action sponsored by our firm, DB Tesser Sociedade de Advogados, the 7th Panel of the Tax Appeals Office of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service recognized, in a ruling, the nullity of the tax assessments due to a demonstrated material defect.
Initially, a substantial fine was proposed for the goods in question, arguing that there were indications of under-invoicing, evidenced by the international market price of their constituent raw materials, as well as an error in the classification of the goods.
In our appeal, our firm dismantled the entire tax argument regarding under-invoicing, clearly and coherently demonstrating the weakness of the assessment made by the Federal Revenue Service.
In the ruling, the Tax Authorities impeccably acknowledged the insufficiency of evidence, insufficient to support the charges of falsifying documents and under-invoicing, and therefore the price assessment carried out by the Tax Authority became unsustainable.
In this step, the 7th panel decided to exonerate the tax credits present in the Notice of Infraction, including the respective late payment interest and fine, due to the clear material defect present in the assessments.
Finally, it determined the payment of the fine related to the error in the classification of the merchandise, with a value lower than the jurisdictional limit foreseen in article 1 of Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 63, of February 9, 2017, thus dispensing with the appeal ex officio by the Federal Revenue Service.
Therefore, the support of a specialized legal team is essential, since although importing companies operate correctly, they suffer from the illegal and arbitrary retention of their goods for unfounded and debatable reasons, and the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service is not exempt from bearing the responsibility for negligent acts originating from it.
A major victory for Customs Law
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Decision commented on by Pedro Guzenski, Lawyer, graduated in Law in 2019 by the Catholic University of Santos, OAB/SP nº 445.637
