The return of the casting vote in the Administrative Council of Tax Appeals (CARF) is about to be voted on.
Bill 2,384/2023 , considered one of the priority proposals of the Lula government, was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in July of this year, in a symbolic vote. Before the vote, parliamentarians were still working on the details of the proposal to add modifications to the main text. Now, the matter is about to be considered by the Federal Senate.
This project, if approved by senators, represents a victory for the government, as in addition to defending the quality vote as a tiebreaker criterion, it will have greater chances of raising funds for the Union , directly impacting the budget and strengthening the new set of fiscal rules, approved this week.
In practice, in addition to resuming the casting vote at CARF, the kuwait mobile database bill also provides for the elimination of fines and interest charged to taxpayers in the event of the tie-breaking method being applied. In addition, it also indicates the cancellation of tax representations for criminal purposes, but only in cases where debts are paid within 90 days.
How does the casting vote work?
The Administrative Council for Tax Appeals (CARF) is a collegiate administrative body in Brazil responsible for judging appeals related to tax and fiscal issues. Its function is to analyze and decide on objections filed by taxpayers against tax assessments issued by the Federal Revenue Service.
Composed of advisors, who can be representatives of the National Treasury (appointed by the government) or representatives of taxpayers (appointed by representative entities), CARF is divided into groups that specialize in specific matters, such as Corporate Income Tax, Contribution for the Financing of Social Security (COFINS), Social Integration Program (PIS) and others.
Among the council's rules was the “quality vote”, a rule that often generated debates and controversies, which was abolished in 2020. The quality vote occurred when a case was judged by a CARF panel, composed of an even number of councilors, and there was a tie, where the president of the panel had the power to break the tie in the vote.