Law no. 12,788, resulting from the conversion of Provisional Measure no. 578, of August 31, 2012, was published on January 15, 2013. These laws allow taxpayers a threefold depreciation, notwithstanding the regular depreciation, of certain automobiles for the transport of goods, as well as wagons, trains, and tenders for any purpose.
The tax benefit applies to new goods acquired or ordered from September 1st, 2012 to December 12, 2012, and may be computed as of January 1, 2013. The value of the total depreciation, accelerated and regular depreciation, should not exceed the cost of acquisition of the goods.
At the conversion of the Provisional Measure into the Law no. 12,788, lawmakers maintained the tax benefit in question without any alterations, but also included new normative provisions that deal, among other things, with the Tax Administrative Proceedings.
On this matter, the law changes Law no.10,522/2002 to extend the events in which the Attorney General Office of the National Treasury ("PGFN") should not file a Ex Officio Appeal against the decisions that are favorable to the taxpayer . Among these new events are those decisions that ratify the taxpayers' claim for the offsetting of tax credits1, which reduce the penalty arising from the application of the retroactivity of the most favorable law to the taxpayer, and in the events in which the decision is based on a decision rendered in a direct action for the declaration of unconstitutionality ("ADIn"), and in a binding precedent handed down by the Federal Supreme Court.
Furthermore, article 48 of Law no. 9,430/1996 was amended in order to provide that Tax Rulings, made with respect to the interpretation of the tax and customs legislation and to the classification of goods within the Federal Revenue Office of Brazil, may be made online, as specified by this government agency.
Footnotes
1 In practice, the rule related to the offsetting of tax credits was already provided for in non-statutory rules, such as in Normative Instruction no. 460/2004, article 49, and in Decree no. 7,574/2011, article 71; however, now, with the enactment of Law no. 12,788/2013, this rule has the force of law.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
