Second phase of the Amnesty Program related to social security contributions provided by Law No. 12,966/2014

On April 12, 2016, Joint Ordinance 550/2016 was published to inform the procedures to be adopted by the taxpayers in the second phase of the Amnesty Program provided by Law No. 12,966/2014 (the so-called "consolidation phase"), which should be observed by the taxpayers, through out the IRS website, according the dates indicated below:

Up to May 06th, 2016

  • If the company intends to include remaining amounts related to old installment programs, it has to file a formal resignation request;
  • The company has to comply with the requirements of the Normative Ruling no. 1,491/2014.

From June 07th to June 24th, 2016

  • Indicate the debts to be paid in installments, the number of installments and pay the installments due up to this date;
  • Indicate the debts paid in a lump-sum and pay possible remaining amount;
  • Indicate the NOLs (net operating losses) to pay interest and penalties.

We would like to emphasize that the Amnesty Program provided by Law no. 12,966/2014 refers to the adherences performed by the taxpayers until November 28, 2014, to pay debts accrued up to December 31, 2013, with discounts on interest and penalties and with the possibility of using NOLs (net operating losses) accrued up to December 31, 2013 and declared to the tax authorities up to June 30, 2014.

The presentation of information in this consolidation phase must also be observed by the taxpayers which utilized the benefits of article 33 of Law No. 13,043/2014, for payment of these debts in a lump sum and by using NOLs.

Also, we stress that the Joint Ordinance does not apply to taxpayers that are linked to the amnesty program provided by Law No. 12,865/2014, which reopened the amnesty program instituted by Law No. 11,941/ 2009 for adherence until July 2014 ( there will be specific regulation later on).

Other relevant information refers to the possibility of including in the consolidation additional debts that had not been taken into consideration at the time of the adherence in 2014 (Law No. 12,996). with the maturity date up to December In this case the taxpayer will have to complement the payment of the past installments before the consolidation phase.

Therefore, we advise that, as soon as the system is available, the taxpayers should confirm whether the debts that will be indicated in the consolidation appears in the program in order to, if necessary, adopt the measures before the Federal Treasury Attorneys Office and the Brazilian Federal Revenue Department to regularize it.

With regards to the debts indicated in the Amnesty Program of Law No. 12,966/2014, which are under administrative discussion and which collection is suspended, the indication in the consolidation phase will imply in tacit waiver of the discussion. For those under judicial discussion the formal waivers must be performed until the last business day of the month following to that in which the taxpayer is aware of the consolidation.

If the debts to be indicated in the consolidation are linked to an administrative or judicial deposit, their inclusion for payment in installments or in a lump sum can only be concluded after the determination of the remaining amount of the debt, subject to prior conversion into Federal Treasury income of the amounts deposited, which does not prevent the taxpayer from requesting further review of the consolidation of the debts for inclusion of said remaining amount.

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.