The Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan, stated that the federal government intends to send to the National Congress, after the second round of elections, the provisional measure (MP) that will establish the rates of the Selective Tax. According to him, the agreement with the affected economic sectors was concluded this week. A new meeting on the topic is scheduled for next week, the minister said.
"We concluded an agreement this week. There will be a meeting next week, with the commitment of President Lula's government to forward the agreement made with the sectors to Congress after the elections," Durigan told reporters.
The decision to postpone sending the proposal seeks to prevent the discussion from having a political impact during the electoral campaign, according to information published by the newspaper Valor Econômico.
Selective Tax
The government's proposal envisages maintaining the tax burden currently charged by the Tax on Industrialized Products (IPI) in the sectors that will be taxed by the Selective Tax from 2027.
Among the affected segments are:
Vehicles, vessels and aircraft;
Cigarettes and other tobacco products;
Alcoholic and sugary drinks;
Mineral goods;
Prediction contests and sports betting modalities.
Collection of the new tax, however, may only begin at the end of January or beginning of February 2027. For the taxation to come into force on January 1st, the measure needed to have been sent by October 2nd, 2026.
Tax reform
During the interview, Durigan also defended the continued implementation of the tax reform on consumption, scheduled to advance in 2027. The minister countered criticism of the split payment mechanism, a system that provides for the collection of tax at the time of the financial transaction.
According to him, the implementation will be gradual and will begin optionally in operations between companies. Small businesses that sell directly to the end consumer will not be affected initially.
“Split payment begins to take effect optionally and gradually in the relationship between company and company”, he stated.
Durigan also said that the government intends to offer support to companies during the transition, with credit lines and regulatory adjustments if adaptation difficulties are identified.
Cash flow
The minister argued that the end of tax substitution could improve companies' cash flow. In the current model, in certain operations, a company collects taxes in advance for subsequent stages of the production chain.
With the reform, the expectation is that each link will start collecting the tax corresponding to its own tax obligation.
Confusion
Durigan refuted information released in recent days about split payment. In the minister's assessment, some of the criticism contributes to increasing misinformation and generating insecurity among businesspeople.
“There are some issues that are important to clarify so that we can remove confusion, misinformation and doubts that can often appear on purpose,” he declared.
The minister also contested the possibility of extending the reform and stated that the measure would postpone decisions already approved by Congress, including the exemption of taxes on products from the national basic basket and the cashback mechanism, which provides for the refund of taxes to certain consumers.
Durigan defended that implementation follows the expected schedule and highlighted the importance of clarifying the rules to reduce uncertainties during the transition to the new tax system.
