Provisional Measure No. 1.160/2023, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, brought relevant changes involving the Administrative Board of Tax Appeals (CARF) – “appellate court in the RFB”.
In this article, we shall discuss two specific changes:
a) The increase in the minimum amount for the administrative proceeding to access the “CARF”
b) The return of the casting vote for tie-breaking purposes
a) At the administrative level, after a lower court ruling unfavorable to the taxpayer, there is the possibility of filing an appeal with the CARF, in case the administrative discussion involves a certain minimum amount.
According to the new MP, this minimum amount to access the CARF will go from 60 minimum wages (R$ 78,120,00) to 1,000 minimum wages (R$ 1,302,000.00).
This change aims to reduce the judicial backlog at the second administrative level, since only tax assessments above one thousand minimum wages will be able to access the CARF.
b) As for the return of the casting/tie-breaking vote, which had been withdrawn by the previous government, it is important to state the following comments.
The CARF Judgment Panels are made up of four Counselors, two representatives of the Taxpayers and two of the National Treasury. In addition, each Class will be chaired, obligatorily, by a Treasury Councilor.
According to Law no. 10.522/2002, in the event of a tie in the judgment of a certain administrative proceeding, the in dubio pro taxpayer was respected (when in doubt, the judgment is in favor of the taxpayer).
The new MP 1.160 removed said forecast, resuming the applicability of the casting vote. This means that, now, in cases of a tie, the vote cast by the President of a given CARF Panel will have double weight, this President who, is important to reiterate, will always be a representative of the National Treasury.
It is worth noting that the discussion involving the casting vote is currently awaiting judgment by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). Thus, this subject will certainly have news in the upcoming months.
