The Federal Revenue Service will use Pix to directly tax all digital transactions; Understands

In addition to the 22.5% tax on operations using Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Brazil, the Federal Revenue Service, in cooperation with the Central Bank, is developing a new system for collecting taxes on all digital transactions. This new system aims to improve tax collection and will be directly integrated into all digital transactions.

The proposal is part of the consumption tax reform, approved by Constitutional Amendment 132/2023, and provides for the unification of ICMS and ISS into the tax on goods and services (IBS) and the social contribution on goods and services (CBS). Taxes generated from digital transactions would be remitted to the government using Pix (and later Drex) at the time of the transaction.

“I was at the central bank talking to people,” said Daniel Loria, director of the Finance Ministry’s Tax Reform Secretariat. The Pix and Drex are actually programmed with this in mind. With this procedure, the tax will be passed directly to the tax authority at the time of purchase, without the need for subsequent payment by the platform or the seller.

Rodrigo Fruta, a tax auditor from São Paulo, highlighted that collecting taxes in advance can have a significant impact, especially for companies that operate in several states. Therefore, the government intends to implement a split payment system, where each identified actor in the transaction will receive its direct share within the total payment.

Furthermore, the Brazilian government is planning to make changes to taxes on cryptocurrencies to combat tax evasion and ensure more transparency in operations. The proposal includes an increase in the tax rate on all cryptocurrencies, set at 22.5%, considering them a form of financial investment. Exchanges are already required to report all user operations to the Federal Revenue Service, and the government intends to cross-reference this data to other information to include tax charges in the pre-filled income tax return.

The government is determined to refer the draft law to the National Congress in the first half of the year, demonstrating the urgent need to approve these changes.