Pedro Rezek Andery Altran
Lawyer at Marcos Martins Advogados
The Federal Supreme Court ( STF) has ruled that commercial exporting companies (trading companies) are entitled to the immunity provided for in §2 of article 149 of the Federal Constitution and are not required to pay social security contributions or contributions for intervention in the economic domain on revenues from the export of products.
This immunity was not respected due to the limitation established by the Federal Revenue Service in Normative Instruction No. 971/09, which establishes in article 170 that immunity is only applicable when the production is marketed directly to the purchaser domiciled abroad, which does not cover income from indirect marketing carried out by trading companies.
In the judgment, the Court ruled that the immunity rule contained in item I of paragraph 2 of article 149 of the Constitution of the Republic covers revenues from indirect export operations, characterized by the participation of an intermediary exporting company.[1] The Court also ruled that the immunity rule contained in item I of paragraph 2 of article 149 of the Constitution of the Republic covers revenues from indirect export operations, characterized by the participation of an intermediary exporting company.
This understanding relieves the tax burden on commercial transactions involving sales abroad through trading companies.
In this context, Marcos Martins Advogados puts its tax team at your disposal for further clarification on this important issue.
[1] STF. Extraordinary Appeal (RE) nº 759244. Rapporteur: Minister Alexandre de Morais. Date of judgment: 12/02/2020
