The Senate approved today (1st) a bill (PL) that provides for the return of excess tax amounts collected by electricity distribution companies. In practice, the measure can reduce the value of the electricity bill for the consumer. Project goes to the Chamber.
According to the approved text, the National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) will implement the allocation of credits referring to the Program for Social Integration and Formation of Public Servant Assets (PIS/Pasep) and the Contribution on the Financing of Social Security ( Cofins) that companies overcharged their users. This destination, according to the project, will take the form of tariff reduction.
The rapporteur of the project, Eduardo Braga (MDB-AM), said in his opinion that the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided, in 2017, to exclude the Tax on the Circulation of Merchandise and Services (ICMS) from the basis for calculating contributions for PIS/Cofins. And, in the case of the electric sector, this decision created an expectation in the sector that electric energy distributors would have almost R$ 50 billion in tax credits to be received from the Union. These credits, in turn, should be used to deduct the value of the tariffs, which did not happen.
“There is no doubt as to the fact that the consumer must be the final beneficiary of these credits. After all, it was the consumer who paid the contribution to PIS/PASEP and to Cofins in an amount greater than what should have been charged”, said the rapporteur. According to Braga, the PL eliminates uncertainty as to the real beneficiary of the tax credits resulting from the Supreme Court’s decision.
* With information from the Senate Agency
