STF gives until the 14th for states and the Union to close an agreement on fuel ICMS

Minister André Mendonça, of the Federal Supreme Court, gave until June 14 for state secretaries, the federal government and Congress to reach an agreement on changes in the collection of ICMS on fuel.

The agreement was defined at a conciliation hearing at the STF this Thursday (2) with the presence of the presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), in addition to state secretaries. of Finance and representatives of the federal government.

One of the solutions will come through the approval of the bill in progress in the Senate that establishes fuels as essential goods, therefore, with a limited ICMS rate.

According to the president of Comsefaz (Committee of State Secretaries of Finance) and Secretary of Finance of Pernambuco, Décio Padilha, this will be one of the solutions to the impasse in the STF.

Padilha said that it was agreed at the custody hearing that the new rules for charging ICMS on fuel must follow certain criteria, including charging a single rate, a commitment not to expand the tax base, characterizing goods as essential and monophasia in tax collection.

“Agreement depends on the understanding of all parties. On the part of the states, I can say that the goodwill is total. We don’t want to be in litigation, I just talked to President Arthur Lira and explained to him that we have no interest in always being on any subject pulling different interpretations, we want to converge”, said Padilha, at the end of the meeting.

The president of Comsefaz said that a new agreement will be drawn up by the states for the collection of ICMS based on these criteria. There is no willingness on the part of states, according to Padilha, to insist on the rules that were contested by the government in the STF.

The rule established a single ICMS rate, but allowed each state these specific discounts, which, in practice, led to different collections of the tax in each federative unit.

“We will no longer stay at this point, we will move forward, we are willing to build something that is good for the country and that has the backing of justice, the Federal Supreme Court, as well as the National Congress. He put some points for us to develop. We are going to have an immediate working group, by the end of the day I have to nominate the secretaries who will participate in the various meetings in the country, as well as the National Congress and the Attorney General’s Office will also nominate the participants”, said Padilha.

Mendonça is the rapporteur of an action in the STF presented by the government against the agreement of the state secretaries. Last month, the minister granted an injunction (provisional) suspending part of the act, at the request of the Attorney General’s Office.

The minister then decided to ask for data from the states on ICMS collection and set up a conciliation hearing with all the parties, before taking a new decision in the case.