How it works
Idle credit from PIS/COFINS (federal taxes on revenue)
Exports do not pay PIS/COFINS on the sale, but the 9.25% credit on inputs, energy and freight keeps accruing. A company that does not sell in the domestic market has nothing to offset it against, and that balance can be refunded in cash, quarter by quarter.
Legal basis: Lei 10.637/2002, art. 5º; Lei 10.833/2003, art. 6º, §§1º e 2º.
Recovers the last 5 years
Accumulated ICMS (state VAT) that nobody transfers
Export sales are immune from ICMS, but the ICMS paid on purchases stays. In São Paulo the accumulated credit is booked in the e-CredAc (the state's system for accumulated ICMS credit) and can be transferred to a supplier or used to buy assets. Outside the system, it is cash sitting idle at the state tax authority.
Legal basis: LC 87/1996, arts. 3º, II, e 25; RICMS-SP, arts. 71 a 84 (e-CredAc).
Recovers the last 5 years
Imported inputs without drawback
Inputs brought in to become exported products can enter with II (import duty), IPI (federal excise tax), PIS/COFINS and ICMS suspended. This is drawback suspension. The refund mode was abolished: what is done is to analyze, before the next import, whether the operation fits within the suspension. A company that imports and exports while paying everything on entry finances the government for months.
Legal basis: Lei 11.945/2009, art. 12; Portaria Secex 44/2020.
Applies from now on, per operation
How we work with you
- Identification of the PIS/COFINS credit for the last 5 years and the refund request
- Booking of accumulated ICMS in the e-CredAc and its use with suppliers or for assets
- Analysis of whether the operation fits drawback suspension, before the next imports
- Monthly tax calculation that already separates the credit
What usually comes up
An exporter under Lucro Real (actual-profit regime) with a PIS/COFINS balance accumulating for years and no PER/DCOMP (electronic request to refund or offset tax credits) filed.
A typical case, with no figure: yours comes from the review.