At the end of 2025, Brazil's Federal Government rolled out a sweeping set of regulations that fundamentally change how companies can leverage federal tax incentives and benefits. Complementary Law No. 224/2025, implemented through Decree No. 12,808/2025, Ministry of Finance Ordinance No. 3,278/2025, and RFB Normative Instruction No. 2,305/2025, introduced a 10% across-the-board cut to federal tax benefits, taking effect in 2026.
While the government pitched this as a "moderate" fiscal adjustment, the new framework significantly impacts companies' effective tax burden and demands a full reassessment of tax strategies, planning, financial projections, and internal controls.
What is Actually Changing?
The approach keeps existing incentive programs formally intact but slashes 10% of their economic value across the board. In practice, taxpayers will now capture only 90% of their original benefits, without any formal repeal of the underlying rules.
This signals a major shift in federal tax policy: incentives are now being treated as reviewable "tax expenditures" rather than stable exceptions to standard taxation.
The reduction hits incentives tied to major federal taxes, including IRPJ (corporate income tax), CSLL (social contribution on net income), PIS/Pasep, Cofins, PIS/Cofins on imports, IPI, Import Tax, and employer social security contributions. It covers benefits listed in the Tax Expenditure Report (DGT), the official document measuring revenue losses from federal tax incentives, plus other preferential regimes involving reduced rates, tax bases, or amounts due.
Rollout timeline:
- 01.01.2026: IRPJ and Import Tax
- 01.04.2026: All other federal taxes, subject to constitutional notice periods
How Does the Reduction Work in Practice?
The regulations break down impacts by incentive type:
- Exemptions or zero rates: Companies must now pay 10% of the full standard rate
- Reduced rates: The new rate becomes 90% of the reduced rate + 10% of the standard rate
- Tax base reductions: Only 90% of the original reduction remains available
- Incentivized tax credits (presumed, granted, etc.): Limited to 90% of value, with excess canceled, except credits properly recorded by December 31, 2025
- Special regimes based on gross revenue percentage: 10% increase in the applicable percentage, directly raising the effective tax burden
Presumed Profit Companies: Pay Attention
One of the most sensitive changes targets companies using the presumed profit regime. For those with annual gross revenue exceeding R$ 5 million, the presumption percentages for IRPJ and CSLL increase by 10% on revenue above that threshold—while amounts below it stay under traditional rules.
Since these are profit-based taxes, changes take effect January 1, 2026. Companies will need to closely track cumulative revenue throughout the year, and in many cases, reconsider whether this tax regime still makes sense.
What is Protected: Key Exceptions
Despite its broad reach, the law carves out important exceptions:
- Constitutional immunities
- Manaus Free Trade Zone and free trade areas
- Zero rates on basic food staples
- Simples Nacional (small business regime)
- Fixed-term benefits with acquired rights, under strict legal definitions
- Public interest programs in housing, education, and technology, as listed in RFB Normative Instruction No. 2,305/2025
Defining what actually qualifies as "acquired rights" or "fulfilled onerous conditions" is already emerging as a major source of legal uncertainty.
Legal Battles Ahead: Litigation Risks
This issue has already landed at Brazil's Supreme Court. The National Confederation of Industry (CNI) filed ADI No. 7,920, arguing that the linear reduction violates acquired rights, legal certainty, and legitimate expectations, particularly for fixed-term benefits tied to obligations beyond investments formally approved by December 31, 2025.
Litigation is coming, especially for companies with structural incentives, long-term contracts, or significant investments anchored in tax benefits, particularly where the reduction threatens the economic balance of those deals.
What Should Companies Do Now?
In this new landscape, companies should:
- Comprehensively map all incentives and benefits currently in use
- Recalculate effective tax burden under the linear reduction
- Assess impacts on cash flow, pricing, margins, and contracts
- Revisit tax planning strategies and calculation methods
- Evaluate, case by case, the legal viability of court challenges, especially where investments, commitments, or rights may be protected
While the cut is "only" 10%, its effects are cumulative, structural, and, for certain sectors, materially significant.
COSRO is closely monitoring regulatory and judicial developments related to Complementary Law No. 224/2025 and stands ready to support companies in assessing the tax, strategic, and litigation implications of the linear reduction in tax incentives.