Expenses related to the purchase of transportation vouchers and the hiring of chartered vehicles to transport employees to work generate PIS and Cofins credits. The guidance is contained in two consultation solutions published on Friday (09/03) by the Taxation Division (Disit) of the 6th Tax Region of the Federal Revenue Service (Minas Gerais).
According to the agency, these expenses can be used as credit to reduce the amount payable in PIS and Cofins, collected at the rate of 9.25%, as long as they are intended to serve employees who work in the process of producing goods.
“According to the tax authorities’ interpretation, spending on the purchase of transportation vouchers for marketing employees, for example, could not be used as credit. Companies need to be aware of this,” says tax lawyer Fabio Calcini, from Salomão e Matthes Advocacia.
The guidance provided in the solutions responds to queries made by a frozen food industry (No. 6,026, of 2021) and a manufacturer of precast reinforced concrete structures (No. 6,027, of 2021). Only these taxpayers are bound by the understanding.
For experts, the interpretation is especially relevant because it is favorable to companies that do not have express authorization from the law to take credits on transportation expenses. Article 3, item X, of Law No. 10.833/2003 authorizes only cleaning, conservation and maintenance service providers to take credits on expenses with “transportation vouchers, meal vouchers or food vouchers, uniforms or uniforms provided to employees”.
According to the IRS, these expenses can be considered as inputs given that they are relevant to the company's production process and because they arise from an obligation imposed by law.
Douglas Campanini, partner at Athros Auditoria e Consultoria, draws attention to the fact that the published solutions contradict the position of the Federal Revenue Service itself. In Normative Opinion No. 05 of 2018, the IRS prohibited the crediting of expenses incurred to enable employees' activities, such as food, clothing, transportation, education, health and life insurance.
“Certainly, this prohibition covers items intended to facilitate the activity of labor used in any area of the legal entity (production, administration, accounting, legal, etc.)”, highlighted the tax authority in the document.
Despite this interpretation, Campanini states, there are solutions that analyze the issue in a more technical way and grant the right to credit. He cites as an example Consultation Solution No. 7,081, published in December by the 7th Tax Region (RJ and ES), which also authorized crediting for expenses with transportation vouchers.