Given the current economic scenario, many companies are accumulating Tax Losses and tax debts that, in turn, end up unpaid and create various obstacles to the company’s financial health.
In order to facilitate the payment of these debts, there is the Tax Transaction mechanism — a legal agreement between the taxpayer (individual and/or company) and the Tax Authorities, which seeks to negotiate the debt under special conditions, such as discounts, installment plans, among others.
The Tax Transaction has gained momentum since 2019/2020, but still faced some barriers to the use of Tax Losses and Negative Calculation Base to reduce debts. With RFB Ordinance No. 676/2026, published on April 30, a new, more permissive phase for the use of such amounts begins.
Below are the main benefits brought by the regulation:
1. Possibility of using Tax Losses to reduce the principal amount of the debt: Until now, Tax Losses could only be used to amortize fines, interest, and legal charges. Amortization against the principal amount of the debt was only permitted in judicial reorganization cases. With the ordinance, amortization against the principal amount of the credit is now allowed, regardless of whether the company is undergoing Judicial Reorganization, which represents a significant advantage in negotiations.
2. Alignment with the TCU’s position: This change is aligned with the understanding established in Ruling No. 990/2026-TCU-Plenary, which recognized the distinction between discounts and debt settlement instruments, such as Tax Losses, which may be used sequentially and complementarily to settle tax debts.
3. Greater attractiveness of tax transactions: with this change, tax transactions become more attractive due to the possibility of reducing the principal amount of the debt, in addition to discounts on fines and interest.
4. Greater legal certainty in tax transactions: furthermore, this permission introduced by the Ordinance brings greater legal certainty in the sense that it can be applied to everyone, and not only to specific negotiations of companies undergoing Judicial Reorganization.
Despite the progress brought by the Ordinance, the rule remains that Tax Losses can only be used to settle up to 70% of the remaining balance of the debts after the application of discounts. Therefore, under no circumstances will the total reduction of the tax debt be permitted.
If your company has tax debts and is in a Tax Loss position, now is the time to seek debt negotiation with the possibility of discounts not only on the amount of fines, interest, and charges, but also on the principal amount.
