Law of São Paulo State approves changes to the tax settlement law – Law 17,843/2023

In brief

On November 09, 2023, it was published Law No. 17,843/2023, in which essentially provides for the settlement of tax debts registered in the State of São Paulo as overdue liability certificates. The new law repeals the old legislation on settlements in the state of São Paulo that had been in force until then, namely articles 41 to 56 of Law No. 17,293/2020, and Law No. 14,272/2010.

In more detail

It is expected that the PGE/SP will issue public notices, as is already the case at federal level, so that taxpayers can enter into settlements for state tax debts registered as overdue liability certificates, with criteria already pre-established in the adhesion modality.

Follow below the main points of the final text approved that are worth highlighting:

• Intended exclusively for tax and non-tax debts registered as overdue liability certificates under the jurisdiction of the PGE/SP;
• There will be the following types of settlements: (i) by adhesion, according to public notices published by the PGE/SP and (ii) by individual or joint proposal on the initiative of the debtor or the State;
• The PGE/SP will be responsible for regulating the settlement procedures, including the criteria for assessing the degree of recoverability of debts and the definition of systematic default;
• Discounts on fines, interest and attorney’s fees will be granted up to a limit of 65% of the total amount settled, depending on the classification of the degree of recoverability of the debts, as well as the possibility of payment in up to 120 installments;
• Possibility of using credits due by the governments in judicial lawsuits and accumulated credits and ICMS reimbursement, including in the event of Tax Substitution – ICMS/ST and credits from rural producers, whether their own or acquired from third parties, duly approved by the authorities, to offset the main ICMS tax debt, fines and interest, limited to 75% of the total amount of the debt;

The law approved also includes some changes to the collection of tax debts, such as the selective filing of Tax Collection Actions based on amount, the administrative redirection of collection, the premonitory registration of the debts registered as overdue liability certificates, the regulation of procedural legal settlements and the positive tax registration.