Working capital credit for big exporters to be accelerated
Folha de S. Paulo 02/10/2009
The Government makes the calculations to reimburse up to 80% of the credits accumulated by big exporting companies with the payment of PIS and Cofins, contributions that finance the social security, over the products bought in the national market and used in goods sold abroad. The objective is to increase the working capital of the companies and reduce the negative impact of the fall in the exports on these companies. The proposal under study at the Federal Revenue focuses the reimbursement of credits in cash, which today take up to five years to be reimbursed. According to preliminary calculations, there is a stock that may reach R$ 15 billion (US$ 6.5 billion) withheld by the Treasury. The impact on the available funds of the Federal Government tends to be smaller than the R$ 3 billion (US$ 1.3 billion) estimated with grounds on the volume of non-reimbursed resources, because the Government should speed up the reimbursement for the credits generated after the new rule, and not for the stock. Besides that, the refunding of the credits depends basically on how much is exported. With the fall in the international demand, the exports must fall and the amounts owed the companies should fall likewise. Today, exporters are allowed to offset PIS and Cofins from the collection of these very taxes or from other federal taxes. The problem is that the companies whose income is based on foreign sales do not pay internal taxes in sufficient amount to setoff everything they have right to. So, they accumulate credits they only receive back after an administrative process in the Federal Revenue and that takes up to five years. The proposal assessed foresees the reimbursement, within the year following the export, of up to 80% of the credit. These funds would be reimbursed without a previous analysis from the Federal Revenue. The other 20% would work as a kind of guarantee.