published on 01/18/2023
by Melissa Scarpelli Gaido

 

The season for submitting Tax Returns is officially open.

On 02.28.2023, until 11:59 pm, it will be possible to deliver, within the due time, the Withholding Tax Return (DIRF).

If the tax system has approximately 90 taxes and an ocean of laws, bureaucracy is an old thing in our existence.

The first notary office in Brazil dates back to 1565. At that time, each village founded was accompanied by the institution of a notary, appointed by the King. The notary recorded wars, invasions, murders and the entire slave trade that existed in Brazil, from the arrival of the natives to their commercialization and liberation. That is, since the beginning we have been drowned in papers and endless procedures.

But after all, what does the DIRF show?

The DIRF shows taxes which were withheld over the income. Remembering that such retentions were carried out by the paying source, which is also responsible for paying taxes. It is information about:

I – income paid to individuals domiciled in the country;

II – income taxes and contributions deducted at source from income paid or credited to its beneficiaries;

III – payment, credit, delivery, employment or remittance to residents or those domiciled abroad; and

IV – payments to health care plan – corporate collective.

Tax obligations are not created at random and each one of them has a specific purpose, mainly their intersection. For example, when checking the DIRF versus the Social Information List (RAIS) , the Federal Revenue will detect possible inconsistencies in the income of all employees; when confronting e-Cac versus DIRF, the Federal Revenue will determine whether the withholding amounts declared in the DIRF were written down at the Revenue and so on.

Therefore, in a country where it is estimated between 1,483 and 1,501 hours a year to prepare, declare and pay taxes, delivering the DIRF on time (02.28.2023) represents one less task in the endless list of tax obligations.