Recently, fake news circulated on social media claiming that the federal government and the Federal Revenue Service would tax financial transactions made via Pix. This left Brazilians very worried, and the terms ‘taxes’ and ‘tributes’ associated with the word ‘Pix’ were the most searched according to Google Trends. After the confusion, the Federal Revenue denied and clarified that Pix will not be taxed.
The false information began to gain traction after the Federal Revenue Service announced that payment institutions must now notify monthly transfers made above R$ 5,000 for individuals and R$ 15,000 for legal entities. According to the government, the main goal of expanding the financial transaction monitoring service is to ensure security and transparency in the processes to prevent possible tax fraud. Additionally, this protocol is not valid only for Pix but also for any financial method in which a transfer is made for these amounts.
– The Federal Revenue Service’s new requirement does not mean taxation of Pix but represents progress in the security and transparency of financial transactions, which is essential to prevent increasingly frequent fraud. It is important to highlight that any charges on transfers are under the authority of the Central Bank, not the government, at this time. Furthermore, the planned innovations, such as automatic and proximity Pix, reinforce the continuous evolution of this system, which is essential for both users and businesses,’ says LAyon Lopes, CEO of Silva Lopes Advogados.
Additionally, the federal government assured that the recipient of the transfer will not be identified. According to the lawyer, with the advancement of digitalization, the government is increasingly concerned with keeping up with these changes, especially given the significant number of Pix users. On December 24 of last year, Pix broke a record and surpassed the mark of 224 million transactions in a single day.
