Recently, a false story circulated on social media claiming that the federal government and the Federal Revenue would tax financial transactions carried out via Pix. This left Brazilians very concerned, and the terms “taxes” and “duties” 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's announcement that payment institutions must now report monthly transfers exceeding R$ 5 thousand for individuals and R$ 15 thousand for legal entities. According to the government, the main objective of expanding the financial transaction monitoring service is to ensure security and transparency in the processes, to curb potential tax fraud. Furthermore, this protocol is not valid only for Pix, but also for any financial method through which a transfer in these amounts is made.
"The Federal Revenue's new requirement does not mean the taxation of Pix, but represents an advancement in the security and transparency of financial transactions, which is essential to prevent increasingly frequent fraud. It is important to highlight that any eventual charges on transfers fall under the jurisdiction of the Central Bank, not the government, at this time. Furthermore, the planned innovations, such as automatic Pix and proximity Pix, reinforce the continuous evolution of this system, essential for both users and companies," says LAyon Lopes, CEO of Silva Lopes Advogados.
Furthermore, the federal government guaranteed that the recipient of the transfer will not be identified. According to the lawyer, with the evolution 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 carried out in a single day.
