Constitutional Amendment n. 87 passed in Congress in April, modifying the rate definition system for State VAT (ICMS) in case of interstate remittance of goods destined to a final customer that is not an ICMS taxpayer.
Previously, in such operations with a final customer that is not an ICMS taxpayer, the applicable rate as the internal rate of the origin state (17% to 19%). The Constitutional Amendment changed that rule, so the interstate rate (12%, 7% or 4%) is always applicable, regardless of the ICMS-taxpayer status of the destination customer.
Therefore, the difference between the interstate rate and the internal rate must be paid to the state where the final customer is located, as it is already done in interstate sales to ICMS-taxpayer customers. Nevertheless, the liability for collecting the difference between rates, in case for a non ICMS-taxpayer final customer, is given to the seller by the Constitutional Amendment.
Constitutional Amendment 87 is in force since its publication, however, its effects will only be observed a year later – thus, taxpayers must adapt until 2016 to the new regulation for rate differential and ICMS collection in interstate sales to non ICMS-taxpayer final customers.
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