More than R$ 1 billion in fraudulent claims for reimbursement of salário-maternidade, the maternity benefit paid by INSS, Brazil's social security institute, were blocked by the Receita Federal, Folha de S.Paulo and G1 reported on Tuesday (8). The requests came from shell companies and other organizations. In practice, the tax authority's operation kept the money from leaving public coffers.
The agency's data analysis found a pattern incompatible with the benefit's rules. Red flags included companies with a single employee, revenue near zero and no matching records in their tax documents. Claims for amounts considered out of the ordinary also weighed in.
Among the cases identified were claims filed in the name of insured women with no children registered to them, and business owners listed at the same time as owners and employees of their own companies. There were also situations in which the same person allegedly received several benefits through different companies within a short period. According to G1, several of the companies were linked to legal representatives who acted for dozens of others in a similar situation.
One case stands out for its size: a MEI (microempreendedor individual, Brazil's sole-trader microentrepreneur category) in the rapid delivery sector claimed R$ 500,000 in reimbursement. Since the benefit lasts 120 days, about four months of pay, earning that much would require income of R$ 125,000 a month. According to the Receita, the law does not allow this kind of compensation for the category.
How the scheme works
The salário-maternidade is paid by INSS on the birth of a child, adoption, spontaneous or legal abortion and stillbirth, to those who contribute to social security as freelancers, individual contributors or MEIs, provided they prove minimum payments. It lasts 120 days, is granted to same-sex couples and, in cases set by law, can also go to men, such as adoption or the death of the mother during childbirth.
The reimbursement at the center of the fraud works like this: when a company advances the benefit payment to an employee, it can ask the tax authority to offset that amount. When INSS pays the benefit directly to the insured person, the company cannot claim the money back through the refund systems. That was the route used by the shell companies, which together sought the equivalent of 2,000 claims the size of the courier's.
Fraud attempts against the benefit have continued for more than two years. According to Folha, the scams grew after 2024, when the STF, Brazil's Supreme Court, changed the eligibility rule. The Receita also cited people and companies selling supposed tax solutions that promised fast credits or refunds, and advised citizens to know their rights before asking the government for money.