Brazil's split payment, the tax reform mechanism that withholds the consumption tax share the moment one company pays another, will be available from the second half of 2027, on an optional basis and only in business-to-business transactions, according to the Receita Federal, the country's tax authority. The details were reported by Folha de S.Paulo on Saturday (12), based on answers the agency gave the newspaper.
Under the model, when a buyer settles an invoice, the money is split on the spot: the tax portion goes straight to the federal, state and municipal governments, and the supplier keeps the rest. The tool is one module of the central system the Receita is building to collect in real time the CBS, the new federal consumption tax, and the IBS, its state and municipal counterpart, both of which take effect in 2027 under the consumption tax overhaul approved in 2023. According to news site g1, the stated aims are to cut tax evasion and to refund production-chain credits the same day, within hours.
Mandatory use has no date
Through 2027, using split payment will be each taxpayer's choice, transaction by transaction, and mandatory adoption has no set date. In late August, g1 reported, on information from the Receita, that the compulsory version would likely apply only from 2028 in B2B operations. Now, in a reply to Folha, the agency itself has stepped back from fixing a year.
"It is not correct to report that mandatory split payment has moved to 2028. In 2027 split payment will be made available gradually and incrementally, initially for optional use by economic agents. As soon as payment methods are ready to execute split payment, it will become mandatory," the Receita said.
Juliano Neves, the Receita's undersecretary for corporate management, told g1 the platform will be ready in early 2027, but that the adhesion of more than 200 financial institutions is expected to happen gradually over the year. Rollout will move one payment method at a time, starting with electronic funds transfers and later static Pix, Brazil's instant payment system. He urged companies to stay calm: "Nobody will be obliged while it is not available for all payment methods. Probably it will not happen within 2027."
First phase runs CNPJ to CNPJ
The exclusions are broad. Sales to final consumers are out: the tax split at the moment of payment applies only when both payer and receiver hold a CNPJ, Brazil's company registration number, Cristiane Coelho, president of Fin, the national confederation of financial institutions, told Folha. Cards, cryptocurrencies and non-electronic means are also left out of the first phase, which covers transfers (TEF and TED), boletos, Brazil's bank-slip payments, and Pix between companies. Simples Nacional firms, the simplified regime for companies with annual revenue of up to 4.8 million reais as defined by g1, stay outside split payment in 2027, according to accounting news site Portal Contábeis.
Until the mandate arrives, the routine stays close to today's: companies issue the electronic invoice with its IBS and CBS fields, pay the tax through Darf, the month-end federal payment form, and receive credit refunds within up to two months, according to the Receita. There is a shortcut in the RAD (acquirer withholding), in which the buyer retains the tax and remits it directly, collecting the credit faster, while the seller receives the amount net of tax. For suppliers that sell to other companies, optional split payment offers the same effect with an immediate credit, and the choice becomes a cash-flow calculation on each transaction. For consumers, nothing changes in 2027: with no split payment in retail, the tax stays embedded in the price and is collected later, and claims that the mechanism will hit small retailers' revenue around the turn of the year are among the pieces of misinformation circulating online, according to Folha.