The Senate CPI of ‘Bets’ heard this Tuesday (11), the special secretary of the Federal Revenue, Robinson Barreirinhas. In his testimony as a guest, he stated that the agency intends to charge retroactive taxes since 2019 from companies regulated in Brazil.
According to him, the first action of the Federal Revenue Service will be to analyze the consolidated data from the beginning of the regulated operation of sports betting and online gaming companies in Brazil to estimate the volume of resources collected and the amount of tax due.
“We must respect the companies that sought regulation and support them in the regulated market, but we cannot fail to encourage them to regularize their tax situation. They have made a lot of money since they began their operations and since they have been making a profit since 2019, nothing is fairer than paying the taxes due,” he said.
According to him, it is almost impossible to collect taxes from companies that have not sought a license from the Secretariat of Prizes and Betting (SPA) and that these companies will be treated with the full force of the law in the sense of being prevented from operating in Brazil. However, those that have obtained authorization will have to pay taxes.
“We will give a vote of confidence to those who have come forward and opened a company in Brazil,” he stated, reinforcing that he will continue to monitor the period in which they were operating in the unregulated market. “If they had income in Brazil in the past, they owe taxes to Brazil,” he said.
“Those who were outside the law and continue to be outside the law, we will deal with them using the Tax Code on one hand and the Penal Code on the other, together with the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” Barreirinhas added.
The secretary was questioned several times by the members of the CPI of ‘Bets’ about the failure to charge sports betting and online gaming companies for tax evasion. They even stated that it is estimated that more than R$50 billion (US$8.6bn) in taxes have not been collected since the legalization of the activity, at the end of 2018.
Without presenting figures, Barreirinhas agreed that for years, betting companies operated in Brazil without paying taxes and that even the statements of assets of executives of these companies show that they have become rich from the activity.
According to him, the Federal Revenue Service and the Prizes and Betting Department are analyzing the data from regularized companies and an estimate of those that have not regularized in order to propose different treatment for each.
“We have almost 80 companies that are within the law and countless that are not, and we will treat each of them differently. We will give a vote of confidence to those that have regularized and call for self-regulation. I will tell them: ‘You didn’t just appear out of nowhere. You were here before. Now I know how much you are making, so let’s talk about the past, the last five years? Let’s do self-regulation?’ I believe they will do this, because if they don’t, they will no longer be treated as partners of the Federal Revenue Service.”
Regarding those that have not regularized themselves with the SPA, Barreirinhas stated: “They are illegal and no one has any doubts about that anymore. They are committing a crime against the tax system and will be treated as criminals,” he said.
Payment companies in the spotlight
Barreirinhas also pointed out the lack of rules that apply to payment processors for betting. “I don’t want to demonize fintechs, they are a very important instrument for banking inclusion for the Brazilian population. But the truth is that many end up being used – also because of the ease of opening an account in other people’s names – for this type of transaction.
“In my opinion, there should be a little tighter control related to this type of opening, which often makes it easier for these accounts in small fintechs to be used for scams,” said Barreirinhas, based on questions from parliamentarians.
The Secretary of Revenue admitted that there are many serious companies that process payments, but that small companies were created to serve the illegal market and that these companies should be investigated and fined so that they are prevented from carrying out financial transactions for companies that did not seek authorization and were licensed by the SPA of the Ministry of Finance.
Tax on bettors
Barreirinhas also advocated stricter tax treatment for gamblers as a way to discourage virtual betting. He stated that the taxation of winnings from bets, rejected by the National Congress in 2024, needs to be resumed.
“My position is that gamblers should pay income tax, because the tax, in this case, does not have a revenue-raising function, it has a dissuasive function, of not encouraging gambling. It is like this all over the world. We are treating gamblers better than we treat a company with real profits in Brazil. It is crazy,” he stated.
According to the secretary, the law provides for taxation, but makes the exception of considering it as a “net prize”, after deducting losses incurred with other bets. For Barreirinhas, this represents, in practice, an exemption.
After Barreirinhas' participation, the CPI of ‘Bets’ approved seven summons and information requests. One of the summonses is from businesswoman Adélia de Jesus Soares, owner of the payment processor Payflow. Adélia also acts as a lawyer for influencer Deolane Bezerra, accused of creating a betting website to launder money from illegal gambling.
The committee also approved a request from Senator Izalci Lucas asking the SPA for information about the criteria and reasons that resulted in the classification of certain online betting companies as "unauthorized."
The CPI would also vote on the lifting of tax and banking secrecy of 71 of the 78 companies currently authorized by the SPA to operate sports betting and online gambling, but the requests were taken off the agenda due to the absence of the author of the requests, Senator Marcos Rogério.
Source: GMB
