The First Section of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) is scheduled to resume on Wednesday, the 10th, the trial that will determine whether fuel retailers — who do not pay PIS and Cofins taxes — would be entitled to credits for these contributions during the period in which their rate was reduced to zero for producers and importers in the sector. So far, only the rapporteur, Minister Gurgel de Faria, has voted, in favor of the National Treasury.
The trial had been interrupted by a request for review. The 1st Section will have the final say on the matter, since the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has already ruled that the debate is infra-constitutional. As the trial is taking place under the system of repetitive appeals, the decision must be followed by the lower courts (Topic 1339).
Three special appeals are being analyzed that discuss whether fuel retailers are entitled to PIS and Cofins tax credits, even though the sector is subject to the single-phase regime — where the tax for the entire supply chain is collected by a single company, and all others are exempt.
Complementary Law No. 192, of March 2022, by reducing the PIS and Cofins tax rates to zero for the sector, guaranteed the use of credits linked to companies in the supply chain. This permission to use these credits was eliminated by Complementary Law No. 194, enacted in June 2022.
Taxpayers argue that, since the second law eliminated rights guaranteed by the first, it could only take effect from 2023, in accordance with the principle of annual prior notice, or, at worst, from September 2022, if the ninety-day prior notice requirement were met. During this interval, it would be possible for fuel resellers to take advantage of PIS and Cofins credits.
For the National Treasury, it makes no sense to authorize the crediting of PIS and Cofins for companies that were already exempt from paying the tax and remained exempt. In the first session of the trial, which took place in November 2025, the Attorney General's Office of the National Treasury (PGFN) stated that the use of credits referred only to fuel producers or importers, which are the effective contributors to PIS and Cofins in the sector.
The following entities are registered as stakeholders in the process: the National Union of Fuel and Lubricant Distribution Companies, the National Union of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Distribution Companies, the National Federation of Fuel and Lubricant Trade, and the National Association of Fuel Distributors.
Kandir Law
On the same day, the 1st Section of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice) is scheduled to rule on whether the collection of ICMS-DIFAL (Differential Tax on Interstate Transactions) in interstate transactions destined for final consumers who are taxpayers of the tax was sufficiently regulated in Complementary Law No. 87 of 1996 (Kandir Law), before the entry into force of Complementary Law No. 190/2022 (Topic 1369).
In this case, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) has already ruled that Complementary Law No. 190 is valid for sales to consumers who are not ICMS taxpayers. According to the Court, the sufficiency of the Kandir Law for taxpayers is a matter of infra-constitutional law (RE 1499539). Thus, the decision of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) will be the final word on the subject.
The taxpayer in the case argues that the Kandir Law was not sufficiently clear regarding the enforceability of the ICMS Differential Tax (Difal) in interstate transactions destined for final consumer taxpayers and, therefore, the state tax authorities could not have charged the Difal before the 2022 Complementary Law.
This trial has not yet begun. The case involves the government of the Federal District, but the attorney general's offices of all the other 26 states in the country are following the case as interested parties.
Source: Economic Value