Congress analyzing delay in submitting income tax returns

Lawmakers are working on bills to postpone deadlines for submitting income tax returns, but there is no agreement on a proposed deadline yet, according to House Speaker Rodrigo Maia. 

“I don’t see the need for delaying it for a long time, perhaps just a short delay, so everybody has the time to submit it. (…) The leaders will find a way to propose a deadline that also doesn’t generate much delay for those who have money to receive from the government,” he said, adding that he has received information that most taxpayers are delivering their tax returns.  

Over the past few days, bills related to income tax returns have been popping up in Congress, with one suggesting the postponement until 30 days after the end of the state of calamity in Brazil.

As we reported in our Covid-19 live blog, deadlines for corporate tax returns for small businesses have already been delayed, but revenue authorities are not keen on postponing the declarations for individuals, arguing that the overwhelming majority of returns are submitted online.  

As of March 30, 8.1 million taxpayers had submitted their income tax returns out of the expected final total of 32 million, according to the revenue authorities. The current deadline is April 30.

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