Electronic betting taxation MP leaves after Lula’s trip to China

The provisional measure that intends to tax electronic bets should be edited after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s trip to China, said this Tuesday (14) the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. He also announced that taxation will be via contribution. “Should probably leave after the trip to China. We should publish the provisional measure after the trip”, said Haddad upon returning from a ministerial meeting with President Lula. The president’s trip to China is scheduled to take place from March 24 to 30. The minister said that taxation will be via contribution, whose revenues remain fully with the Union. As it is a new contribution, probably from the Social Integration Program (PIS) and the Contribution to the Financing of Social Security (Cofins), it must obey the rule of ninety, coming into force 90 days after the publication of the provisional measure. According to Haddad, the rate is still under analysis, because the government is making independent calculations of the online gaming sector. “Since there is no historical series, we have no historical knowledge of the sector. We have to funnel information that is coming from the sector itself, but it cannot be exclusive to them”, explained the minister. At the end of this Tuesday afternoon, Haddad meets with representatives of entities and online gaming sites. Among the participants in the meeting are the National Association of Games and Lotteries (ANJL), Betano, Zap Bet, GaleraBet, Vaidebet and F12. In March, Haddad had announced that he intends to tax electronic betting to compensate for revenue losses with the correction of the Income Tax (IR) table. The minister also informed that it would be necessary to draw up a bill or provisional measure because the current regulation, from 2020, “does not serve the necessary purposes”. One of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s campaign promises, the correction of the IR table should raise the exemption limit from R$ 1,903.98 to R$ 2,640, the equivalent of two minimum wages, starting in May. If it goes into practice in two months, the measure will make the government stop collecting R$ 3.2 billion this year, according to the Federal Revenue Service. For 2024, the impact would be equivalent to BRL 6 billion.

Agência Brasil