Skip to content
Tributum

Tax review and consulting

A technical review of your tax calculations, procedures and filings to identify opportunities and reduce compliance risk.

Every company calculates, files and pays taxes every month. Few stop to check whether that work was done correctly. A tax review does exactly that: we reopen the last several years of calculations, compare them with what the law requires and show you, with amounts and legal basis, where the company overpaid, where it may be underpaying and what to do about it.

Who it is for

For companies that have been calculating their taxes for years and have never had that work checked by a second technical analysis: industry, distribution, retail and services, under Simples Nacional, the Presumed Profit regime (Lucro Presumido) or the Actual Profit regime (Lucro Real).

It is especially worthwhile if your company:

  • has never had a complete tax review;
  • sells products with special tax treatment, such as monophasic goods or goods subject to tax substitution, and is not sure they are being handled correctly;
  • has a large product catalog with tax classifications set up a long time ago;
  • has changed tax regime, grown, or acquired or merged with another company;
  • has received a discrepancy notice from the Federal Revenue Service or the state tax authority;
  • wants to reach the tax reform with its house in order.

This work runs alongside your company's accountant, not in place of them.

A check-up for your company's taxes

Think of a medical check-up. You do not have to be sick to have one: the goal is to find early what has not yet shown symptoms. A tax review works the same way.

We examine how the company calculates taxes such as PIS, Cofins, ICMS and IPI and how it submits its filings to the tax authorities, and we check that each step follows the rule in force for each period. The result is a clear picture of where things stand: what is right, what may yield a credit and what needs correcting.

Overpaying costs cash. Underpaying costs risk.

Brazilian tax law is extensive, changes often and requires thousands of details to be filled in correctly, from the classification of each product to the recording of each invoice. A small error, repeated every month, becomes a large bill over the years.

When a company overpays, money leaves the business unnecessarily. In many cases it can be recovered, but only within a deadline: as a rule, five years.

When a company underpays without noticing, the risk accumulates. The Federal Revenue Service and the state finance departments compare invoices, returns and payments automatically. A difference no one noticed can turn into a notice of assessment with a penalty.

The review looks at both sides. Finding a problem before the tax authorities do lets you correct it on your own initiative: under article 138 of the National Tax Code (Código Tributário Nacional), a voluntary correction made before any tax audit begins, with payment of the tax and interest, can remove the late-payment penalty and the assessment penalty.

There is also a calendar reason. In 2026 the CBS (the new federal consumption tax) is charged at a test rate, and from 2027 it replaces PIS and Cofins. Credits from earlier periods can still be recovered within the deadline, but that deadline runs month by month: with every period that passes, part of the reviewable window disappears. Reviewing early preserves your options.

What we look at

The review covers four areas. The examples below are illustrative: they show the kind of situation we look for, not real client cases.

  • Credits that went unused

    Under several regimes, a company is entitled to offset against PIS, Cofins, ICMS and IPI part of what it paid when buying goods, inputs, electricity and other costs. When the invoice is not recorded correctly, the credit simply never appears in the calculation.

    Illustrative example: A company under the Actual Profit regime (Lucro Real) pays its electricity bill every month but never recorded the corresponding PIS and Cofins credit. The review locates the invoices, calculates the amount for each month and documents the legal basis.

  • Revenue booked under the wrong regime

    Certain products have concentrated taxation: PIS and Cofins are charged only once, at the start of the chain, and resellers do not pay again. This is the monophasic regime. ICMS has a similar mechanism, called tax substitution. If the company records these sales as if they were taxed normally, it pays the same tax twice. Under Simples Nacional, where applicable, these products can also be separated from the revenue on which the tax is calculated, which depends on the annex and the product.

    Illustrative example: A store resells monophasic products, but its catalog has an outdated tax classification and the system pays tax on them as if they were ordinary products.

  • A tax base larger than it should be

    Every tax is calculated on a base: the amount of revenue or the transaction to which the rate is applied. If the base includes amounts the law says to leave out, the tax comes out higher than it should.

    Illustrative example: ICMS is not part of the PIS and Cofins tax base, according to RE 574.706 of the Supreme Federal Court (Supremo Tribunal Federal), with effect, as a rule, from March 15, 2017 for those without a pending case. If the company's calculation still includes it, the company pays PIS and Cofins on an amount that should not be in the calculation.

  • Differences between what was issued, declared and paid

    The same transaction is reported to the tax authorities in several places: on the invoice, in ancillary filings such as SPED, in tax returns and on the payment slip. These documents must agree with one another. We run this cross-check electronically, invoice by invoice.

    Illustrative example: Sales invoices issued in a given month that do not appear in the bookkeeping, or a tax declared at one amount and paid at another. These are the kinds of differences the tax authorities usually spot through their own cross-checks, and it is simpler to correct them before any notice arrives.

What we deliver

You receive documents you can decide from, not a pile of spreadsheets. Each item comes with an amount, a period and its legal basis.

  • Diagnosis of tax calculationsA picture of how the company calculates each tax today, showing what is correct and what departs from the rule.
  • Electronic cross-check of SPED (Brazil's digital tax bookkeeping) against invoices and other filingsAn automated, invoice-by-invoice check that reveals discrepancies manual reading cannot catch.
  • Opportunities identified, with amount, period and legal basisUnused PIS, Cofins, ICMS and IPI credits, monophasic revenue booked under the standard regime, and improper exclusions from the tax base, with a calculation workpaper your accountant and management can verify.
  • Risk map ranked by severityWhat is urgent, what deserves attention and what is merely worth noting.
  • Prioritized action planWhat to fix first, what can wait and who needs to do what.

How it works

  1. 01

    Initial conversation. We understand the tax regime, what the company sells and which periods to review. We agree on scope, timeline and price before we start.

  2. 02

    Gathering the files. We collect the tax files and documents for the period. With electronic authorization from the company, we retrieve the files directly from the official sources using the digital certificate, without relying on manual submission.

  3. 03

    Analysis and calculation. We cross-check the documents, work through each situation month by month and rank what we find by amount and by severity.

  4. 04

    Presentation and action plan. We present the diagnosis in plain language, with calculation workpapers and legal basis. You decide what to carry out. Follow-up on execution can be arranged separately.

The amounts identified depend on the documentation available and on the law applicable to each period, so they are not promised before the analysis. The deadline to claim back overpaid tax is, as a rule, five years, counted under article 168 of the National Tax Code, together with Complementary Law 118/2005. Where a matter requires legal representation, it is hired directly by the client from professionals of their choice.

Frequently asked questions

Is a tax review the same as credit recovery?
Not exactly. The review is the broad diagnosis: it examines the entire calculation and points out credits, risks and corrections. Credit recovery is the next step, when there are amounts to claim back: a month-by-month calculation, workpapers and a file for the administrative claim. Many companies start with the review and decide from there.
Do I need to change accountants?
No. We work alongside the company's accounting team, which remains responsible for the day-to-day routine. We hand over our findings with legal basis and calculations so the team can verify and act on them.
What do you need from me?
Basically the files the company already submits to the tax authorities, such as SPED and tax returns, the invoices for the period and the payment slips. In the initial conversation we tell you exactly what is needed.
How many years are reviewed?
As a rule, up to five years, which is the deadline to claim back overpaid tax. The period is defined in the initial conversation, according to your case.
What if the review finds nothing?
That is also a useful answer: it confirms that the calculations are in order and the company moves forward with more confidence. We do not promise an opportunity where there is none.
Do you guarantee a savings amount?
No. The amounts appear after the analysis, with calculations and legal basis. The price of the work is agreed before we start.

Related services

  • The 2027 switchover: presumed CBS credit on inventory

    Learn more

  • Simples vs. VAT: inside the DAS or the regular regime?

    Learn more

  • ICMS benefits Compensation Fund

    Learn more

Tell us your situation. In thirty minutes, we map what to look at first, even if the path does not involve Tributum.

Book a call