Last Friday (09/06/24), the Federal Supreme Court (“STF”) began the analysis of general repercussion of Theme 1,320, which will define the levy of the Contribuição ao Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Rural (“Senar”) on export revenues.

In general terms, the discussion concerns its legal nature and, consequently, whether the immunity on export revenues provided for in article 149, §2, item I would be applicable.

This is not the first time that the Contribution to Senar has returned to the STF’s judgment agenda. In September 2023, STF ruled on the constitutionality of the contribution itself and established the following thesis in General Repercussion Theme No. 801: “The contribution destined to Senar levied on gross revenue from the marketing of rural production is constitutional, as per art. 2, of Law No. 8,540/1992, with the amendments of art. 6 of Law No. 9,528/1997 and art. 3 of Law No. 10,256/2001”. Despite this, nothing was discussed regarding its legal nature and consequent immunity.

In this scenario, we recommend that taxpayers of the Contribution to Senar who have export revenue to file a lawsuit to protect their right to immunity for the future, as well as to refund or offset amounts unduly paid in the last 5 years updated by SELIC, especially due to the risk of possible modulation of the effects of the decision by the STF, in the event of a favorable decision, which may prevent the recovery of amounts unduly paid.

We remain available to comment.