Important issues of applications for the Tax Liability Certificate in the State of Rio de Janeiro

The rules for issuance of certificates among the Federation Units follow general guidelines. However, taxpayers should observe some specific regulations of each location with greater caution, in order to avoid surprises at their issuance.

The Tax Liability Certificate is the document intended to certify if there are debits or not before the State Revenue. In the State of Rio de Janeiro, when individuals or legal entities enrolled in ICMS Taxpayers Registration have no pending with the tax authorities, the document is issued through the Fisco Fácil system (access here). In case of a diverging item, the certificate is only issued at the tax agencies under the State Finance and Planning Secretariat (Secretaria de Estado de Fazenda e Planejamento - “Sefaz”) management. In case of unregistered individuals or legal entities, the issuance shall exclusively be online (access here).

In order to obtain the certificate with peace of mind within Sefaz-RJ, it is important to observe the following:

1) Fisco Fácil

This system is the newest tool available to State of Rio de Janeiro taxpayers for some electronic services, such as the issuance of certificates, write-offs requests, and consulting, and self-regulation of tax divergences.

Although the Fisco Fácil forecast has more features in the future, it is now possible to monitor and regularize pending issues that could prevent from issuance of Tax Liability Certificate.

Therefore, all taxpayers should (using digital certificates, as required by system) regularly consult Fisco Fácil and ensure that the company is always up to date with tax obligations.

It noteworthy that the deadlines for pending issues disappear from database after regularization procedures is from 24 to 72 hours. If the presented debt is correct, just issue the DARJ for payment at www.fazenda.rj.gov.br - option Portal de Pagamentos.

The taxpayer should also consider that a no prior verification of notes at Fisco Fácil system may lead to automatic issuance of an Infraction Notice, visualized at DeC- Domicílio Eletrônico do Contribuinte environment, through the taxpayer’s Virtual PO Box.

Tip: Find more details about Fisco Fácil here.

2) Control of all establishments pending

As of Sefaz Resolution No 109/2017, the legal entity certificate now covers tax good standing from all establishments that have the same CNPJ root, registered or not at Rio de Janeiro State Taxpayers' Registration of ICMS, obliging the company to monitor the tax situation of all establishments in the State.

Note that the non-overdue liability certificate will only be issued if at the Sefaz-RJ systems there are no state tax debts nor non-compliance of an accessory obligation on behalf of the requesting company. That is, any pending for establishments in the State of Rio de Janeiro may prevent the certificate issuance, such as an IPVA debt of a car registered on behalf of the company.

Therefore, we suggest a periodic monitoring of all messages posted at Fisco Fácil and any taxes that may interfere in your company's tax situation, causing possible inconsistencies to be quickly solved. This will allow a systematic state tax liability certificates renewal.

3) Count on experienced professionals

Always look for the advice of experienced professionals, in tune with your company reality, and able to deal with the complexity of state treasury requirements. In addition, the taxpayer should have a very close relationship with the responsible accountant, who may assist in all procedures required for a tax routine complying with the law.