The São Paulo state government has dismissed six tax auditors following allegations of fraud involving ICMS (Value-Added Tax) credits.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, business owners were paying auditors to facilitate the reimbursement of ICMS (Value-Added Tax) credits from the São Paulo State Finance Department (Sefaz-SP).
Elaine Patricia Cruz, reporter for Agência Brasil - The Finance and Planning Department of the State of São Paulo (Sefaz-SP) announced this Monday (25) that it has removed six tax auditors from the São Paulo government, as a consequence of Operation Ícaro. These auditors were removed after the establishment of seven administrative disciplinary proceedings.
Launched on August 12th, Operation Icarus investigates a corruption scheme involving tax auditors from the São Paulo State Finance Department (Sefaz-SP). Among those arrested in the operation were the owner and founder of Ultrafarma, Sidney Oliveira, and the statutory director of the Fast Shop group, Mario Otávio Gomes.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the business owners paid the auditors to facilitate the reimbursement of ICMS (Value-Added Tax) credits from the São Paulo State Finance Department (Sefaz-SP). All contributing retail companies are entitled to reimbursement, but the procedure is complex and has long processing times. In some situations, the Public Prosecutor's Office pointed out, amounts exceeding what the companies were entitled to were released, and within very short timeframes.
One of the main players in the scheme was auditor Artur Gomes da Silva Neto, who has already been dismissed by the secretariat.
Following the launch of this operation, the secretariat announced it had created a working group to review the refund rules. Last week, for example, the secretariat announced it had revoked changes made in 2022 to an ordinance regulating the procedures for supplementing and refunding ICMS withheld through Tax Substitution (ICMS-ST).
Furthermore, the Ministry announced the repeal of Decree No. 67.853/2023, which established the "accelerated appropriation" procedure. These measures, the Ministry says, should provide more rigidity in the evaluation of processes and reduce the scope of transfers of ICMS reimbursement credits to third parties for ICMS withheld through Tax Substitution (ICMS-ST).
