Tax Law Highlights – The Repetro in the Tax Reform Context

1. Featured Updates:

• Recognition of Repetro in Supplementary Law No. 214/2025
• Introduction of new modalities: Repetro-Industrialização, Temporary LNG, and Repetro-Entreposto
• Expansion of eligibility lists
• Decommissioning of facilities
• Regulatory proposals and legal challenges

2. Introduction:

The Tax Reform introduced relevant structural changes to the Brazilian tax system, directly affecting special tax regimes such as Repetro. In this new scenario, it is essential to understand how Repetro is handled under the new legislation, as well as the next steps needed to ensure its effective application and legal certainty. This newsletter outlines the key issues, advances, and challenges that the oil and gas sector faces in this context.

3. Tax Scenario:

Since the beginning of the Tax Reform, the oil and gas sector has been closely monitoring the developments that could directly impact the continuity of its investments in Brazil. The initial proposal for uniform taxation, without any tax benefit, generated great concern – especially regarding the maintenance of Repetro, an essential regime for the economic viability of long-term projects.

Despite the challenges, progress has been made. Repetro was expressly maintained in Supplementary Law No. 214/2025 and is also provided for in PLP No. 68/2024. This was a significant victory for the sector, which feared the loss of predictability and legal certainty amid ongoing contracts and large-scale exploration campaigns.

While major gaps and unresolved issues remain, the enshrining of the regime in supplementary legislation is an important step forward. The focus should now be on ensuring that the regulation reflects the operational reality of the industry and avoids future disputes — the objective is precisely to prevent these topics from reaching litigation, especially CARF.

4. Repercussions and Changes:

Supplementary Law No. 214/2025 represents a significant advance by formally enshrining Repetro as a special customs regime under the new Brazilian tax system. This recognition is an important achievement for the oil and gas sector, which, since the beginning of the Tax Reform process, has expressed concern about the continuity of regimes essential to the economic viability of long-term projects.

Despite this recognition, the new legislation highlighted operational, technical, and legal gaps that must be remedied through specific regulation. Many of the legal provisions lack practical details, which creates legal uncertainty and can compromise the day-to-day effectiveness of the regime.

In addition, the introduction of new modalities — such as Temporary Repetro-LNG and Repetro-Entreposto — introduced innovations that, though well intentioned, still lack clarity regarding theirpractical implementation. This is in addition to the absence of specific treatments for sensitive issues such as decommissioning, industrialization by third parties, replacement under warranty, resale of goods, and transfer between regimes, which demand clear regulatory solutions in line with business practices.

In this context, the sector is engaged in presenting improvements that enhance legal certainty, streamlining of procedures, and support continued investments. The main impacts identified and the discussions that have been taking place within the sector regarding the regulation of Repetro in the new tax scenario are highlighted below.

1. Repetro-Industrialização:

• Term: Proposal for a single five-year term, with possible extensions for long-cycle projects. The automatic extension after the first year was suggested as an alternative.
• Termination of the regime: Recognition of asset use for self-benefit or service provision as a trigger for termination of the regime, with clear rules on documentation and issuance of invoices.

2. Procedural Qualification and Unification: To promote greater simplicity, transparency, and legal certainty, it was suggested to unify the procedures for the qualification, application, and termination of the Repetro-Sped and Repetro-Industrialização regimes, using criteria already established at the federal level. This unification would eliminate the duplication of requirements between federal and state levels, specifically concerning ICMS Convention No. 03/18.

• Single and integrated qualification: It was suggested to adopt a single qualification act, issued by Receita Federal do Brasil (RFB), with automatic effects for the IBS (Tax on Goods and Services) and CBS (Contribution on Goods and Services). This act would cover the parent company and all its branches, including those opened after the granting of the license. The proposal also provides that the Repetro-Sped qualification model follows the same parameters already applied to Repetro-Industrialização.
• Normative and institutional basis: The proposal is in line with articles 317 and 318 of CL No. 214/2025, which provide for the harmonization between IBS and CBS and the joint action of the RFB/PGFN and the IBS Management Committee. Thus, it is understood that the qualification granted by the RFB may produce immediate effects for both taxes, with a possible default condition to be defined in specific regulations.

3. Flexibility and Updating of Lists

• Lists by NCM: Proposal to exclude commercial descriptions in Annexes I and II of IN RFB No. 1,781/17, keeping only the NCM code.
• Update procedure: The new procedure establishes a clear process with a specified deadline (60 days) for analyzing requests regarding the inclusion of new items.

4. Transfer Between Regimes

• Repetro ↔ Drawback: Proposal for a simplified and joint procedure between the RFB and SECEX to enable the transfer of inputs between the regimes.

5. Fictitious Export and Credits

• Maintenance of fictitious exports: Ratification of its application in Repetro-Sped, with the suspension of IBS and CBS.
• Tax credits: Guarantees the maintenance of tax credits in fictitious exports, as provided for in articles 79 and 81 of CL No. 214/25.

6. Spare Parts

• Spare parts: Includes a provision granting tax suspension for the acquisition of spare parts intended for use in goods manufactured under the Repetro-Industrialização regime and obtained via Repetro-Nacional.
• Leftovers and waste: Defines a tax treatment for economically usable waste, based on market value and without fines when correctly disposed of.

7. Fines and Interest

• Timely payment: Proposal for the waiver of fines and interest in cases where tax obligations are fulfilled by the 15th day of the month following the applicable allocation.
• STJ Case Law: Reinforcement of the position that there is no delay in the nationalization of goods under the Repetro-Sped regime, thus excluding the application of interest.

8. Third-Party Industrialization and Warranty

• Industrialization by order: Proposal to equate the ordering party to the manufacturer, with clear rules governing the production chain.
• Replacement under warranty: Allows for a new manufacturing cycle in case of an irreversible technical defect detected after delivery.

9. Logistics and Operations

• Mixed import (Repetro and non-Repetro): Proposed regulation to allow a single Import Declaration (DI) in cases of mixed shipments, based on the Single Import Declaration (DUIMP).
• Backup equipment: Introduction of a rule for linkage to principal assets, providing for tax suspension, and requiring nationalization upon expiration of the term.

10. Decommissioning

• Formal recognition: Adoption of the decommissioning phase as an eligible activity for Repetro-Sped, taking into account its environmental and operational relevance.

11. Transition Period

• Adaptation to the new rules: Proposal for a transition period with clear rules for migration from the old regimes to the new ones, ensuring legal certainty.

5. Key Takeaways
The regulation of Repetro within the framework of the Tax Reform presents a strategic opportunity to modernize and consolidate a more efficient customs regime that aligns with the operational reality of the oil and gas industry. The inclusion of Repetro in Supplementary Law No. 214/2025 was a significant achievement, but there is still a long way to go to ensure its effective application.

The sector's proposals — especially those concerning procedural unification, flexibility of goods lists, treatment of leftovers and waste, industrialization by third parties, decommissioning, and legal certainty in operations — underscore the need for clear, technically grounded regulation adapted to the complexity of the sector's projects.

The adoption of these measures will be essential to ensure the continuity of investments, contractual predictability, and Brazil's competitiveness on the global stage.

The Tax practice team of Tauil & Chequer Advogados in association with Mayer Brown is available for further clarification.