E-Malt.com News article: Brazil: Brazil misses deadline for alcohol tax to start on Jan. 1, 2027

Brazil’s government has missed the deadline needed for the new Selective Tax on alcoholic beverages to begin on January 1, 2027, leaving breweries and other drinks producers without a defined tax rate for next year and adding uncertainty to pricing and production plans, Vinetur reported on October 5.

The missed date fell on Friday, October 2. Under Brazil’s 90-day notice rule for new taxes, known as the noventena, the government would have had to publish a provisional measure by that day for the tax to take effect at the start of 2027. Because that did not happen, the start of collection now moves back day by day, depending on when the measure is finally issued.

The Selective Tax will replace the Industrialized Products Tax, or IPI, on alcoholic beverages beginning in 2027 as part of Brazil’s broader tax overhaul. The levy, created by Constitutional Amendment 132 of 2023, is meant to discourage consumption of products that lawmakers consider harmful to health or the environment. In addition to alcohol, it is expected to apply to cigarettes, sugary drinks, polluting vehicles, minerals, aircraft and boats.

For brewers, the immediate problem is not only the delayed start date. It is also that the government still has not set the actual rates. That leaves companies heading into the transition year without knowing how much tax they will face or exactly when the new charge will begin.

Brazilian beer industry publication Guia da Cerveja reported that the provisional measure with the new rates had still not been issued by Monday. On Friday, Finance Minister Dario Durigan said the proposal was still under discussion and would be addressed later, according to Folha de S.Paulo, which was cited by the publication.

The delay appears to be tied in part to political timing. Valor Econômico, also cited in the report, said President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and senior ministers decided in a Thursday meeting to leave the measure until after the elections, amid concerns the issue could become an electoral target. If the rates are published only in November, the tax would begin no earlier than February under the 90-day rule.

Folha calculated that such a delay could cost the government R$3.82 billion in 2027 revenue, or 9% of the R$42 billion expected in next year’s budget from the new tax.

Tax specialists interviewed by Guia da Cerveja said the legal constraints are not limited to the 90-day waiting period. Clairton Gama, a tax lawyer with a master’s degree in law from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, said the Selective Tax must respect both the annual rule, meaning it can only take effect in the next fiscal year, and the 90-day rule. In practice, that means a measure issued late in 2026 can still support collection in 2027, but only after the waiting period has passed.

Gama also said that because the rates are expected to be set by provisional measure, the government would still need Congress to convert that measure into law during 2026 for it to produce effects in 2027. He added that the lost time cannot be recovered by trying to charge the tax retroactively on transactions carried out before the measure takes effect.

Marcos Moraes, a tax lawyer and tax director at the Brazilian Craft Beer Association, or Abracerva, told the publication that the legislation sets 2027 as the starting year for the new phase of the tax reform, but does not explicitly require the transition to begin on the first day of the year. The practical result, he said, is that the first year of the new system may begin only partially rather than running for a full 12 months.

The uncertainty is especially important for the drinks sector because tax treatment directly affects wholesale prices, retail prices, production volumes and inventory decisions. For breweries, wineries, distillers and other beverage producers, the absence of final rates can complicate contracts, purchasing schedules and stock management at a time when companies would normally be preparing for the next fiscal year. The impact could be stronger for smaller producers, which tend to have less room to absorb sudden tax changes.

Industry groups have been pushing for clearer rules for more than a year. According to Guia da Cerveja, Abracerva and the National Beer Industry Union, known as Sindicerv, have repeatedly asked the government to keep the overall tax burden neutral, to differentiate rates by alcohol content and to create lighter treatment for smaller producers. None of those points has received an official answer.

Those requests matter because Complementary Law 214 of 2025 allows, but does not require, two mechanisms sought by brewers during the tax reform debate: progressive rates based on alcohol strength and reduced taxation for small producers according to output volume. The law left those details to an ordinary law that still has not been published. The delayed provisional measure was expected to open that path.

The choice of a provisional measure is itself sensitive for the sector. Moraes said earlier this year that if the rates were set through that instrument, the industry would have less room to influence the final text because the rules would take effect before a broader legislative debate.

That concern now overlaps with a tighter calendar. The later the government acts, the less time Congress will have to examine the rates, debate possible carve-outs and convert the measure into law before the end of the year. At the same time, each additional week of delay pushes the effective date further into 2027, extending a period in which brewers and other beverage companies still do not know the exact tax cost they may face.


05 October, 2026