A law firm obtained this Wednesday (28) a preliminary (provisional) decision that suspends the increase in taxation for presumed profit companies, provided for in Complementary Law 224/2025, which promoted a 10% linear cut in several tax benefits and affected special taxation regimes. The decision by judge Renata Cisne Cid Volotão, from the 1st Federal Court of Resende, in Rio de Janeiro, suspends the 10% increase in the presumption percentages applicable to IRPJ and CSLL. Therefore, the office maintains the right to determine and collect taxes according to the percentages previously in force. The E7 Aurum Tax and Finance office argues that the presumed profit regime does not have the legal nature of a tax benefit or revenue waiver and that it is a legal technique for calculating IRPJ and CSLL. The increase provided for in the law affects companies that are under the presumed profit regime and earn more than R$5 million per year. Those with revenues of up to R$78 million are included in this system. The judge states that "equating the presumed profit regime with a tax benefit, for the purposes of increasing the calculation base, appears, at least in a preliminary analysis, to be legally questionable." FolhaJus The newsletter about the legal world exclusively for Folha subscribers She says that the immediate incidence of increased percentages imposes on the taxpayer the obligation to disburse potentially undue amounts, with a direct impact on their cash flow. Furthermore, failure to pay may lead to fines and restrictions on obtaining tax regularity certificates. "Maintaining the enforceability of the disputed tax credit, before the final pronouncement of the Judiciary, proves to be disproportionate, being sufficient, for the granting of urgent protection, the plausibility of the right invoked and the concrete risk arising from the immediate requirement of the contested rule", says the judge (case 5000259-79.2026.4.02.5116) Lawyer Aurélio Longo Guerzoni, partner at Guerzoni Advogados, states that the National Tax Code establishes that the basis for calculating income tax is the real, arbitrated or presumed amount. "In this way, the presumed profit represents a legitimate calculation technique, essentially focused on tax practicality, and which may even result in higher taxation than the real profit. There is, therefore, no tax benefit, which highlights an increase in the tax burden disguised as a reduction in tax benefit." EXAMPLES Last Monday (29), the Federal Revenue published a question and answer document with guidance on the application of Complementary Law No. 224. According to the tax authorities, the limit of R$5 million for presumed profit must be observed in proportion to each calculation period throughout the year, with adjustments being permitted in subsequent periods, and in proportion to the revenue from each activity, when there is more than one. For companies that calculate quarterly, the proportional limit is R$1.25 million per quarter. Therefore, the normal IRPJ and CSLL presumption percentage up to this value is applied to quarterly gross revenue, and the presumption percentage is increased by 10% on the portion of revenue that exceeds this limit. For example, a commercial company opting for the presumed profit regime with gross revenue of R$1.5 million in the quarter will apply 8% on R$1.25 million and 8.8% on the excess R$250 thousand, in the case of IRPJ; for CSLL, the percentages will be 12% and 13.2%, respectively. For companies with multiple activities in the quarter, subject to different presumption percentages, the limit of R$1.25 million must be distributed proportionally between the activities, based on the gross revenue of each one. The document exemplifies the case of a company that earns R$1.44 million from commerce (8% assumption) and R$360,000 from services (32% assumption). The proportional division of the limit will result in R$1 million for commerce and R$250 thousand for services, with the increased percentages applied to the excess portions. The increase in the presumption percentage will be applied to IRPJ in the first quarter of 2026, and to CSLL from the second quarter. As a result, the annual limit for CSLL purposes will be R$3.75 million, corresponding to three quarters of the annual ceiling. In addition to dealing with the presumed profit regime, the material details that the reduction will affect benefits granted based on nine federal taxes. The regimes expressly referenced by the complementary law will also be achieved, such as the Presumed Profit regime itself, the REIQ (Special Chemical Industry Regime) and the presumed IPI, PIS/Pasep and Cofins credits. LC 224/2025 came into force on January 1, 2026 for IRPJ and Import Tax, and will be applied from April 1 to other federal taxes. The reduction is annual, cumulative, and applies to incentives enjoyed based on information from the DGT (Tax Expenditure Statement). According to the recipe, the material was prepared to offer legal certainty and clarity on the application of LC 224/2025, mitigating interpretative doubts and reducing the potential for administrative disputes.