In ruling on Extraordinary Appeal No. 636,562-SP, the Supreme Federal Court (STF) declared that the prescription period established in Article 40 of Law No. 6,830/1980 is compatible with the constitutional order, clarifying that the one-year period of suspension of tax execution when the debtor or assets guaranteeing the execution cannot be located is of a procedural nature. At the end of this period, the five-year prescription period must commence (Topic 390).
With the recognition of the mentioned prescription parameter, the tax authorities can no longer argue that intercurrent prescription does not apply to tax matters, providing taxpayers with an unquestionable guarantee of their right to demand the tax collection within the timeframe indicated by Topic 390.
In the mentioned judgment, it was also clarified that the five-year period begins immediately after one year of the case’s archiving, and no action by the tax authorities is necessary to declare the start of the prescription period.