The Federal Revenue Service (RFB) has launched Confia, a Cooperative Tax Compliance program aimed at fostering trust, predictability, and collaboration between tax authorities and large taxpayers.
Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service (RFB) announced on 10 December 2025 the launch of Confia, its Cooperative and Tax Compliance program, marking a historic moment for the relationship between the tax authorities and taxpayers.
Federal government authorities, representatives from the productive sector, and international organisations participated in the event’s opening panel and highlighted the program’s cultural shift, institutional progress, and transformative potential.
The Special Secretary of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service, Robinson Barreirinhas, highlighted the agency’s institutional shift since 2023.
According to him, the primary objective is “to make the Federal Revenue Service less punitive, less reactive, and more focused on guiding good taxpayers,” while simultaneously intensifying the fight against habitual debtors.
Finance Minister Fernando Haddad highlighted the Federal Revenue Service’s strategic role in the government’s economic agenda and acknowledged the agency’s work. The Finance Ministry spokesperson linked the Confia program to the country’s structural transformations, particularly the Tax Reform, which was developed through extensive dialogue with society.
He also highlighted advances in income taxation, measures against habitual debtors, and integrated operations with public security agencies. The minister further emphasised the importance of a respectful relationship between society and the tax authorities.
Secretary Robinson Barreirinhas emphasised that the RFB’s self-regulation strategy has generated significant results. He explained that this result demonstrates that guiding good taxpayers benefits both companies and the public treasury. He further said that PLP 125, already approved in the Senate and awaiting analysis in the Chamber of Deputies, will support the new logic.
Regarding Confia, the spokesperson for the Federal Revenue Service detailed that the program inaugurates a relationship based on trust, cooperation, and predictability. “There will be a relationship of total trust between the tax authorities and companies. The Revenue Service will cease to be merely reactive and will act as a partner, almost like a consultant,” he explained.
The Deputy Director of Industrial Development, Technology, and Innovation at CNI, Mário Sérgio Carraro, emphasised the importance of the event being held at the institution’s headquarters.
Federal Revenue Service auditor Andrea Costa Chaves highlighted the historical significance of the moment and the RFB’s (Brazilian Federal Revenue Service) institutional role in strengthening modern tax administration. She also emphasised that the cooperative compliance model requires a paradigm shift based on trust, transparency, cooperation, and institutional commitment.
Cooperative Compliance
The debates held at the event delved deeper into the concept of Cooperative Compliance, the foundation of the Confia Program. This approach is geared towards large taxpayers and structured on “justified trust,” continuous dialogue, and transparency between tax authorities and companies. The goal is to prevent litigation, increase legal certainty, and strengthen predictability—elements considered essential for improving the business environment and the relationship between the State and the private sector.
According to RFB tax auditor Andrea Costa Chaves, the conceptual and institutional foundations of the model include changes in culture and conduct, a clear regulatory framework, an appropriate sanctions model, risk management, robust information collection and exchange, and compatible governance and administrative structure.
The panel brought together internationally renowned institutions in tax administration, such as the OECD, the Institute for Fiscal Studies of Spain, the University of Vienna, and the IDB, and presented converging perspectives on the importance of cooperation, predictability, and institutional maturity.
Representative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Manal Corwin, contextualised the origin of the concept of “enhanced relationship,” which evolved into the current focus on cooperative compliance. Corwin emphasised that there are still challenges in Brazil and Latin America, especially regarding trust and the complexity of tax laws.
According to her, several areas need to advance, such as the relationship between tax authorities and companies, replacing coercive measures with collaboration; strengthening internal governance and regulatory controls in companies; and the digital transformation of tax administrations, focusing on risk management, metrics, and prevention.
She highlighted that several countries have already advanced with similar models, such as Australia, the Netherlands, France, and the United States. Corwin concluded by saying that “ensuring the effectiveness of taxation starts now. Cooperative compliance does not mean abandoning rigour, but rather promoting trust, predictability, and collaboration.”
Representing the Spanish Institute of Fiscal Studies (IEF), Ignacio Corral opened his intervention by stating that the key to any reform is a cultural shift in the relationship between companies and the tax administration. He compared the old adversarial model to the classic “Tom and Jerry”: costly, conflictive, and inefficient.
Corral explained the Spanish experience, which began in 2009 with dialogue forums involving large corporations, generating an ecosystem of transparency that led to the Code of Good Practices; annual transparency reports; fiscal control frameworks integrated into corporate decisions; and the regulatory evolution that consolidated the model.
He also presented the four levels of non-compliance adopted in Spain and defended a sanctioning model that prioritises cooperative behaviour, not just culpability. Ignacio concluded by stating that “collaborative compliance is the present and the future of tax administration in Brazil, Latin America, and Europe.”
Representing the University of Vienna, Jonathan Pemberton revisited the technical origins of the concept of a fiscal control framework, developed by the OECD, and explained that the central objective is to ensure that large corporations correctly fulfil their obligations in a complex environment.
According to him, the essence of the model is to allow the tax administration to focus on systems, and not just on individual transactions, a profound change in the logic of auditing. He detailed that large companies operate with multi-million dollar and highly complex transactions; therefore, tax control needs to be integrated into the corporate governance system, and transparency must be structured and reliable.
The University of Vienna is currently studying a unified model of minimum requirements for fiscal control frameworks, which will be published soon. According to Pemberton, this framework will serve not only for Cooperative Compliance, but also to standardise inspections and train tax administrations.
The launch of the Cooperative Tax Compliance Program—Confia—reinforced the Brazilian Federal Revenue Service’s commitment to a modern, transparent, and collaborative model of relationship with taxpayers. The event was sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a partner in building innovative tax administration practices in Brazil.
