By Brazil Stock Guide — Brazil’s Federal Revenue Service has removed Maersk FPSO Brasil Serviços de Produção Marítimos Ltda. from its list of habitual tax debtors just over a month after placing the company in the category, without disclosing what specifically prompted the reversal.
An Executive Declaratory Act published on Monday, August 31, fully revoked a July 27 decision that had classified the company as a habitual tax debtor. The new order also provides for the restoration of its registration status in Brazil’s corporate taxpayer registry, known as the CNPJ, and removes it from both the tax authority’s public list and Cadin, the federal government’s registry of unpaid obligations.
Maersk FPSO Brasil was established to provide offshore production services to the oil and gas industry and was previously involved in the operation of the Peregrino FPSO in Brazil’s Campos Basin. The Peregrino field is now operated by Brazilian oil producer PRIO.
The Federal Revenue Service said in the new order that Maersk FPSO Brasil’s status as a habitual tax debtor had been “decharacterized.” The document, however, does not explain what changed since July or whether the reversal followed the payment, settlement or suspension of tax liabilities, the provision of guarantees, or the acceptance of an administrative challenge.
Asked by Brazil Stock Guide to explain the reason for the reversal, the Federal Revenue Service did not directly answer the questions. Instead, it referred to its public webpage outlining the general rules governing habitual tax debtors.
According to the tax authority’s guidance, a company may cease to qualify as a habitual tax debtor under several circumstances, including the extinguishment or regularization of liabilities, changes in the asset conditions used in the classification, or administrative or court decisions affecting the enforceability of the debts.
The Federal Revenue Service did not say which, if any, of those circumstances applied to Maersk FPSO Brasil.
A.P. Moller-Maersk also said it was unable to explain the reversal. The group contacted Brazil Stock Guide on Monday to flag the publication of the new order in Brazil’s Official Gazette. Asked whether the original designation had been lifted because the liabilities were paid, renegotiated or suspended, or because Maersk FPSO Brasil successfully demonstrated that it did not meet the legal criteria for the classification, A.P. Moller-Maersk said it no longer had any relationship with the company.
A.P. Moller-Maersk no longer operates in Brazil’s FPSO segment. Its current activities in the country are focused on logistics, ocean transportation and terminals.
Maersk FPSO Brasil had been added to the habitual tax debtor list on July 28. At the time, the Federal Revenue Service also ordered that its CNPJ registration be declared noncompliant for as long as the circumstances that led to the designation remained in place.
The case drew attention because the company had already been formally wound up. Its CNPJ was canceled in April 2024 following the completion of a voluntary liquidation.
In July, the Federal Revenue Service told Brazil Stock Guide that deregistration did not prevent tax liabilities from being assessed or collected and did not prevent a dissolved company from being classified as a habitual tax debtor.
The authority also said at the time that the legal representative of a dissolved company could still submit defenses, challenges and appeals on its behalf. The Federal Revenue Service has not said whether such a challenge was filed in the case of Maersk FPSO Brasil.
Under Brazil’s federal rules, the habitual tax debtor designation applies to taxpayers whose nonpayment is considered substantial, repeated and unjustified. Before a final designation is made, taxpayers can challenge the classification or regularize their position.
The Federal Revenue Service previously declined, citing tax-secrecy rules, to disclose the amount, origin or assessment periods of the liabilities attributed to Maersk FPSO Brasil.
The reversal was issued under the same administrative proceeding that supported the original designation. The contents of that proceeding are not publicly available.
As a result, while both the original classification and its subsequent revocation are public, the central question remains unanswered: what happened between July 27 and August 28 that led Brazil’s tax authority to conclude that Maersk FPSO Brasil should no longer be considered a habitual tax debtor?
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