Tax on Services of Any Nature
In Portuguese Tax on Services of Any Nature is named Imposto sobre Serviços de Qualquer Natureza and often referred to by the abbreviation ISS or ISSQN.
The Tax on Services of Any Nature is applied by the municipalities and the Federal District, on the provision of the services listed on the Complementary Law 116/2003. It includes the services of health, medical assistance, personal care, education, teaching, leisure and entertainment, biotechnology, and others.
The complete list is available, in Portuguese, here (http://www.portaltributario.com.br/legislacao/lc116.htm). Companies, civil society and freelancers are obliged to pay this tax whenever their remunerated activity is related to the service provision.
Rates vary according to the municipalities, but the Federal Government fixed the minimum value in 2% and the maximum in 5% The minimum rate can be reduced in some specific cases, as a way to provide fiscal incentives, in services related to:
- execution of civil construction, hydraulic works and similar works related to the engineering consulting, including auxiliary and complementary services – except for the provision of goods produced by the service provider from the place where they're being provided
- demolition
- renovation, maintenance and construction of buildings, bridges, roads, ports and similar infrastructure – except the provision of goods produced by the service provider from the place where they're being provided.
ISS doesn't apply to the provision of services abroad. It has to be paid monthly:
- by freelancers, by the last day of the month when the service was provided.
- by legal entities, by the 10th day of the subsequent month of the service provision.