The Brazilian Federal Revenue Service (RFB) has published Consultation Solution COSIT No. 90, dated June 18, 2025, clarifying that freight contracted for transporting inputs subject to zero-rated PIS and COFINS generates tax credit rights under the non-cumulative regime², regardless of the taxation of the transported goods. This position emerged from a consultation by a food industry company that purchased zero-rated raw materials and sold normally taxed final products, questioning whether freight would qualify as an autonomous input eligible for tax credits. In its decision, the RFB confirmed that both freight and insurance are considered services used as inputs in production or service provision and can be claimed as credits even when the acquired goods are zero-rated.

The position follows the understanding consolidated by RFB Normative Instruction No. 2,264 of 2025, which reinstated the criterion originally established in Normative Instruction No. 2,121 of 2022, separating the analysis of transport services from the taxation of the input. The RFB also emphasized that this is an interpretative rule with retroactive effects³, as per Article 106, Item I, of the Brazilian National Tax Code.

Therefore, taxpayers who have not claimed such credits in previous periods may now file for retroactive credit.

This Consultation Solution provides greater legal certainty regarding the tax treatment of freight in input acquisition, promoting tax neutrality and creating a significant opportunity for credit recovery by companies operating under the non-cumulative regime.

¹PIS (Social Integration Program) and COFINS (Social Security Financing Contribution) are federal contributions that are part of Brazil’s complex tax system.

²The non-cumulative regime is a Brazilian tax system that allows companies to offset credits against debts of these contributions.

³Retroactive effects in this context mean that companies can claim credits from past periods, not just going forward.