CBS at 11.3%: TCU Delivers Ruling to the Senate and Public Hearings Begin Today — What to Monitor Until December 15

Ruling delivered, clock ticking: Senate has until December 15 to decide the CBS rate

The most important round of November's tax calendar moved forward this week. On Tuesday (10th), the president of the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU), Minister Vital do Rêgo, delivered to the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre, the ruling recommending an 11.3% rate for the Social Contribution on Goods and Services (CBS). According to the minister himself, the recommendation of an 11.3% rate was defined in partnership with the Federal Revenue Service, over discussions that lasted eight months.

Starting today, the technical debate leaves the TCU and officially enters the Senate: starting on 11/11, the Senate's CAE (Economic Affairs Committee) holds public hearings to debate the CBS rate, which must be voted on this year, with guests including the Minister of Finance, the president of the TCU, tax experts and representatives of society, with Senator Eduardo Braga as rapporteur.

Why this number caught everyone by surprise

The percentage came in above what the market had been using as a planning reference. On October 28, the TCU approved the calculation of the CBS reference rate at 11.3%, a percentage higher than the 9.21% estimate previously considered. The exact technical figure is even more specific: the technical result was 11.3468%, rounded to 11.3% according to the legal rule indicated by the TCU.

The rapporteur of the matter himself publicly reacted to the number. Braga stated that the 11.3% rate was not foreseen by the studies of the Federal Revenue Service and the Federal Court of Accounts, and that his expectation was that the rate would be between 8% and 9%.

What happens if the Senate doesn't decide in time

The deadline is clear and has no margin for automatic extension. The CBS rate will be set by a Senate resolution, which must be approved by December 15. If that doesn't happen, if the Senate does not approve the resolution within the stipulated deadline, December 15, the percentage calculated by the TCU will prevail. In other words: for tax and IT teams, the worst-case planning scenario (no decision from the Senate) still results in a defined operational rate — the TCU's 11.3% becomes an automatic technical floor.

Direct impact on system parameterization and pricing

This isn't just a political debate. It has a direct impact on companies' operations as early as January 2027. Among the practical impacts are the updating of tax bookkeeping systems (SPED, EFD-Contribuições) to reflect the new rate, the reassessment of sales prices, and monitoring of the Senate's decision, which has until December 15, 2026 to confirm or change the rate.

For those working under the Deemed Profit (Lucro Presumido) regime, the jump is significant. Companies providing services under the Deemed Profit regime feel the impact more strongly: today these companies collect 3.65% of PIS and Cofins on revenue, and starting in January 2027 the CBS comes in, with a rate close to 11%. As for the hybrid Simples Nacional, the math gets tighter: there is great concern because of small businesses in this environment, because if 9% was already tight, 11.3% is even harder to fit into this math and make the result positive.

What tax, accounting, and IT teams should do now

• Follow the CAE's public hearings starting today — testimonies from the TCU, Federal Revenue Service, and productive sectors will tend to signal whether the Senate will keep, reduce, or create differentiated brackets for the rate.
• Review pricing and margin simulations using 11.3% as the base scenario, while maintaining flexibility for adjustment until December.
• Check whether the ERP and the routines for issuing NF-e, NFC-e, and NFS-e already include updatable IBS/CBS fields without the need for manual reconfiguration with each rate change.
• Assess with the public procurement sector the applicable reduction factor: the CBS brings a 44.2% reduction factor for purchases made from direct public administration, and Complementary Law 214/2025 allows the rate to be reduced to 11.2% in 2028.

This content is informative and does not replace guidance from your accounting firm or tax advisory service, especially given a scenario still being defined in the Senate.

Edoo closely monitors every change in the tax reform's timeline to keep Odoo clients prepared in the fiscal modules. Talk to Edoo to understand how your operation can get ahead of this decision.