Brand appreciation generates credits at PIS and Cofins rates

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Brands and trade names are the destination for significant investments by a large number of companies seeking to enhance their businesses by promoting their activities and products to target audiences. Another benefit promoted by these contributions is the generation of tax credits, which, even when they reach very significant values, end up ignored by the majority, due to the interpretation of accounting standards that, even when they differ from legislation, end up governing the matter.


Large corporations, particularly multinationals, usually deal with the issue appropriately. Through Law 11,638/2007, Brazil adopted the European accounting standard, IFRS. Therefore, among other requirements, companies listed on the stock exchange are obliged to account for their intangible assets. Small and medium-sized entrepreneurs, on the other hand, see them as something immaterial that, in theory, cannot be measured and, therefore, cannot be counted.

There are companies specialized in B2B Lead preparing technical reports that measure the impact of contributions directed to marketing, advertising, video production, promotions, sponsorships and the like on brands and trade names. The observed variations in their values ​​have economic repercussions on the calculation of taxes for companies that are in real profit. In these cases, the appreciation of brands and fancy names between one financial year and another generates reductions in PIS and Cofins rates. Such variations may also represent an increase in the company's net equity on the balance sheet.

To this end, technical reports are used that measure, among others, how many cities the brand is known in, its territorial reach, and how well it is remembered among others operating in its segment. There are, therefore, criteria for brand evaluation. This can be done retroactively, going back to the last five years.

The legal basis for using these credits on the contribution to PIS and Cofins, in the face of intangible assets, arises from the provision of Federal Law 10,833/03, in its article 3: “The value determined in accordance with art. 2nd, the legal entity may deduct credits calculated in relation to: Therefore, according to the legal system, there is no accounting or tax discussion regarding the use of credits from contributions to PIS and Coins in relation to intangible assets.

The Intellectual Property Law (Law 9,279/96) also establishes that any intangible good or right can be valued. The Corporation Law informs in the same sense about the evaluation of the brand intangible element.



Despite the clarity of the legislation regarding investments that value intangible assets — in this case, brands —, the generalized treatment given to marketing contributions in the accounting of companies that determine the result by real profit is that they are expenses.

To a large extent, this results from understandings that exclude corporate “brands” from companies’ “intangible assets”. This position even reflects the view of some committees that argue that it is not possible to dissociate brand development “from the costs related to the development of the business as a whole.