Brazil courts issue rulings on land expropriation and Funrural taxes

The Superior Tribunal de Justiça (STJ) has established new criteria for calculating indemnities owed by Incra in land expropriation cases. The ruling, approved unanimously, dictates that compensation must reflect the market value of the land at the time of the judicial expert assessment. For expropriations involving public utility or social interest, the valuation cannot exceed one year from the filing of the lawsuit. For land reform purposes, the limit is set at 90 days from the filing.

In a separate legal development, the Supremo Tribunal Federal (STF) ruled that the Funrural social security contribution levied on the gross revenue of individual rural producers was unconstitutional for the period prior to January 1, 2018. The decision also removes the responsibility of buyers, such as cooperatives and meatpacking plants, to withhold and collect this contribution for that specific period. However, the STF clarified that the Funrural remains valid for collections made from 2018 onwards.