São Paulo tax office under scrutiny: Nota Fiscal program and revenue seizure practices

The Nota Fiscal Paulista is a municipal program in São Paulo that returns up to 20% of the ICMS tax paid by establishments to encourage consumers to request receipts. Registrants can enter cash‑prize draws by providing their CPF or CNPJ. The program offers multiple contact channels: a website (www.nfp.fazenda.sp.gov.br), an electronic help desk available 24 hours a day, a toll‑free phone line 0800‑170‑110 for fixed lines, and an ombudsman reachable at (11) 3243‑3676 or (11) 3243‑3683. Its physical office is located at Viaduto do Chá, 15, São Paulo.

In parallel, courts in São Paulo have been labeling the seizure of a debtor’s future receivables as “penhora de crédito” to avoid the procedural safeguards required for “penhora de faturamento” under article 866 of the CPC. This practice sidesteps requirements such as appointing a depositary administrator and setting temporal limits. The Superior Tribunal de Justiça’s Tema 769 decision in April 2024 clarified aspects of revenue seizure in tax executions but stopped short of defining a binding line between the two seizure types, allowing the nomenclature loophole to persist.