A cobrança tributária sem lançamento: análise do "autolançamento" e da jurisprudência brasileira

Abstract

Taxes are the main source of government revenue in contemporany states. Previous assessment of the tax liability is a requirement to file for tax foreclosure, in brazilian legal terms. The tax liability is assessed by a legal tool called “lançamento”, a kind of assessment, which grants enforceability to the tax obligation. Because the national lesgislator determined that the assessment can only be done by tax autority, a procedure of assessment ratification was created, called by certain jurists as “autolançamento”, akin to what foreigner laws call self-assessment. The presente study seeks to analyze the existence of a self-assessment in brazilian law, if the taxpayer, paying taxes beforehand, assesses the tax liability. This approach passes, initially, through the study of the classic ways of assessing the tax liability, explaining the origin, nature, efects and content of the assessment, until an inspection of the “self-assessment”. Lastly, the possibility of tax foreclosure without a previous assessment is explained, analyzing precedents of brazilian Courts.