Drawback — special customs export-incentive regime
Drawback is the special customs regime that suspends, exempts or refunds the taxes levied on inputs — imported or acquired on the domestic market — used in the industrialization of goods intended for export. Created by art. 78 of Decree-Law 37/1966, it operates in three modalities (suspension, exemption and refund) and reaches II, IPI, PIS/Cofins, PIS/Cofins-Import and AFRMM, as well as ICMS on import, through ICMS Agreement 27/90.
The three modalities
Art. 78 of Decree-Law 37/66 designs three paths, and the choice is a cash decision:
- Suspension (Law 11.945/2009, art. 12): for whoever is about to export — II, IPI, PIS/Cofins, PIS/Cofins-Import and AFRMM are suspended on the entry of the input, subject to a commitment to export. It is the dominant modality.
- Exemption (Law 12.350/2010, art. 31): for whoever has already exported paying full tax — it allows replenishing the stock with equivalent goods, with II exempt and IPI/PIS/Cofins at a zero rate.
- Refund (DL 37/66, art. 78, I; Customs Regulation, arts. 397-399): return through credit, within the competence of the Federal Revenue — residual and in practical disuse.
The regime operates through a concessory act registered on the Siscomex Single Portal: in the suspension, 1 year counted from approval, extendable once (up to 5 years for long-cycle capital goods); once the deadline lapses without the export, the company has 30 days to regularize (Customs Regulation, art. 390).
Practical relevance
Drawback is the oldest and most used export incentive in the country: in 2025, some 1,800 companies exported US$ 72 billion under the regime — 20.8% of Brazilian exports, according to the MDIC. Since 07/29/2025, it also reaches services linked to export (freight, insurance, clearance, storage), by force of Law 14.440/2022 and Secex Ordinance 418/2025. The saving has no single percentage: it is the sum of the taxes that stop being levied on each input, calculated NCM by NCM.
Drawback and the Tax Reform
Complementary Law 214/2025 preserves the suspension modality for IBS and CBS, reaching goods and services (art. 90) — but excludes from the new taxes the exemption and refund modalities (art. 91), which remain valid only for the Import Tax and for the taxes being phased out during the transition. Whoever operates stock replenishment via exemption needs to migrate to the suspension model before the CBS takes over, in 2027, with the dual enabling RFB + IBS Steering Committee created by Decree 12.955/2026. The full guide is in the cluster Drawback: what it is and how it works.
Frequently asked questions about drawback
What is the difference between suspension and exemption drawback?
The suspension (Law 11.945/2009) applies to whoever is about to export: the taxes are suspended on the entry of the input, subject to a commitment to export. The exemption (Law 12.350/2010) applies to whoever has already exported paying full tax: it allows replenishing the stock with equivalent goods, with II exempt and IPI/PIS/Cofins at a zero rate. ICMS on import is exempt only in the suspension (ICMS Agreement 27/90).
What happens if the company does not export within the deadline?
The 30-day window of art. 390 of the Customs Regulation opens for regularization: return the goods abroad, destroy them under customs control, nationalize them by collecting the suspended taxes with surcharges, deliver them to the National Treasury or transfer them to another regime. The STJ settled that penalty and interest are levied only from the 31st day (EREsp 1.580.304/RS, Rapporteur Justice Sérgio Kukina, 1st Section, 2021).
Does drawback survive the Tax Reform?
In part. Complementary Law 214/2025 guarantees the suspension of IBS and CBS in the suspension drawback, for goods and services (art. 90). The exemption and refund modalities do not apply to the new taxes (art. 91) — they remain valid only for the Import Tax, which was left out of the reform, and for the taxes being phased out during the transition.