RECOF — Special Customs Regime of Industrial Bonded Warehouse under Computerized Control

What it is and what it is for

RECOF is a special customs regime designed for the high-volume export industry. Instead of disbursing the federal taxes on the entry of each input, the qualified company admits the goods with those taxes suspended and only settles accounts according to the destination of the finished product — hence the cash-flow relief that characterizes the regime. The suspended taxes are the Import Tax (II), the IPI, the Contribution to PIS/Pasep and Cofins (plus PIS/Pasep-Import and Cofins-Import on import); the suspension is converted into extinction when the industrialized product is exported and into payment when it is nationalized (clearance for consumption).

The substantive basis is the industrial bonded warehouse of art. 93 of Decree-Law 37/1966; the rule that governs the regime today is RFB Normative Instruction 2.126/2022, amended by RFB Normative Instruction 2.225/2024, which consolidated the two modalities into a single instruction and, in its art. 48, revoked the former IN 1.291/2012 and IN 1.612/2016. Requirements, terms and percentages of RECOF must therefore always be read in 2.126/2022 — the earlier rules no longer apply.

RECOF System and RECOF-SPED

RECOF has two modalities, and the only difference between them is the means of computerized control. Under RECOF System, the company needs a dedicated computerized system for controlling the regime, integrated with its corporate systems and with permanent access by the Federal Revenue. Under RECOF-SPED, control is carried out through the Digital Tax Bookkeeping (EFD-ICMS/IPI) of the SPED, with the completion of Block K, which dispenses with the dedicated system, reduces the cost and simplifies entry. The qualification requirements (art. 5), the suspended taxes and the commitments (art. 13) are identical in both.

RECOF should not be confused with Repetro: the latter is a regime specific to the oil and gas sector, with its own rule, whereas RECOF is a generic industrial bonded warehouse. Nor is there a stand-alone regime called “RECOF IPI”: the expression merely designates the suspension of IPI within RECOF, since IPI is one of the taxes suspended under the regime.

Requirements, commitments and term

To qualify (art. 5 of RFB IN 2.126/2022), the company must be regular before the National Treasury and the FGTS, not be listed in Cadin, have no active entries in the CNEP, not have been subject to a special inspection regime in the last 3 years, be qualified on Radar/Siscomex and have opted for the Electronic Tax Domicile. The rule in force does not require a minimum net worth — the former floor of BRL 10 million was from IN 1.612/2016 (revoked) and was removed by RFB IN 1.904/2019.

In exchange for the suspension, the beneficiary assumes annual commitments (art. 13): export industrialized products at a minimum value of 50% of the goods admitted (item I) and apply at least 70% of them in industrialization (item II) — in the first period, 50% of those obligations are required. The term of the regime is 1 year, automatically extendable by a further 1, reaching up to 5 years for long-cycle goods (art. 14), counted from the release of the admission goods.

The full guide — the step by step of qualification, suspended taxes, destinations and comparison with drawback — is in the cluster RECOF and RECOF-SPED: the industrial bonded warehouse under computerized control.