Bill 613/2022 of October 31 was promoted by Mayor Ricardo Nunes himself and seeks to remit IPTU credits for the properties he specifies, amnesty infractions for non-compliance with an accessory obligation relating to attorney fees, amending Law No. 13,701, of December 24, 2003, among others, and other.
In addition, the proposal aims to submit to the minimum rate of 2% the services included in the “caput” list of art. 1 of Law 13,701, of 2003, described in the sub-items:
11.05 - Surveillance, security or monitoring of goods, persons and moving agents
12.11 - Sports or physical or intellectual skill competitions, with or without spectator participation.
19.01 - Services for the distribution and sale of tickets and other lottery products, bingos, cards, betting slips or coupons, sweepstakes, prizes, including those arising from capitalization bonds and the like.
Nunes finds in the unstoppable boom of the local sports betting market an incredible opportunity to attract investment and generate employment. With this project, the prefecture seeks to be the first city in the country to offer tax benefits to local companies and especially to the large international groups in the sector that plan to expand in Brazil, especially when the market is regulated.
In the text of the project, Nunes explains that “the proposed framework for the rates of the Tax on Services of Any Nature – ISS in relation to the targeted segments has as its main purpose the retention and attraction of companies whose establishments have high mobility.”
In these groups are the sectors linked to the management and services of betting, sweepstakes, prizes and similar products; sporting competitions or physical or intellectual skill; as well as services related to remote monitoring and tracking.
In his justification, the Mayor explains that “in this scenario, although the proposed changes represent an option for the incidence of the tax at a lower rate, they actually aim to establish a tax burden capable of providing the retention or attraction of taxpayers with high mobility to the municipality, the generation of employment and the development of the local economy, either by encouraging the economic activities involved, or by maintaining and attracting companies in adequate operating conditions in the Municipality of Sao Paulo.”
For the time being, the Committee on Constitution, Justice and Participatory Legislation designated councilor Edir Sales (PSD) as rapporteur of Bill 613/2022, with the deadline for manifestation is 8 days, under the terms of §3 of article 63 RI. The files were also forwarded for research and prior analysis of the proposal to the Public Administration, Traffic, Transport and Economic Activity, and Finance and Budget Commissions.
Special presentation at SBC Summit Latinoamerica 2022
With full confidence that the project will be approved, the City of Sao Paulo decided to be part of the last edition of the SBC Summit Latinoamérica to see face to face with the entrepreneurs of the gaming sector in the region interested in Brazil and anticipating details of the proposal.
For that, the session “The Attractiveness of The City of Sao Paulo to The Betting Industry” had the presence as the only speaker of Guilherme Bueno de Camargo, Finance Secretary of the city of Sao Paulo, who discussed the city's incentives and services available for companies to do business in SP.
Bueno de Camargo's presentation featured accurate information, data and attractive numbers to convince companies to take Sao Paulo into account when planning their investments and expansion for 2023.
Entain was the first company to know about the proposal
On September 27, Nunes received representatives from Entain, a global sports and gaming giant that owns brands such as Ladbrokes, Sportingbet, partypoker and BetMGM, among others, and in that meeting this proposal was already discussed. Even Marcus Silva, director of the Group, revealed that they will install offices in Brazil, and that Sao Paulo would be the chosen city. The mayor evaluated a reduction of the ISS to attract this type of company in that meeting.
At that time, the mayor was very receptive to the company and the possibility of Sao Paulo opening the city's doors to the installation of sports betting companies interested in the Brazilian market. Nunes himself said Entain is one of the largest firms in the world in this industry, and stated that "the company wants to settle in Brazil and we hope it will be here in Sao Paulo."
According to mayor Ricardo Nunes, "the talks have moved forward and I'm pretty sure everything will work out," and highlighted the fact that Entain is one of the 100 largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange.
GMB asked the company's lawyer, Luiz Felipe Maia, about the meeting. Out of respect for his client Entain, Maia said: "We are unable to provide details of the meeting due to professional confidentiality reasons, but we are very optimistic about the way in which the municipality of Sao Paulo is analyzing the opportunity to attract companies in the gaming sector."
Source: GMB
