2027 is a little over eight weeks away: is your company ready for the CBS?

On January 1, 2027, PIS and Cofins cease to exist and the CBS begins to be collected at its full rate. 2026 was a test year: invoices began showing a CBS of 0.9% and an IBS of 0.1% for informational purposes, offset against PIS and Cofins. From 2027, what a company declares in IBS and CBS carries the weight of a debt confession, and the IBS begins to be collected, still at a symbolic rate.

The transition does not end there. From 2029 to 2032, ICMS and ISS are reduced while the IBS rises in the same proportion, until the new model is fully in force in 2033. In practice, companies will live for years with two systems in parallel, the old and the new, and with double reporting. Those who structure this now gain time. Those who leave it for later will pay for it in rework.

We treat the reform as a matter of structure, not only of accounting. A company with clean data, documented processes and planned cash flow gets through the transition with system adjustments. A company that operates on improvisation finds its problems in a rejected invoice, in a credit nobody tallied or in a margin that shrank without explanation. The reform works as a test of organization.

Three steps help get ahead of it, all with the accountant’s support. The first is to simulate the 2027 and 2033 tax burden by product or service, to see where margin changes. The second is to review prices and long term contracts, including economic rebalancing clauses that allow price adjustments if the tax burden changes during the transition. The third is to tally accumulated PIS and Cofins credits before they are extinguished, because unused balances are at risk, and to validate tax registrations and systems for the new invoice fields.

That last point is often the most neglected. A tax credit is cash that already belongs to the company, and the change of regime is the moment when it can be lost. For us, the calendar is simple: the time left until December 31 is the window to do this organizing calmly. After it, any adjustment happens with collection already under way. This text is informational and does not replace the guidance of your company’s accountant.