The Relationship between Direct Tribute and Profit:

a comparative analysis before and during the national economic crisis from 2014 to 2016

Abstract

The scenario of the Brazilian economic crisis lasted eleven quarters, covering the period from June 2014 to December 2016, and it caused, according to data from the Brazilian Receita Federal (2016), a considerable drop in the national GDP. The same data appoints also to a negative impact generated on the steel and metallurgical sector profits, which has the highest tax burden in the country. Considering that the industrial sector is one of the pillars of the national economy, the study is justified by providing users with relevant accounting information about the behavior of taxes that directly influence business profits. In this sense, the sample was selected through the ranking of the 500 most of the Exame magazine, and subsequently, the financial accounting information of the companies was collected through the Economatica® database, as well as, through the statements of income and explanatory notes. The objective was to compare whether between the periods before and during the crisis there were significant differences in the behavior of direct taxes on profit. The results obtained through the Wilcoxon comparison test indicate that direct taxes did not suffer statistically significant variations, even with the reduction of profitability during the period of economic recession. The study presents indications that taxation on profit is established by the tax adjustments posted to the result, being, therefore, the norms and procedures established by the tax authorities, the determining factor for the dynamics of the tax on profit in the surveyed sector.