Revista Canal Solar · Vol. 7, No. 5 · October 2026 · Pages 24 to 26 · Section: Article

Effect of the CBS during the tax reform transition on electricity generators taxed under the Lucro Real regime

By Einar Tribuci

On January 1, 2027, the Contribution on Goods and Services (CBS) fully replaces PIS and Cofins. For energy generators taxed under the Lucro Real (actual profit) regime, the transition has a little-discussed effect: assets whose PIS/Cofins credits have already been fully taken do not generate CBS credits, and this raises the effective tax burden of the new contribution for these taxpayers.

Energy generation is a capital-intensive activity with few ongoing inputs. In a wind farm, a solar plant or a small hydroelectric plant (PCH), most of the cost lies in machinery and equipment acquired before the start of operations.

Many of these companies took advantage of the legal option to take PIS and Cofins credits on these assets on an accelerated (1/48) or immediate basis, instead of following depreciation.

Complementary Law No. 214/2025 preserved the credits that, as of 12/31/2026, are still being taken. There is, however, no rule granting CBS credit on assets whose PIS/Cofins credit has already been exhausted.

The credit regime on assets until 2026

Under the non-cumulative regime, the taxpayer takes a credit of 9.25% (1.65% PIS and 7.60% Cofins) on machinery, equipment and other fixed assets used in the production of goods for sale or in the provision of services. Since electricity is treated as a good, generation equipment falls within this base.

The legislation offered three paces of credit appropriation: (Table 01)

Method	Legal basis	Pace of the credit
Depreciation	Laws No. 10,637/2002 and 10,833/2003, art. 3, § 1, III	Follows the accounting useful life, generally 20 to 30 years in generation
1/48 installments	Law No. 10,833/2003, art. 3, § 14	Acquisition value over 48 months
Immediate appropriation	Law No. 11,774/2008, art. 1, with the gradual reduction of the period under Law No. 12,546/2011	In full in the month of acquisition, for machinery and equipment used in production

Table 01

Choosing accelerated or immediate appropriation was rational: it brought cash forward during the implementation phase, when revenue is still low and leverage is high. The result, however, is that a plant with five or ten years of operation reaches 2026 with no remaining credit on its main asset.

Two groups fall outside this reasoning. Projects enrolled in REIDI acquired equipment with PIS/Cofins suspended and, therefore, without credit. And generators under the Lucro Presumido (presumed profit) regime, subject to the cumulative regime (3.65%), never took any credit; for them, the move to the CBS is a problem of a different nature and magnitude.

What LC 214/2025 preserved — and what was left out

LC 214/2025 protects the credit in formation, not the asset. The transition rules are in arts. 378 to 383, reproduced in the CBS regulation (Decree No. 12,955/2026, art. 604 for fixed assets).

• Accumulated balances (art. 378): PIS/Cofins credits already recorded and not used may be offset against the CBS or other federal taxes, or refunded, with priority over the CBS’s own credits (art. 382).
• Ongoing credits on assets (art. 380): credits that, on the date of extinction, are being taken through depreciation, amortization or monthly installments (1/48, 1/24, among others) continue as a presumed CBS credit, under the system and rate in force on 12/31/2026. If the asset is sold, the future installments are no longer allowed (§ 3).
• Inventories (art. 381): there is a presumed CBS credit on inventory existing on 01/01/2027, but the provision itself excludes fixed assets.
• Deadline (art. 383): transition credits expire five years after appropriation.

For assets acquired from 2027 onward, the general rule of the new system applies: full and immediate CBS credit (and, later, IBS credit), under arts. 47 to 56.

The result is a clear dividing line. An asset whose PIS/Cofins credit was exhausted before 12/31/2026 — because the company opted for the 1/48 method or immediate appropriation — does not fit any of the cases: there is no ongoing credit to convert (art. 380), it is a fixed asset and not inventory (art. 381), and it was not acquired under the CBS (arts. 47 to 56). This asset will continue to produce revenue taxed by the CBS without generating any credit.

The effect on the effective CBS burden

For a generator whose asset has already been credited, the effective CBS burden tends to be close to the nominal rate, because the only available credit comes from operating costs, which are small in this activity. The effective burden is the net contribution divided by revenue:

effective burden = [(revenue × rate) − credits] ÷ revenue

Consider two identical solar plants, in operation since 2020: annual revenue of R$ 50 million, R$ 200 million in machinery and equipment, a useful life of 25 years and R$ 6 million a year in creditable costs (O&M, services, parts).

Plant A took the PIS/Cofins credit in 1/48 installments and exhausted it in 2024; Plant B took it through depreciation. A CBS rate of 9.0% is assumed for illustration: the 2027 reference rate has yet to be set by the Senate, and the estimate published by the IBS Steering Committee in July 2026 is about 9.21%. (Table 02)

Year 2027 (R$ million)	Plant A (1/48)	Plant B (depreciation)
CBS debit (50 × 9.0%)	4.50	4.50
Credit on operating costs (6 × 9.0%)	(0.54)	(0.54)
Presumed credit under art. 380 (8 × 9.25%)	—	(0.74)
Net CBS	3.96	3.22
Effective burden on revenue	7.9%	6.4%

Table 02

The difference is about 1.5 percentage points of revenue, or R$ 0.74 million a year, until 2045 in the case of Plant B. In generators with a higher ratio of capital to revenue, such as wind farms and small hydro plants, the gap widens.

The example must be interpreted to reach some conclusions. Plant A did not lose credit: it received the same R$ 18.5 million (200 × 9.25%) between 2020 and 2024 that Plant B receives over 25 years. If PIS/Cofins remained in force, Plant A would also have no credit on this asset in 2027.

The impact, therefore, is not a loss of assets compared with the previous regime, but a higher current effective burden than that of competitors and of the sector itself, precisely when the CBS becomes the benchmark for prices, contracts and rebalancing.

Where the impact materializes

The cost appears where the CBS cannot be fully passed on to the buyer, and this depends on the contract.

• PPAs in the free market. The rebalancing chapter of LC 214/2025 does not apply to private contracts (art. 373, § 2). If the price was agreed with taxes included, the generator absorbs the difference between the PIS/Cofins it built into the price and the CBS it actually pays. If the tax is added to the price, the buyer under the regular regime takes the credit and the economic effect is neutralized. The tax clause of each PPA is, therefore, the first document to examine.
• Administrative contracts and concessions. Arts. 374 to 377 provide for rebalancing based on the effective tax burden borne by the contractor, including ex officio review when the burden decreases. A generator without credits on its assets will have an effective burden higher than the sector average; demonstrating this with a calculation report is what supports the claim or prevents a downward review. Whether contracts in the regulated market fall within this chapter is still an open question.
• Pricing and competitiveness. In auctions and negotiations in the free market, the mature generator competes with those that hold the presumed credit under art. 380 or full CBS credit on new capex. Its break-even price, net of tax, ends up higher.
• Asset sales and M&A. The CBS applies to transactions involving non-current assets (art. 4, § 4), and the sale of an asset with an ongoing credit ends the installments under art. 380 (§ 3). In valuing an asset, the cash flow should reflect the absence of credits, and the balance of transition credits should be treated as an asset subject to a five-year expiry period (art. 383).

Recommendations for closing out 2026

Less than three months remain before PIS/Cofins are extinguished, and the decisions below depend on data that only the company has.

• Inventory assets by credit status. Separate assets with exhausted credit, assets with ongoing credit (art. 380, recorded in the EFD-Contribuições), assets acquired without credit (REIDI, Lucro Presumido, legal prohibitions) and assets with credit awaiting a requirement before appropriation can begin.
• Recalculate the projected effective CBS burden. Model 2027 onward using the estimated rate and the credits actually available, not the sector average.
• Review the tax clauses of PPAs. Identify contracts with tax-inclusive prices, change in law clauses and review mechanisms, and prepare negotiations before January.
• Prepare the calculation report for rebalancing claims. In administrative contracts, document the contractor’s effective burden, including to respond to a possible ex officio review.
• Assess the timing of pending capex. Equipment acquired still in 2026 with credit through depreciation or 1/48 has its credit preserved by art. 380; equipment acquired from 2027 onward generates full CBS credit, with refunds within a shorter period for fixed assets (art. 40). The comparison should consider the rate, cash flow and the date of the taxable event.
• Adjust asset valuations in M&A. Reflect the absence of credits in the cash flow and monitor the expiry of transition credits

Conclusion

LC 214/2025 made a coherent choice: it preserved the PIS/Cofins credit still in formation and did not recreate credit already used. For Lucro Real generators that brought their credits forward, the consequence is an effective CBS burden close to the nominal rate and higher than that of competitors with assets still being depreciated or with new capex.

This is not a loss of credit, but a current cost that begins to weigh precisely when prices, contracts and rebalancing will be recalibrated by the new contribution. Those who map their assets, measure their own effective burden and review their contracts before January 2027 will negotiate on the basis of numbers, not sector averages.

Einar Tribuci

Professor of the course Consumption Taxes and Electricity Generation at Canal Solar. He holds a law degree from Universidade São Judas Tadeu, in São Paulo, and a specialization in Tax Law from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. With a career spanning more than 20 years, Tribuci has extensive experience in tax consulting and planning, conducting tax reviews for medium-sized and large companies. Owner-partner of the law firm Tribuci Advogados.