The company corrects its records, and the taxpayer automatically exits review.
A cada ano, o encontro entre cidadãos e o fisco revela não apenas erros contábeis, mas a distância entre a realidade vivida e os registros que a representam. Em 2026, 1,4 milhão de contribuintes brasileiros ficaram retidos na malha fina da Receita Federal, presos não por má-fé, mas pela fricção entre sistemas novos e hábitos antigos. A boa notícia é que o caminho de saída existe e é concreto: corrigir, comunicar e aguardar — antes de 29 de maio.
- Quando as declarações começaram a chegar em março, um em cada dez contribuintes caiu na malha fina — uma taxa que gerou preocupação imediata entre contadores e trabalhadores.
- A raiz do problema não é fraude, mas descompasso: os novos sistemas eSocial e EFD-Reinf capturam dados mensais detalhados que, ao preencher as declarações pré-preenchidas, frequentemente divergem do que o empregador efetivamente registrou.
- Salários classificados errado, bônus tributados indevidamente, planos de saúde lançados em duplicidade — erros técnicos e silenciosos que travam o processamento e bloqueiam restituições.
- A taxa de retenção já caiu de 10,78% para 5,6%, sinal de que correções estão sendo feitas — mas o prazo final é 29 de maio, e quem perder a janela enfrenta multa mínima de R$ 167,50.
- A saída é direta: o contribuinte confere o informe de rendimentos, ajusta a declaração, avisa o empregador, e a empresa corrige o registro junto à Receita — liberando automaticamente a restituição.
A Receita Federal reteve 1,4 milhão de contribuintes na malha fina em 2026, mas o cenário está melhorando. Quando o prazo de entrega abriu, em fins de março, quase um em cada dez declarantes foi flagrado para revisão. Em meados de maio, essa proporção já havia caído para aproximadamente um em dezoito, à medida que erros são corrigidos e empregadores atualizam seus registros.
O principal vilão é o desencontro de informações. Os sistemas eSocial e EFD-Reinf — que substituíram o antigo Dirf — enviam à Receita dados mensais detalhados sobre salários, bônus e retenções. Mas quando o contribuinte abre a declaração pré-preenchida gerada com base nesses dados, algo não bate: um salário aparece na categoria errada, um bônus é classificado como tributável quando deveria ser isento, ou um plano de saúde aparece duas vezes porque dois sistemas enviaram a mesma informação.
José Carlos Fonseca, superintendente nacional do Imposto de Renda, explica que a solução é simples: o contribuinte deve seguir o que diz o informe de rendimentos do empregador, declarar conforme esse documento e, em seguida, comunicar à empresa qualquer divergência encontrada. A empresa corrige o registro junto à Receita, e o contribuinte sai automaticamente da malha fina — o que é essencial, já que as restituições começam a ser pagas em 29 de maio.
Os erros mais comuns envolvem férias e décimo terceiro codificados incorretamente, rendimentos isentos lançados como tributáveis, distribuição de lucros confundida com outros pagamentos, e duplicidade em deduções de plano de saúde. A Receita recomenda que ninguém espere até o último momento: a janela de consulta às restituições abre na sexta-feira, 22 de maio, às 9h, e quem perder o prazo de 29 de maio pode pagar multa mínima de R$ 167,50 — ou até 20% do imposto devido.
Brazil's tax authority has caught 1.4 million people in its audit net this year, but the pressure is easing. When filing opened in late March, one in ten declarations landed in the so-called malha fina—the fine mesh, as the system is known—flagged for closer review. By mid-May, that ratio had fallen to roughly one in eighteen. The authority received 25.3 million returns by Monday morning, and the downward trend suggests that as people correct their mistakes and employers fix their records, the backlog will continue to shrink.
The culprit behind most of these holds is a familiar one: information doesn't match. Employers report one number to the tax authority through the new eSocial and EFD-Reinf systems, which send detailed monthly data about wages, bonuses, and withholdings. But when taxpayers receive their pre-filled declarations—the forms the authority generates based on employer reports—something is off. A salary appears in the wrong category. A bonus gets classified as taxable when it should be tax-free, or vice versa. A health insurance deduction shows up twice because two different systems sent the same information. These gaps between what employers reported and what the declaration shows are the main reason people are stuck in review.
The shift to the new reporting systems, which replaced the old Dirf system, has made the problem more visible. The new platforms capture more detail and update monthly, so discrepancies that might have slipped through before now surface immediately. José Carlos Fonseca, the national superintendent for income tax, says the solution is straightforward: follow what the employer's earnings statement says, file accordingly, then tell the company that something doesn't match. The company corrects its records with the authority, and the taxpayer automatically exits review. This matters because refunds start going out on May 29, and people need to be cleared before then.
The most common errors cluster around a few categories. Salaries, vacation pay, and year-end bonuses sometimes get coded wrong by employers, causing them to vanish from the declaration or appear under the wrong classification. When companies forget to fill in the eSocial system month by month, leaving fields blank, the authority's calculations expose the gaps. Exempt income—money that shouldn't be taxed—sometimes gets marked as taxable, or the reverse, creating phantom tax liability. Entrepreneurs who also file personal returns sometimes use the wrong codes when reporting profit distributions versus payments to simplified-tax-regime companies, triggering inconsistencies that the authority flags. And health insurance premiums occasionally appear twice, a byproduct of data flowing through two different channels.
The authority is urging people not to wait until the last minute. The deadline is May 29. Anyone who owes and misses it faces a minimum fine of 167.50 reais, which can climb to 20 percent of the tax owed. The advice is to check the numbers against pay stubs and earnings statements before submitting, monitor the declaration's progress through the official app or the Gov.br portal, and fix any problems immediately. The refund consultation window opens Friday, May 22, at 9 a.m., so people will soon know where they stand. For those caught in review, the path out is clear: work with your employer to correct the record, and the system will release you.
Citas Notables
Taxpayers should declare according to what the employer's earnings statement says, then inform the company of any discrepancies in the pre-filled declaration so it can correct the records with the authority.— José Carlos Fonseca, national superintendent for income tax
The increase in audit flags this year reflects more detailed and monthly reporting from the new systems, which makes discrepancies more visible than under the previous system.— Brazil's Federal Tax Authority
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did so many people get caught in the audit this year compared to before?
The new reporting systems—eSocial and EFD-Reinf—capture much more detail and update monthly. They replaced the old Dirf system, which was less granular. So discrepancies that might have been invisible before are now visible immediately.
What's actually going wrong in most cases?
Usually it's a mismatch between what the employer told the tax authority and what shows up in the pre-filled declaration the taxpayer receives. A salary gets coded wrong, a bonus gets classified as taxable when it shouldn't be, or a health insurance deduction appears twice because two systems sent the same data.
Can people fix this themselves, or do they need help?
They need their employer's help. The taxpayer files based on what the earnings statement says, then tells the company there's a discrepancy. The company corrects its records with the authority, and the taxpayer automatically exits review. It's a three-step process, but it works.
What happens if someone doesn't fix it by May 29?
They miss the refund window, which opens May 29. And if they owe tax and miss the deadline, they face a minimum fine of 167.50 reais, which can go up to 20 percent of what they owe.
Is the authority optimistic this will get resolved?
Yes. The retention rate has dropped from 10.78 percent in late March to 5.6 percent by mid-May. As people correct their mistakes and employers update their records, the authority expects the number to keep falling.