Drawback in freight operations: what forwarders track

In August 2026, Brazil’s federal government issued Provisional Measure 1,386 to grant exceptional extensions for drawback suspension concession acts that could not be proven in time because of additional tariffs imposed by the United States. Secex Ordinance 536, published the following day, set out the requirements. The measure exists because a significant share of export commitments tied to the regime became unviable within the original deadline. For the operations team at a Brazilian freight forwarder, the episode captures what drawback demands day to day: continuous tracking of deadlines, links between import and export shipments, and documentation that needs to be ready before the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex) requests it.

Brazil’s integrated drawback suspension regime accounted for more than US$ 70 billion in exports in 2025, according to data from MDIC (the Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services), roughly 21% of the country’s total exports. The regime is administered jointly by Secex and the Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal). When it works, it reduces the exporter’s tax burden by suspending import duty, IPI, PIS/Pasep, Cofins, and AFRMM on imported or domestically purchased inputs that will be incorporated into exported goods. When it fails, the exporter pays those taxes retroactively, plus a 75% penalty on the shortfall and interest accrued at the Selic rate from the triggering event.

Drawback suspension ties every import to a future export

The concession act (ato concessorio) is the regime’s central document. Issued by Secex through the Drawback Web module in Siscomex (Brazil’s foreign trade system), it records which inputs the exporter may import under tax suspension, in what quantities, under which HS codes (NCM in Brazil’s Mercosur nomenclature), and for manufacturing which products destined for export. Every import carried out under the act must stay within the limits it authorizes: HS code, description, quantity, and value.

The freight forwarder enters this flow because it handles the import shipment of inputs and, in many cases, the export shipment of the finished product. The operations team needs to know that a given shipment is tied to a concession act, because that changes the cargo’s customs treatment. On the import side, the declaration filed in Siscomex must reference the act’s number. On the export side, the DU-E (Brazil’s single export declaration) must be linked to the same act for proof of compliance to work.

When an operator opens an import process without knowing the client has an active drawback act, the risk is filing the declaration outside the regime. The goods enter fully taxed, the concession act retains unused balance, and the exporter loses part of the benefit it planned on. In the other direction, if the export ships without the correct DU-E linkage, the act remains unproven, and the import balance already consumed sits exposed.

The proof deadline sets the team’s calendar

An integrated drawback suspension concession act is valid for one year from the date of issuance. Secex may authorize a one-year extension upon a substantiated request. Once the act expires, the exporter has 60 days to request its closure through Drawback Web. Complementary Law 227/2026, in article 81-A, set the export proof deadline at 180 days.

Missing the deadline triggers direct consequences. Brazil’s Superior Court of Justice (STJ) has established that penalties and late-payment interest under drawback suspension begin on the 31st day after the export commitment is breached. The Federal Revenue Service collects the suspended taxes as if they had never been suspended, plus a 75% penalty on the difference. If the exporter fails to respond to the notice within 30 days, the penalty rises to 112.5%.

For the operations manager, drawback deadline tracking belongs on the same dashboard as demurrage and free time. The concession act has an expiration date, the import balance has consumed and remaining quantities, and the export has a deadline to occur and to be proven. None of these deadlines show up in the normal freight process flow unless the system records the link.

Decree 12,955/2026 introduced dual authorization for the regime

Until 2025, drawback operated on the basis of the concession act issued by Secex. The authorized exporter requested the act, imported under suspension, exported, proved compliance, and closed the act. Decree 12,955, published in 2026 to regulate the tax reform’s impact on drawback, introduced a new requirement: the suspension of CBS and IBS (the new consumption taxes) on input imports now depends on joint authorization from the Federal Revenue Service and the IBS Management Committee (CGIBS).

The change drew criticism from trade compliance specialists. An article published in Conjur described the new model as a “RECOF-ization” of drawback, comparing it to RECOF, a regime restricted to large companies with computerized inventory controls and permanent auditing. Authorization requires tax compliance, no debts registered in Cadin (the federal delinquency registry), computerized inventory control systems, and no special enforcement actions in the prior three years. Half of the roughly 2,500 companies that use drawback in Brazil are small or midsize, and the new requirement may push them out of the regime.

For the operations manager, the practical consequence is that before opening an import process under drawback for a client, the team must confirm the company holds valid authorization from both agencies. A client that operated under drawback last year may be unauthorized in 2026. If an import enters the regime without valid authorization, the Federal Revenue Service may disregard the suspension and collect the full tax amount.

US tariffs forced extensions, and extensions create work

Provisional Measure 1,386, dated August 24, 2026, authorized the exceptional extension of integrated drawback suspension concession acts whose export commitments were affected by additional tariffs imposed by the United States. Secex Ordinance 536, published the following day, set out the requirements. The extension adds one year, counted from the act’s original expiration date.

The requirements are cumulative. The act must have already been extended by Decex, must have an expiration date between July 22 and December 31, 2026, must be active, and must demonstrate that the export commitment was affected by American tariffs. The company must submit a letter with an advanced or qualified electronic signature through Siscomex’s Electronic Document Attachment Module, accompanied by documentation proving commercial export intent prior to August 25, 2026.

At a freight forwarder serving industrial exporters, MP 1,386 meant immediate work: identifying which clients have acts expiring in the period, verifying whether planned exports targeted the US market, assembling the supporting documentation, and tracking the request in Siscomex. The measure extends the deadline, but it shifts to the operations team the responsibility of building the dossier within the ordinance’s criteria.

HS code classification and input descriptions are the fields that invalidate acts most often

The concession act records each input by HS code, description, and quantity. Decex (the Department of Foreign Trade) compares these fields against those in the import declaration and the export DU-E. An HS code mismatch between the act and the declaration can invalidate the linkage. A generic description that fails to identify the input precisely can lead to rejection during review.

The problem surfaces when the customs broker uses the HS code classification from the supplier’s commercial invoice without checking the concession act. The correct HS code for tax purposes may differ from the one recorded in the act, either because the supplier classified generically or because the Federal Revenue Service considers a different heading correct. In both cases, the import enters under an HS code that does not match the authorized code, and the act’s balance does not decrease.

On the export side, the same risk runs in reverse. The DU-E must identify the exported product with an HS code and description compatible with what the concession act specifies as the output of the manufacturing process. If the exporter’s commercial team files the product with a simplified description that does not match the technical sheet in the act, proof of compliance fails.

For the freight forwarder’s operations team, control starts when the process opens. The operator receiving import or export documents from a client with active drawback needs to compare HS codes and descriptions against the concession act before passing them to the customs broker. Cross-checking import documents is already part of the routine for forwarders handling regular imports. Under drawback, the check includes one additional document: the concession act.

What the operations team verifies on every drawback shipment

Drawback adds a verification layer to every process the operations desk handles. The number of fields to check is not large, but all of them must be correct at the same time. An error that would be inconsequential in a standard import process can trigger a penalty when the process is tied to drawback.

On imports, the team verifies that the client’s concession act is current and that the balance supports the quantity being imported. The HS code must match what the act authorizes. The input description in the declaration must be compatible with the act’s wording. The concession act number must appear in the declaration filed in Siscomex.

On exports, the check includes the DU-E’s linkage to the concession act. The exported product must match what the act specifies as the result of the manufacturing process. The exported quantity consumes the act’s balance, and the Drawback Web system tracks that consumption. If the DU-E ships without the linkage, the export exists as a commercial fact but does not prove drawback compliance.

Timing is the third control axis. The team needs to know when each act expires, when the client requested an extension, and when the proof deadline runs out. The operations manager who centralizes this information in the shipment management system keeps proof of compliance from depending on one operator’s memory or on a client notice that arrives too late.

How Tier2 Cargo records drawback data within the process

Each process in Tier2 Cargo carries the compliance fields that drawback demands: the concession act number, the reference in the import declaration, CE Mercante and CCT data, and the role of each party involved, including the customs broker. The system’s operational milestones track progress from process opening through customs clearance, and the DU-E on the export side. When data enters correctly at the source, cross-checking between the concession act, the declaration, and shipping documents happens within a single environment.

Autodocs extracts and validates the fields from documents that feed declarations, checking HS codes, descriptions, and values before anyone retypes them into Siscomex. Early validation reduces the risk of a mismatch between what the concession act authorizes and what the declaration records.

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The next step for any forwarder handling drawback is to map how many active processes are tied to concession acts and when each one expires. Moving that control from a spreadsheet into the shipment management system is what keeps proof of compliance from depending on whoever happens to remember a deadline that has already passed.