Developer challenges in adapting business management and point of sale systems to tax reform

Abstract

The consumption tax reform establishes a seven-year transition period in which two tax regimes coexist within the same tax-document issuing systems, creating significant operational challenges for commercial software developers in Brazil. This article aims to map the main bottlenecks faced in adapting enterprise resource planning (ERP) and point-of-sale (POS) systems to the rules of the Tax on Goods and Services (IBS) and the Contribution on Goods and Services (CBS), and to propose a five-step governance protocol. A qualitative, applied and exploratory approach was adopted, combining the documentary analysis of Federal Revenue acts, CBS Calculator manuals and the validator of the Rio Grande do Sul State Treasury (SEFAZ/RS) with discussions recorded in technical communities such as Projeto ACBr, TecnoSpeed and Portal Contábeis. Five main bottlenecks were identified: the vocabulary gap between accountants and programmers; the poor quality of product registries, especially regarding the Mercosur Common Nomenclature (NCM), in micro and small businesses; the use of spreadsheets of uncertain origin and of artificial intelligence for automatic tax classification; the instability of tax authority services and last-minute changes to deadlines and credentials; and the improper attribution to software companies of liability for tax assessments. In response, a governance protocol is proposed that links each change to its legal basis, requires formal approval by the accountant, provides for issuance tests before release, and establishes a rollback plan and a traceability record. It is concluded that the tax compliance of these systems requires joint and formalized action by merchants, accounting firms and developers.