If you still don't know if you have money forgotten in a bank account or financial institution, hurry up! The deadline for redeeming amounts from the Securities Receivable System (SVR) is coming up next Wednesday (16). After that, the remaining amounts will be incorporated into the National Treasury.
According to updated information from the Central Bank, there are still R$8.5 billion forgotten in banks, financial institutions and cooperatives. The largest amount available for redemption by legal entities is R$30.4 million and by individuals R$11.2 million.
Luiz Felipe Attié, a lawyer specializing in business law at FGV, explains where much of this "forgotten money" comes from.
"It's just that when an institution closes an account there are a series of procedures that they have to follow, and these procedures include the destination of any credit balances that customers have in their current account. So when the institution opens the account closure procedure, it allows the account holder to indicate the destination of any available balances, and many customers fail to heed this guidance from the institution."
Consultation and redemption of values
On the SRV website, you can check if you have any amounts to receive and redeem the money if necessary. For those who have more than R$100 to receive, it is necessary to activate the double authentication factor.
Through the Central Bank's system, the applicant provides the holder's Pix key and the amount will be sent within 12 working days. If the person - individual or legal entity - does not have the Pix key registered in the system, they need to contact the financial institution directly to arrange the form of return.
The redemption period began on September 16. On that date, the Central Bank announced that R$8.56 billion was available for redemption. The amounts belong to around 42 million individuals and 3.6 million companies.
Deadline "too short"
The payroll tax exemption law, sanctioned by President Lula last month, has an article that sets a 30-day deadline for the redemption of forgotten amounts. But the Ministry of Finance has already said that there will be an extended period of 30 days for customers to redeem their money.
After this deadline, the amounts not withdrawn must be definitively incorporated into the National Treasury and counted as primary revenue for the purposes of meeting the fiscal target.
The Ministry of Finance has also announced that the forgotten amounts can be claimed after the deadline of up to six months, as long as the claim is made in court.
For Eduardo Natal, who holds a master's degree in Tax Law from PUC/SP, the deadline given was "too short".
"These are amounts that have been deposited for many years and now there is a very short deadline for people to redeem them. Even in today's environment of widespread communication, many people may not be aware that there are amounts deposited in their favor in bank accounts," argues the expert.
Source: Brazil 61
