A inovação tecnológica e os benefícios fiscais previstos na Lei nº 11.196/2005: desafios e possibilidades à gestão da inovação

Abstract

Federal Law 11.196/2005, known as the “Good Law”, reaches a considerable amount of tax incentives to managers who want to invest in technological innovation. Despite these benefits are available to companies, the analysis of the 2011 Report on the Use of Fiscal Incentives MCTI, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation - for the base year 2010, compared with 2009 - denotes that a growing number of organizations who are attracted by tax breaks and the available financial advantages, around 38% (thirty-eight percent), this percentage is still quite shy in terms of Brazil. From the 875 (eight hundred and seventy-five) requests that were sent, 236 (two hundred and thirty-six) were not granted. The paper analyzes the difficulties and gains ten (10) companies in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil's second most qualified region according to the Report of the MCTI. The methodology used was the phenomenological hermeneutic method, with a qualitative approach, and collecting data from semi-structured interviews in line with national legislation. The results are that the government should improve the communication of tax incentives for innovation projects with companies, because there is great variation in the way which companies get to know about the Good Law, there is a large number of different professionals involved both in the project and in the interpretation of legislation, and the program rules raise doubts in the companies, which causes insecurity and leads them to relinquish benefits due to the fear that projects will not be approved and consequent disallowance by the IRS. It was also evidenced that although there is a decrease in financial gain with the projects due to the impact of legal difficulties, participating companies have other ongoing projects, but for other reasons. Finally, through practical example, we compare two companies, one with and one without the tax benefits of the Good Law, in order to better understanding how to exploit the program as well its the financial results in an ideal level of application.