Quaest: 67% of Brazilians believe that the government can tax Pix

The majority of Brazilians believe that the government may start charging taxes on Pix operations, according to a survey carried out by Quaest, released on Friday (17). The survey asked respondents about what they heard about the false information that had circulated in recent weeks on social media about the Central Bank’s instant payments system.

The data shows that 87% of those interviewed heard the fake news that the government would charge tax on Pix, compared to just 13% who said they had not heard anything about the subject.

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Among those who heard, 67% still believe that the government could start charging some fees on Pixwhile 17% said they did not believe in a possible future charge and 16% were unable to answer.

To G1, the director of Quaest, Felipe Nunes, stated that the subject generated more than 5 million mentions on social media in the first 16 days of 2025. The great wave of misinformation and attacks on the government made President Lula revoke the IRS regulations Federal Government that initiated the matter.

The rule provided for a semiannual transfer to Revenue of transaction data from credit card operators (digital wallets) and fintechs for accumulated transactions above R$5,000 per month for individuals and R$15,000 per month for legal entities. This was true for Pix and other forms of resource transfer.

These reports are mandatory for traditional banks and the objective in the regulations was to equal treatment for other financial institutions.

Among Brazilians informed about the matter, 68% learned that the federal government denied the false information and 31% were not aware.

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Regarding the revocation of the inspection, 55% said they found out about it and 45% said they didn’t know about it.

Quaest interviewed 1,200 people between January 15th and 17th and the monitoring was carried out taking into account data collected between January 1st and 16th. To obtain the data, the research monitored social networks, WhatsApp groups and opinion polls.