Starting January 1, 2025, healthcare professionals such as doctors, dentists, psychologists, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists must utilize the Receita Saúde app to issue receipts for services rendered. This requirement marks the end of paper receipt usage and highlights the Brazilian government's commitment to increasing transparency, combating tax evasion, and reducing the number of tax returns caught up in auditing issues.
The Receita Saúde app was first introduced as optional back in April 2023, but as of January 2025, all services provided as individuals by healthcare professionals must now be recorded digitally. According to recent figures from the Receita Federal, the Brazilian tax authority, over 380,000 receipts have already been issued through the app up to late 2024, accumulating receipts worth R$ 215 million.
Pedro Paulo Bicalho, President of the Federal Council of Psychology, highlighted the benefits of the system, stating, "The implementation of the Receita Saúde system will guarantee the services are provided by professionals duly registered with the Psychology Councils and with the required qualifications." This sentiment reflects the overarching goal of the system: to tighten tax regulations and provide accountability for healthcare services rendered.
On the operational side, healthcare providers will complete the receipt issuance process directly within the app during patient payment. For service transactions involving multiple payments, individual receipts must be generated for each segment paid. This modernization aims to dispense with the need for retaining paper receipts, as all receipts will be available for consultation directly through the app.
Robinson Barreirinhas, the Secretary of the Special Secretariat of the Federal Revenue, noted the positive impacts of the new regulations, explaining, "Around 25% of the returns flagged for inspection present some inconsistencies related to receipts from individual healthcare service providers." This statistic emphasizes the need for reliable digital systems to mitigate errors and streamline tax compliance.
The Receita Saúde app is also engineered to automatically incorporate issued receipts as both revenue for the professionals and deductible expenses for patients during tax declaration processes. Receipts issued throughout 2024 will be automatically factored as revenues for the healthcare providers' 2025 tax returns and as expenses for patients—simplifying the bureaucracy often seen during tax season.
Through these developments, the Receita Federal is optimistic about significantly reducing the percentage of individual tax returns labeled as problematic, particularly those reflecting discrepancies with healthcare expense claims. They project the new system will cut down on the types of issues—such as fraudulent receipts—that historically led many returns to be placed under additional scrutiny.
From the patient perspective, this move not only simplifies the process of expense tracking for tax deductions but also enhances the transparency and accountability of healthcare professionals. With the data stored securely within the Receita Saúde app, patients will no longer need to hold onto physical receipts, as all necessary documentation will be readily accessible electronically when completing their tax returns.
It is also important to note the limitations of the app; it serves solely individual healthcare professionals—those operating under their names and not as corporations. Businesses within the medical field will continue utilizing traditional reporting methods under the Declaration of Medical and Health Services (Dmed).
Looking forward, it is expected the Receita Saúde app will enforce greater organization and fiscal control within Brazil’s healthcare sector. By leveraging technology, the Brazilian government aims to bolster regulatory compliance, facilitate efficient transactions between services providers and patients, and promote overall trust within the economic sphere.
The mandatory transition to the Receita Saúde app symbolizes not just a regulatory change; it reflects how technology can reshape established practices, offering enhanced protection and efficiency for everyone involved. This initiative is poised to bring significant change to the way healthcare services are documented and how tax-related issues are handled going forward, promising both accountability and efficiency for professionals and patients alike.