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The taxpayer who submitted the 2026 Income Tax return can find out the next day if their situation is regular or if they were caught in the fine mesh. According to information from G1, the information was confirmed by the Federal Revenue’s IR supervisor, José Carlos da Fonseca, who explained that processing occurs in about 24 hours in most cases, except for the first and last week of the submission period, when the volume overloads the system.
The submission period for the 2026 IR began on March 23 and runs until May 29, with the Federal Revenue expecting to receive 44 million returns. By 12 PM last Thursday (14th), about 24 million had already been submitted, just over half of the expected total. What makes this year different is that the end of the Withheld Income Tax Return (Dirf) forced the Revenue to seek information in new databases, and many companies sent incorrect data to these databases. The result is that thousands of taxpayers who filled out their returns correctly are getting caught in the fine mesh due to errors by the paying sources, a situation that the Revenue itself acknowledges and is only expected to be partially resolved by the end of the year.
Fonseca clarified that the term “fine mesh” is a popular expression. “There is no situation called fine mesh in the declaration. It is the pending issue. The Revenue states that the declaration has a pending issue, and society calls it fine mesh,” explained the supervisor. The difference between the terms may seem semantic, but it is relevant: the pending issue indicates that there is a discrepancy between what the taxpayer reported and what the Revenue knows about them, and resolving this discrepancy can be as simple as submitting a correction or as frustrating as waiting months for the company to correct its own errors.
How the taxpayer discovers if they fell into the fine mesh
The consultation on the status of the declaration is done through the Federal Revenue’s Virtual Taxpayer Assistance Center (e-CAC), accessible via the internet. Access requires a gov.br account at silver or gold levels, and within the platform, the taxpayer must look for “declarations and statements,” then “My Income Tax” and consult the 2026 declaration. The system will inform if the declaration was processed with a regular status or if there are pending issues.
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If there is a pending issue, the Federal Revenue will indicate exactly what the discrepancy is and provide guidance on how to resolve it. The taxpayer does not need to guess what is wrong: the tax authority points out the specific inconsistency, whether it is a different income amount than reported by the company, an unproven medical expense, or a deduction that does not match the data the Revenue has. This transparency allows the problem to be quickly corrected in cases where the error is the taxpayer’s own.
When the error is the taxpayer’s and when it is the company’s
The pending issue in the fine mesh can originate from three sources: the taxpayer themselves, the company where they work, or third parties such as service providers. If the taxpayer entered an incorrect value, forgot to declare an income, or reported a deductible expense without support, they can submit a corrective declaration through the system itself and exit the fine mesh as soon as the correction is processed. This is the simplest and quickest scenario to resolve.
The problem becomes complicated when the error is not the taxpayer’s, but the company’s. This year, the end of the Dirf required companies to feed new Federal Revenue databases, and many sent incorrect information. The taxpayer who declared everything correctly, checked their receipts, and finds a pending issue may be facing an error from the paying source that they cannot correct on their own. In these cases, the solution depends on the company correcting the information sent to the tax authority, and the taxpayer is at the mercy of the correction timeline.
The end of the Dirf and the increase in retentions in 2026
The higher number of retentions in the fine mesh in 2026 has a technical explanation that is not the taxpayers’ fault. The Federal Revenue abolished the Withholding Income Tax Declaration (Dirf) and started to seek information on retentions from other databases fed by the companies themselves. The system migration caused inconsistencies because many companies sent data with errors, value discrepancies, or incomplete information to the new databases.
Supervisor José Carlos da Fonseca acknowledged the problem and estimated that, by the end of the year, only 80% of total retentions in the mesh should be resolved. “Either the taxpayer corrects or the company corrects,” he explained. For the remaining 20%, the situation may drag on until 2027, when taxpayers will be able to send receipts digitally through e-CAC starting in January. Before that, it is not possible to send documents because companies will still be correcting their information.
What to do if the company does not correct
The most frustrating scenario for the taxpayer is having their declaration held in the fine mesh due to an error they did not commit and cannot resolve alone. If the company responsible for the incorrect information does not correct the data sent to the Revenue, the taxpayer remains with a pending issue until one of the two parties takes action. The Revenue does not release the declaration based solely on the taxpayer’s word: it needs the data from the paying sources to confirm what was declared.
Starting in January 2027, taxpayers in this situation will be able to digitally submit their receipts via e-CAC, proving that the information in their return is correct. Until then, the guidance is to check if the declared amounts match the income statements received from the company and wait. If it is certain that the error is from the paying source, the taxpayer can demand correction directly from the company, although the IRS does not have a mechanism to compel it to rectify within a specific timeframe.
Fine of R$ 165.74 for those who do not submit by May 29
Regardless of whether the return is flagged or not, the taxpayer who does not submit within the deadline will be subject to penalties. The minimum late fee is R$ 165.74, which can reach up to 20% of the income tax due, a significant amount for those who already have tax to pay. With about 20 million returns still pending submission and less than two weeks until the deadline, the IRS expects an intense volume of submissions in the last week.
It is precisely in this final period that processing may take more than a day. Fonseca warned that in the first and last week of the deadline, the IRS cannot process returns within 24 hours due to the volume. Taxpayers who submit their returns in the last days may need to wait longer to find out if they are regular or if they have been flagged. For those seeking a quick response, the recommendation is not to wait until the last week.
One day to know, months to resolve
The taxpayer can find out within 24 hours if the 2026 tax return has been flagged, but resolving the issue may take months when the error is from the company. This year, the end of the Dirf increased the number of holds caused by incorrect information from paying sources, and the IRS itself estimates that 20% of cases will only be resolved in 2027. For those who declared everything correctly and still have a pending issue, the options are to check the receipts, demand the company, and wait.
Have you already checked if your 2026 tax return is regular? Tell us in the comments if you have ever been flagged, if the error was yours or the company’s, and how the experience of resolving the issue with the IRS was. We want to hear your story.
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