Source Legal Status in Income Withholding Tax and its Legal Framework

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing the legal nature of the paying source for withholding income tax matters, considering especially the hypothesis under which the paying source is – despite all disputes in the specialized literature – qualified as a collection agent. In view of that, the paper intends to define the legal regime applicable to the collection agent as a “Private Agent Collaborating to the Public Administration”, in order to draw the limits regarding the Principle of Legality and those stablished by the Administrative Law.