Brazil’s Supreme Court Overturns INSS ‘Lifetime Review,’ Bars Pre‑1994 Contributions

Overview

• In a virtual session concluded late Tuesday, the STF aligned this case with its 2024 precedent that insured persons cannot choose the most favorable calculation rule.
• The justices set April 5, 2024 as the cutoff that shields retroactive sums already paid and blocks collection of attorneys’ fees and expert costs in suits pending by that date.
• Lower courts can now resume suspended cases, with roughly 140,000 lawsuits reported to be in the pipeline over the disputed recalculation.
• The ruling resolves years of conflicting precedents after a 2022 decision initially recognized the mechanism’s constitutionality.
• The federal government had estimated that allowing the revision could cost public accounts up to R$ 480 billion.