From November 7, meal-voucher and food-voucher cards linked to Brazil’s Workers’ Food Program (PAT) are scheduled to work across any payment terminal enabled to process this type of transaction, regardless of the card operator. The transition began in May and is due to reach its full implementation one year after the decree updating the program was signed.
The measure is intended to expand where workers can use their benefits, including at restaurants, supermarkets and other food businesses. Cards from providers such as Alelo, Ticket, VR Benefícios, Pluxee, Flash and Swile are covered where they fall under the PAT rules. However, merchants are not required to accept the benefits; the change applies to businesses enabled to process them.
The updated rules also cap fees charged to merchants and shorten the time they must wait to receive payment. The maximum merchant discount rate is 3.6%, the interchange fee is capped at 2%, and sales proceeds must be transferred within 15 calendar days. Before the changes, merchants had complained of high fees and settlement periods that could exceed 30 days.
The rules do not automatically increase or reduce the value of benefits employers provide. Funds remain restricted to food: meal vouchers are for prepared meals, while food vouchers are intended for groceries.
Full interoperability depends on payment operators and terminal providers integrating their systems. The Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel) says that integration is incomplete and warns that technical problems could prevent the measure from working fully on schedule. The association has also pointed to difficulties identifying different benefit types and reconciling transactions. The Brazilian Association of Employee Benefit Companies (ABBT) has raised concerns that an open system could make it harder to monitor participating merchants.
The PAT rules do not necessarily cover every form of food assistance. Abrasel says some companies may have shifted transactions to a separate labor-law food allowance, which is not subject to the same fee and payment deadlines. Companies in the sector have also challenged parts of the decree in court, including the fee limits and the use of a decree to require structural changes. Some operators obtained provisional rulings suspending requirements, but those rulings were later overturned, according to the source material.
Breaches of rules that apply to the PAT may lead to administrative or financial penalties, including fines, citations, removal from the program or, where applicable, repayment of previously used tax benefits. The consequences depend on the violation and may affect operators, participating companies and merchants.
Sources: Folha Mercado.