diff --git a/pytrustnfe/nfse/paulistana/__init__.py b/pytrustnfe/nfse/paulistana/__init__.py
index ed0611b..44019b8 100644
--- a/pytrustnfe/nfse/paulistana/__init__.py
+++ b/pytrustnfe/nfse/paulistana/__init__.py
@@ -54,10 +54,10 @@ def _send(certificado, method, **kwargs):
             'object': None
         }
 
-    response, obj = sanitize_response(response)
+    response, obj = sanitize_response(response.encode('utf-8'))
     return {
         'sent_xml': xml_send,
-        'received_xml': response,
+        'received_xml': response.decode(),
         'object': obj
     }
 
diff --git a/pytrustnfe/xml/__init__.py b/pytrustnfe/xml/__init__.py
index 0d11eab..0ed0ee5 100644
--- a/pytrustnfe/xml/__init__.py
+++ b/pytrustnfe/xml/__init__.py
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ def render_xml(path, template_name, remove_empty, **nfe):
 
 
 def sanitize_response(response):
-    tree = etree.fromstring(response.encode('utf-8'))
+    tree = etree.fromstring(response)
     # Remove namespaces inuteis na resposta
     for elem in tree.getiterator():
         if not hasattr(elem.tag, 'find'):