The following digits are also required to obtain a CNPJ number: The CNPJ acts as an identity number for the legal entity and is linked to information on: The registration number is called CNPJ (“Cadastro Nacional de Pessoas Jurídicas”). The first situation where a CNPJ is required applies to companies that own certain assets in the country, namely: real estate, vehicles, ships, aircraft and current accounts. Failure to register the company in these cases may result in government penalties and sanctions that may result in the loss of the asset. However, registration is not required in situations involving the acquisition of trademarks and patents or foreign investment through depository receipts or other securities (depositary receipts) issued abroad and backed by securities deposited with certain depositories in Brazil. The Brazilian National Registry of Legal Entities (Portuguese: Cadastro Nacional de Pessoas Jurídicas, “CNPJ”) is a national registry of companies, partnerships, foundations, investment funds and other legal entities created and maintained by the Brazilian Federal Tax Authority (Receita Federal do Brasil, “RFB”). Currently, all companies are automatically included in the system when they are founded. The system uses a fourteen-digit number, which consists of an eight-digit unique identifier, a four-digit branch identifier and two control digits. The first number (although not owned by the first company), 00.000.000/0001-91, was assigned to Banco do Brasil, the largest public bank in the country. The new normative instruction was renewed by explicitly stipulating that the obligation to register with the CNPJ includes companies domiciled abroad that hold stakes in Brazilian companies, as well as bank accounts and investments in the financial and capital markets in Brazil. Any foreign company already holding these assets and rights must have been registered with the CNPJ before 30 December 2002. It should be noted that the obligation to register with the CNPJ foreign companies owning real estate, vehicles, ships and aircraft in Brazil, originally introduced by Normative Instruction No. 167/02, is adopted in Normative Instruction No.
200/02 and is therefore still in force. However, in those cases, the registration of the foreign company which already owned such assets with the CNPJ should have taken place no later than 29 November 2002. The documents referred to in points ii) and iii) must be accompanied by a certified translation and duly legalized at the Brazilian consulate abroad responsible for the residence of the foreign entity. The e-CNPJ is an electronic document in the form of a digital certificate that verifies the authenticity of communications between companies and the Federal Finance Service and acts as a digital version of the CNPJ. Here is an example of a company in the municipality of Guanambi, in the Brazilian state of Bahia, which has several branches in different municipalities of the state. The first entity listed is the company`s head office, as indicated by the four-digit code “0001” in its CNPJ. The following four entities are branches, as indicated by numbers nine to 12 of their “CNPJ” (in bold below): To begin the process, the applicant responsible for the legal entity must download the PID, Document Generation Program from the Federal Revenue Service website and complete the DBE, Basic Input Document. Once this operation is completed, the applicant will need to download the application named ReceitaNet which is available here. The CEMPRE (Cadastro Central de Empresas in Portuguese or “Central Register of Enterprises”) currently comprises about 29.3 million enterprises and other formal organizations, as well as 31.4 million local units (operational addresses), of which 91.5% are business units and the remaining 8.5% are distributed among public administration institutions and non-profit entities. [5] The number consists of 14 digits.
The first eight digits (A) form the registration number. Numbers nine through 12 (B) indicate whether the registered entity is the head office of a business or a branch of the business. The digits 13 and 14 (C) are check digits calculated using numbers one through 12. To register with the CNPJ, the foreign company must appoint as a lawyer a natural person residing in Brazil who is in good standing with the federal tax authorities. This person is transferred to the position of asset and rights manager of the foreign company in Brazil and is responsible for this company to the Brazilian Internal Revenue Service. As the tax authorities recently explained in Interpretative Law No. 23/2002, the lawyer is only responsible for the information provided to the Brazilian Tax Administration and for the fulfilment of ancillary obligations (submission of declarations, declarations, etc.) established by the tax legislation. The CNPJ is the national registry that manages the identification numbers issued by the Ministério da Fazenda for all non-personal legal entities in Brazil.
Organizations register exclusively on the federal tax website. After completing the required data online, the relevant documents will be sent by mail or presented in person. The CNPJ registration number is a fourteen-digit number that must appear on all receipts and invoices. The tax administration issues an eight-digit commercial register number, which is the first part of the CNPJ. The next four digits refer to the establishment or branch. The head office of the company usually receives the number 0001 for this section of the identification number, the other branches receive different numbers. The last two digits are check digits. With this new regime, the tax administration has introduced the same treatment of foreign companies as was previously accorded to non-residents. Since the adoption of Normative Instruction No. 190/02 in August 2002, persons residing outside Brazil who hold certain assets and rights in Brazil, including shares or quotas of companies, investments in financial and financial markets, real estate, etc., must be registered in the Brazilian Federal Register of Personal Income Tax (Cadastro da Pessoa Física).
The graph shows the distribution of employees according to their legal nature by sex and level of education in 2018: 71.1% were absorbed by companies; 21.8% by public administration; and 7.1% not-for-profit organizations. [5] Among the many responsibilities associated with the process of owning a legal entity in Brazil, one of the most important is obtaining a CNPJ number. All companies must obtain a CNPJ before they can start doing business in Brazil. According to the general rule of Normative Instruction No. 200/02, all legal persons domiciled abroad that have assets or rights in Brazil subject to a public register must be registered with the CNPJ. The Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica, which means National Register of Legal Entities in Portuguese or more commonly known as CNPJ, has functions similar to those of the CPF: link to the database of the Federal Finance Service, which stores information on tax responsibility. The only difference is that it is unique for use by legal entities. The CNPJ is a number that identifies these legal entities and other legal agreements to the Federal Financial Service. In October 2002, the Brazilian Tax Administration (Secretaria da Receita Federal) issued Normative Instruction No. 200/02 (subsequently amended by Normative Instruction No. 251/02), which was superseded, inter alia, by Normative Instruction No. 167/02 on the registration of companies domiciled abroad in the Brazilian Federal Registry of Taxpayers of Legal Entities (Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica – CNPJ).
In addition to companies investing in the Brazilian stock market, there are two other situations in which a foreign company is required to register in the country in order to obtain a registration number from the Federal Treasury (“Receita Federal”). The application for registration of the foreign company with the CNPJ is made by the appointed lawyer, who transmits to the Brazilian Tax Administration via the Internet the appropriate forms containing certain information about the foreign company and its shareholders, and then sends the following documents by mail to the department of this government agency in charge of their tax residence: For example, foreign companies that have made direct investments in Brazil by acquiring shares or quotas representing the share capital of Brazilian companies must now be registered not only with the Central Bank of Brazil, but also with the CNPJ.