Brazil's Receita Federal to Issue Alphanumeric CNPJ Numbers from July 31

The Federal Revenue Service (Receita Federal) announced that, starting 31 July 2026, new registrations of the Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica (CNPJ) will use an alphanumeric format. The 14‑character identifier will keep its existing structure—eight digits for the company, four for the establishment and two check digits—but the first twelve positions may now contain letters as well as numbers, greatly expanding the pool of possible combinations. The change applies only to newly issued CNPJs; existing numbers remain unchanged and owners do not need to amend contracts or documents.

The shift is intended to avoid exhaustion of the purely numeric series, which has already used about 69 million of the roughly 100 million possible combinations. During a transition period both numeric and alphanumeric CNPJs will be accepted by banks, tax authorities, commercial registries and other institutions. The Receita Federal advises companies, financial platforms and software developers to update their systems to recognise the new format and prevent processing errors in invoicing, supplier databases, payment platforms and related applications.

Overall, the reform affects all businesses that will be newly registered after the rollout, without altering the process for opening a company.