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There are just over eight months to go before a change is implemented that will drastically impact information processing in relationships between companies, MEIs (micro-entrepreneurs), public agencies, third sector organizations, self-employed professionals, and rural producers: the change in the CNPJ (Corporate Taxpayer ID) to the alphanumeric model.
The change is due to the level of formalization of the Brazilian economy. It is growing and will grow even faster when the Tax Reform comes into effect.
The change in the CPNJ has a direct impact on the lives of companies, especially with regard to information processing. Applications that register the CNPJ will need to be adapted so that they can read the new alphanumeric model, without compromising the functioning of the systems and, consequently, the day-to-day operations of the company.
In this text, we will detail the reasons for the change in the CNPJ to the alphanumeric model, what impacts this change has on the Brazilian business environment, and how it affects your company's routines in practice.
Currently, the CNPJ number consists of 14 digits, divided into three parts. The first, the basic CNPJ, consists of eight digits. The second, the order number, consists of four digits. The last, consisting of two digits, is the check digit.
The first part of the CNPJ allows for 100 million combinations and the second part allows for 10,000 combinations. They serve different purposes: the basic CNPJ is the number that identifies the company, while the order number indicates whether it is a parent company or a subsidiary and, if a subsidiary, its number. All parent companies have the order number 0001, and each branch is identified by another four-digit number.
The current landscape of the formalization of the Brazilian economy is no longer supported by the CNPJ numerical model: in March 2025, Brazil reached the milestone of 64 million registered CNPJs, of which just over a third, 23 million, are active. According to the Federal Revenue Service, 6 million CNPJs are opened annually in the country.
In addition, there are currently several companies close to reaching 10,000 branches, making it impossible to register new ones in the order number. To make the scenario even more worrying, the Tax Reform, established by Complementary Law 214 of January 16, 2025, defined that self-employed professionals, rural producers, and building condominiums will be required to have a CNPJ. In other words, given the current scenario, the 100 million combinations of the basic CNPJ would be quickly reached, preventing new companies from being formalized in the country. The Federal Revenue Service predicts that by 2030 there will be no more CNPJ numbers available.
To prevent the situation from reaching this point, the Federal Revenue Service, through Normative Instruction 2,229, published on October 15, 2024, established the change in the CNPJ to the alphanumeric model as of July 2026. In practice, the following will happen: all current CNPJs and those issued until June 2026, still in the current model, will be valid. Starting in July, CNPJs will be issued in the alphanumeric model.
In the alphanumeric model, both the first and second parts of the CNPJ can consist of letters or numbers. Thus, the number of possible combinations of the basic CNPJ increases from 100 million to almost 3 billion, while the combinations of the order number increase from 10,000 to over 1.6 million.
However, in order to register CNPJs in the alphanumeric model, companies' applications and their respective automation routines must be prepared for this. This involves adapting databases, correcting logic that validates the check digit in the alphanumeric model, and adjusting the functions of both the interface and the interaction with databases so that they can interpret letters and numbers.
If these adjustments are not made, it will be impossible to register new CNPJs in corporate applications or use them in scheduled operations. The negative impact on business routines is difficult to measure, but it directly affects the financial and tax aspects of companies. Accounts payable and receivable may not be recorded, taxes may not be calculated... Ultimately, the cost of non-compliance will be much higher than the cost of adaptation.
The good news is that adjustments to applications or the development of digital products that anticipate the change in the CNPJ can already be initiated. And Inmetrics is your ideal partner in this endeavor, as we have developed a complete solution that ensures total compliance and efficient modernization—attributes that traditionally make up the quality level of our performance.
With our solution, you don't have to worry about technical complexity: our application's automation routines ensure full compliance and conformity. We operate in three stages: intelligent discovery, implementation, and approval.
In the intelligent discovery stage, we automatically map where the CNPJ is used in your applications: we perform a complete analysis of databases, automated backend scanning, detailed frontend auditing, and identification of external integrations.
During the implementation phase, we apply the necessary changes using advanced artificial intelligence: we perform automated code modification, update validations and masks, adjust APIs and integrations, and perform automated tests in real time.
During the approval stage, we expedited delivery, given our expertise in quality engineering: we performed comprehensive tests with real data, validated them in the official Federal Revenue Service environment, generated compliance certification, and provided complete post-implementation support.
Our team is fully focused on providing our solution, generating value for your company and reducing the financial and tax risks of your operation. Our extensive experience in developing digital products and our expertise in meeting strict quality standards ensures our ability to identify, implement, and approve improvements to your applications to adapt to the change in the CNPJ to the alphanumeric model.
Would you like to learn more about our solution or talk to one of our experts to understand it in more detail? Just click here to contact us!
