Brazilian Company Lookup (CNPJ)

A public registry maintained by the Federal Revenue Service

The CNPJ is the National Registry of Legal Entities, administered by Brazil's Federal Revenue Service. Every company, branch, or entity receives a 14-character number that identifies it in contracts, invoices, petitions, and corporate acts, it is, for a legal entity, what the CPF is for an individual. The first eight characters form the company's root; the next four indicate the establishment order (0001 for the headquarters, 0002 onward for branches); and the last two are check digits, always numeric. Since July 2026, the Federal Revenue Service also issues the alphanumeric CNPJ, with letters in the first 12 positions; both formats coexist and carry the same legal validity.

The registry is public and feeds services such as BrasilAPI, which this tool queries. From it come the corporate name, trade name, registration status, opening date, legal nature, company size, share capital, CNAE activity, and the list of partners. This is declared, registry-level data: it describes how the company is registered, not a judgment about its conduct.

• 14 characters: root (8) + establishment (4) + check digits (2).
• 0001 = headquarters; 0002 onward = branches.
• Since 07/2026, the root and establishment segments may include letters (alphanumeric CNPJ).
• Source: the Federal Revenue Service's public database, via BrasilAPI.

From the number to the registry record

Suppose you have a supplier's CNPJ and want to check its data before signing a contract. When you paste the number (with or without punctuation), the tool first tests the two check digits: if they do not add up, the number is rejected as invalid, without even querying the database. Once it passes validation, the query is forwarded through a proxy to BrasilAPI, which returns the company's registry record.

In the response you see the corporate name, the registration status (for example, ATIVA), the opening date, the main activity (CNAE), and the list of partners with each partner's or officer's qualification. These fields help confirm whether the company exists, how it is registered, and who is responsible for it, but they remain a snapshot of the registry, useful as a starting point, not a verdict on the company.

Registration status is not a certificate of trustworthiness

The public database has an update lag: openings, closures, and partner changes may take time to appear in the lookup, so the result reflects the last published data, not necessarily today's. In addition, an "ATIVA" status only means the company has not been closed, suspended, or declared inactive, it does not guarantee tax, labor, or financial compliance.

For that reason, a registry lookup is not due diligence. For credit, hiring, or partnership decisions, the CNPJ data is a first filter that should be combined with clearance certificates, searches for protests and lawsuits, and the analysis of a professional. Treat the result as registry information and confirm anything decisive through official sources and with legal or accounting advice.

• Data may carry an update lag.
• "ATIVA" is not the same as tax or labor compliance.
• A registry lookup does not replace due diligence.
• To decide, add clearance certificates and professional analysis.