How do I check a Brazilian company (CNPJ)?
Look up the 14-digit CNPJ on the Receita Federal (Federal Revenue Service) website to get the Comprovante de Inscrição e de Situação Cadastral, which shows the legal name, trade name, legal nature, opening date, main and secondary activities (CNAE), address and registration status (situação cadastral), such as ATIVA, SUSPENSA, INAPTA, BAIXADA or NULA. Partners and administrators are listed in the Quadro de Sócios e Administradores (QSA). The Receita Federal also publishes the CNPJ register as open data.
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How to check it manually
- Open the Receita Federal CNPJ consultation and enter the CNPJ.
- Check the situação cadastral: only ATIVA means the registration is in good standing.
- Check the legal name, trade name, legal nature, opening date, activities and address against what you were given.
- Open the QSA for partners and administrators.
- For corporate acts such as articles and changes of partners, use the commercial board (Junta Comercial) of the state where the company is registered.
What it tells you
- Whether the CNPJ registration is active, and the company’s official tax registration details.
- The partners and administrators recorded in the QSA.
What it doesn’t tell you
- Ownership percentages, which the QSA does not show.
- Filed corporate documents, which are held by the state commercial boards.
How SONAR automates it
When you screen a company registered in this country, SONAR looks it up in BrasilAPI and puts the record (legal name, number, status, legal form, registered address and officers) in the report with a link or ID for the source and the date it was retrieved.
BrasilAPI is an open-source community service that serves the Receita Federal’s open CNPJ data; it is not itself a government service.
The same run screens the company and every director and owner it finds against 8 sanctions lists, the OpenSanctions PEP dataset, the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database and adverse media, and returns PASS, REVIEW, FLAG or NOT RUN for each check. A source that could not be reached is shown as NOT RUN, never as clear.
SONAR is a due-diligence tool for checking vendors, partners, resellers and suppliers. It compiles public-record data. It is not a regulated AML / KYC provider, does not verify identity documents, and is not legal advice.
You can try it on 2 companies a month for free, no card needed; every report includes a receipt for each source it used.
Frequently asked questions
What is a CNPJ?
The Cadastro Nacional da Pessoa Jurídica, the 14-digit national register number that the Receita Federal gives each Brazilian legal entity.
What does situação cadastral INAPTA mean?
It is a status that the Receita Federal assigns when a registration is not in order, for example after a failure to file required declarations. Only ATIVA means the registration is in good standing.
Who are the partners of a Brazilian company?
The Quadro de Sócios e Administradores (QSA) on the CNPJ record lists the partners and administrators. For the full corporate history, request the documents from the state commercial board (Junta Comercial).
Official sources
Run these checks on a company you’re about to sign
Registry record, owners, sanctions, PEP, ICIJ Offshore Leaks and adverse media in one report, with a receipt for every source. 2 free reports a month, no card.
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