Last Monday (May 09^th), the Official Gazette of the Federal Executive published the Normative Instruction issued by the Brazilian Federal Revenue No. 1.634 dated May 6^th, 2016 (“NI”), which rules the Corporate Taxpayer Registry (“CNPJ”). It revokes the former Normative Instruction No. 1.470 dated May 30^th, 2014, as well as the Normative Instructions No. 1.511 dated November 6, 2014 and No. 1.551 dated February 26^th, 2015.

The IN updates previous regulations and inserts new provisions to be taken into account when it comes to the CNPJ. Among the main new insertion, there is a figure called “Final Beneficiary”, which aims at identifying the real beneficiaries of companies, as well as the origin of the resources invested in the Brazil, in order to help fighting corruption and money laundry.

Another relevant provision of the document relates to the necessity of inform the Legal Entity Identifier (“LEI”), which is a global standard number that identifies companies of several jurisdictions. This provision arises from the 2011 recommendation issued by the Group of 20 (“G20”), which aims at creating a unique and universal identifier for companies that are parties in international financial transactions.

The NI also improves the procedures to identify defects or misinformation provided in the registered acts (which can be nulled if not corrected), in order to ensure data consistency and security. In addition, the procedures related with the registration, modification and closing of companies were simplified, strengthening partnerships with the Board of Trades and the Civil Registry of Legal Entities.

The NI shall enter into force on June 1^st, 2016, but it is important to pay attention to the specific deadlines for declaration of the Final Beneficiaries:

a) the obligation to inform the Final Beneficiary and deliver foreign investors documents begin on January 1^st, 2017 for entities who make their first registration after that date;

b) the entities already registered in the CNPJ before January 1^st, 2017 shall inform the final beneficiaries when making any changes in the CNPJ after that date, or until the final deadline of December 31^st, 2018.

The full text of the NI can be found at:

http://normas.receita.fazenda.gov.br/sijut2consulta/link.action?visao=anotado&idAto=73658#1624555