Complete Guide to Issue Nota Fiscal in Brazil
Often highlighted as one of the main reasons to formally register any business in Brazil, is the issuance of Nota Fiscal, commonly mistaken by foreigners as a simple invoice. Authorization to issue Notas Fiscais is one of the final steps for registering a legal entity in Brazil. This article is a summarized guide on the process that will allow your company to issue Notas Fiscais.
Nota fiscal is an official document that proves the existence of a commercial act, being it the purchase or sale of goods or provision of services. Traditionally this document template was pre-printed by print shops in the form of blocks, including information about the company like name, address, CNPJ etc, and also with a series of numbers to identify each Nota Fiscal. This is being gradually replaced by the issuance of the Nota Fiscal online. By having the entries online, all the transactions are directly reported to the government, leaving little room for the possibility of tax evasion.
Simply put, NF-e is the Nota Fiscal that is issued online. The NF-e allows real time reporting of all transactions to the Secretaria da Fazenda or Sefaz, which is the body of the state government responsible for taxation and revenue.
Authorization for printing Nota Fiscal
Before issuing any Nota Fiscal, whether it is on the printed blocks from print shops, online or fiscal printer, an authorization to the State Treasury Offices, which is known as AIDF must be issued.
AIDF stands for Autorização de Impressão de Documentos Fiscais, and is the authorization for printing taxable documents. This system controls the authorizations for printing tax documents, the use and manufacture of security forms and the provision of seals for the machines that issue fiscal documents, more specifically Notas Fiscais.
The print stores will only be allowed to issue the pre-printed Nota Fiscal specified by Brazilian law for companies that requested AIDF. The petitioner can request the AIDF electronically or in paper form.
The AIDF is a mandatory procedure requested by the government in order to monitor the printing of fiscal documents in Brazil more efficiently. The institution in charge of providing the AIDF are the Treasury Offices, or in Portuguese Secretaria Estadual da Receita of each Brazilian state.
Getting AIDF electronically
As with many other taxation procedures, the AIDF can be requested online. Through the e-AIDF, the taxpayers can get authorization to issue fiscal documents from the print shops accredited by the system. Only a few parties and institutions can have access to the electronic AIDF system, and these are:
- The State Treasury Office’s officials authorized by their managements
- Print shops accredited by State Treasury Offices
- Manufacturers that make the seal of fiscal machines, accredited by the State Treasury Offices
- ABIGRAF, which is the Brazilian Association of Graphic Industries
- Municipality’s employees to issue the Nota Fiscal do Produtor
In order to obtain the AIDF via the internet, print stores must be registered with the Secretariat of Taxation and Revenue, which is Secretaria da Fazenda of their jurisdiction beforehand. After the registration, the company will receive a password to access the electronic system. The same happens for other users.
The computer program developed for the AIDF is very simple to use. There are no codes required and the data of the companies are completed automatically by the system, after the user enters the number of the CNPJ and the password given by the Secretaria da Fazenda. The applicant will only have to check if the registered data is updated.
Getting AIDF in paper form
The AIDF in paper form should be used in the following cases:
- Nota Fiscal do Produtor for rural areas
- Documents printed not under the law, authorized by special arrangement
- AIDF for taxpayers from other states of the Federation
- Security forms
- Other printed fiscal documents not included in the electronic AIDF
- Invoices for transportation services
In order to obtain the AIDF in paper form the taxpayer must go to the Tax Office bound to their company and make the request.
Digital certificate for NF-e
Besides the AIDF which is issued by Sefaz, you will also need to have a Digital Certificate provided by companies registered with the government, which is the e-CNPJ. The NF-e has the legal validity guaranteed by the digital signature through the Digital Certificate regulated by ICP-Brasil. Companies that issue the digital certificate can be found on the ITI website.
How to issue a Nota Fiscal?
A Nota Fiscal is composed of several fields that need to be correctly filled out. Among the most important fields are:
- The type of operation and its code
- CNPJ and/or IE
- Information about the receiver or sender including name, CPF or CNPJ, IE if applicable and full address
- Full description of product or service
- Unit Price
- Quantity
- Sum of the total amount
- Total amount of the Nota Fiscal
- Rate of the taxes ICMS, IPI, II, PIS, COFINS or ISS (if applicable)
- Additional information (used for example to justify the exemption of taxes like ICMS)
These are the basic fields, but the there may be other ones that are required depending on the nature of the operation. There are 32 different types of Nota Fiscal so the template will differ.
Check this article published at Tech in Brazil for a comprehensive guide on Nota Fiscal Eletrônica.