§74. In Brazil there are 3 basic tax numbers for companies: CNPJ (National Record for Legal Entities, used in the Federal Level, e.g. for charge Income Tax), IE (Record of the Federative States, used for taxes charged by them, such as Impost on the Circulation of Goods - ICMS) and CCM (Tax Record of the Municipalities, which is used to charge, e.g., Impost on Services - ISS). All of these are Tax Identification Numbers related with each one of the three levels of the Brazilian State: Federal Union, Federative States and Municipalities. The CNPJ is the same of the TIN in USA, being a record necessary to filed a tax return with the IRS. The IE and the CCM are more closer to a VAT number in European Union, considering that the Federative State’s Impost on Circulation of Goods (ICMS) and the Municipality Impost on Services (ISS) can be considered Value-added Taxes. But the Impost on Industrialized Products (IPI), charged by the Union in a federal level, is also a value-added tax, and, in this sense, we also can make a relation among a VAT number and a CNPJ. Foreign companies, without offices in Brazil, can not have IE or CCM because they will not pay the related taxes to theses records. But it is possible make the record of a foreign company in Brazil to obtain a CNPJ. For example, a foreign company that only wants to buy participations in Brazilian companies.
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