Random CNAE Generator

CNAE: Brazil's economic activity classification

CNAE (Classificação Nacional de Atividades Econômicas) is the official Brazilian taxonomy that tags every active business with one or more codes describing what it actually does. It is maintained by IBGE (the federal statistics bureau) and revised by CONCLA, the National Classification Commission. The system was first published in 1995 (CNAE 1.0), iterated through 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2, and the current version is CNAE 2.3, in force since 2021. CNAE is the Brazilian counterpart of the United Nations ISIC Rev. 4, of NAICS in the United States and of NACE in the European Union — codes are mapped one-to-one across the four systems for international statistical work.

The seven-digit hierarchy

A full CNAE code looks like 62.01-5/01 and decomposes as S-DD-GG-CC-S. The leading letter (A-U) is the Section, the two-digit pair is the Division, the next two digits give Group and Class, and the trailing two digits are the Subclasse — the most granular level, specific to Brazil. The example above means "Custom software development", under Section J — Information and Communication.

• A Agriculture, B Mining, C Manufacturing, D Electricity & gas, E Water & sewage, F Construction
• G Trade, H Transport, I Accommodation & food, J Information & Communication, K Finance, L Real estate
• M Professional/scientific, N Administrative, O Public admin, P Education, Q Health, R Arts & recreation
• S Other services, T Domestic services, U International organisations

Why the CNAE matters for a company

CNAE is not just a statistical label — it has direct legal and fiscal effects. Every CNPJ registration carries a main CNAE plus an unlimited list of secondary CNAEs. The mix decides whether the company can opt into Simples Nacional (some activities are categorically excluded), which ISS rate applies at the municipal level, the social-security FAP factor for occupational-risk insurance, and the licences required from sanitary, fire and environmental agencies. Invoicing itself is itemised by CNAE: each nota fiscal de serviço line picks the CNAE that best describes that specific service.

MEI and the restricted list

The MEI simplified regime accepts only a closed list of CNAEs — roughly 480 activities. Programming, lawyering, engineering and most regulated professions are excluded; hair salons, food trucks, marketplace sellers and basic crafts are included. Picking the wrong CNAE at registration is the single most common reason a MEI is later disenrolled by the Receita Federal.

FAQ

Can a company have more than one CNAE? Yes — exactly one main code, and any number of secondary codes. The main one drives the tax regime and the company's statistical bucket; secondaries authorise issuing invoices for those extra activities.

Does the CNAE change my income tax? Indirectly, but significantly. Some CNAEs are impeditivos for Simples Nacional, forcing the company into Lucro Presumido or Lucro Real, where the effective rate is usually much higher. Always check the latest exclusion list before registering.

Does this tool generate a valid CNAE? It returns a syntactically valid CNAE 2.3 code drawn from the real published list, useful for mocking ERP / accounting fixtures. It does not assign the code to any real company.

Where do I look up a code officially? The CONCLA portal at concla.ibge.gov.br exposes the full hierarchy and the official descriptions; cnae.ibge.gov.br offers a friendlier search interface.