How to invoice in Brazil with Cord

In Brazil the tax-valid invoice is the NFS-e for services (issued by the national NFS-e system) and the NF-e model 55 for the sale of goods (authorized by your state SEFAZ). Cord has both rails built, connecting directly with the authority and without an intermediary, but they are being turned on: today your invoices are issued as a commercial invoice without tax validity. If you need to issue NFS-e or NF-e from Cord, write to us to find out when it will be turned on.

In short:

• Today: commercial invoice and commercial credit note, on every plan (10 per month on Free, unlimited from Starter). They are not submitted to any authority.
• Being turned on: NFS-e (services) and NF-e (goods). Under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile, the NFS-e and NF-e sections read Coming soon while they are not active.
• What you will need: Starter or above, your CNPJ, an ICP-Brasil A1 digital certificate (e-CNPJ), a municipality that has joined the national NFS-e issuer and, for the NF-e, being enabled as an issuer with your state SEFAZ with your Inscrição Estadual.
• An invoice cannot mix products and services: they are two different documents (municipal NFS-e and state NF-e). Split it in two.
• Void: the NFS-e is cancelled within the deadline your municipality sets; the NF-e within 24 hours of its authorization. Neither has a credit note in Cord.
• Collect: with your own Mercado Pago account, on the quote link and the invoice link. Cord Payments does not open accounts in Brazil.

Which document Cord issues

Cord decides which note applies from the items: if all are products with their NF-e data it goes to the NF-e; if none are, to the NFS-e.

What you will need

• ICP-Brasil A1 digital certificate issued to your CNPJ (e-CNPJ), as a .pfx/.p12 file or as a certificate plus private key. It is issued by an ICP-Brasil certificate authority and its cost is set by that authority. A head office e-CNPJ also signs for its branches (same root CNPJ), and the same certificate works for the NFS-e and the NF-e.
• For the NFS-e: your municipality must have joined the national public issuer with an active agreement, your Simples Nacional status and your service code in the national list (LC 116/2003). If your municipality requires it, your municipal registration.
• For the NF-e: being enabled (credenciado) as an NF-e issuer with your state SEFAZ and your Inscrição Estadual. The states of AM, MS, PE, PR, SC and TO also require a technical officer for the system that Cord does not have yet: in those states the NF-e is not available for now, and Settings says so.

Set up your account (once it is turned on)

1. Under Settings › Invoicing › Tax profile › Invoice identity, enter your legal name and your CNPJ / CPF.
2. In the NFS-e section: Municipality of your establishment (IBGE code), Municipal registration if it applies, Simples Nacional status (and, if you are ME/EPP, the Simples Nacional assessment and the Approximate Simples Nacional taxes (%)), Service (national list, LC 116/2003), a DPS series exclusive to Cord and, if you continue a numbering, the First DPS number. Click Save NFS-e settings.
3. Under ICP-Brasil digital certificate (A1), upload your file and its password with Upload certificate. Cord tests the connection with the national NFS-e system without issuing anything.
4. In the NF-e section (if you sell goods): Tax regime (CRT), State registration (Inscrição Estadual), the establishment address with its Municipality (IBGE code), an NF-e series exclusive to Cord, the Nature of the operation, How you sell, Freight and the default PIS/COFINS. Click Save NF-e settings. If the NFS-e certificate belongs to the same CNPJ, the NF-e uses it; if not, upload one in this section.
5. On each product: NCM, CEST if it applies, CFOP, origin, unit, GTIN and the ICMS of your regime, IPI and IBS/CBS.
6. On each client of a sale of goods: number, district, municipality (IBGE code), state registration indicator (taxpayer, exempt or non-taxpayer), their IE and whether they buy as a final consumer.

Taxes in Cord

Brazil starts without a national rate seeded under Settings › Quotes › Taxes, only with the Isento option: state ICMS, municipal ISS and PIS/COFINS do not fit in a single rate. On the NFS-e, ISS is included in the price and the municipality sets the rate. On the NF-e, ICMS, PIS, COFINS, IBS and CBS are inside the price and the only tax added on top is IPI: the line rate in Cord must be exactly the product’s IPI rate.

How you see the status

The invoice detail has an NFS-e or NF-e panel with the status with the authority:

• NFS-e issued or NF-e authorized, with the number, access key and protocol.
• Waiting for confirmation: Cord queries the authority, it never resends the same note. Anything left without an answer is resolved by an automatic query every 15 minutes.
• Did not issue the NFS-e or rejected by the SEFAZ: with the translated reason. A rejection does not use up an NF-e number: it is reused and leaves no gaps.
• The SEFAZ denied the use of the NF-e: the number is used up.

The NF-e PDF is the DANFE with the access key as a barcode, and its authorized XML (NF-e XML (nfeProc)) can be downloaded from the invoice’s NF-e panel and from your client’s link. The NFS-e PDF is Cord’s document with the full access key and the QR code of the public NFS-e lookup. In the test environment, the document says it has no legal validity.

Void or correct

• Cancel an NFS-e: More actions › Void. Cord sends the cancellation event; if the deadline or amount your municipality allows has passed, the cancellation is rejected with the reason and the note stays valid.
• Cancel an NF-e: More actions › Void, within 24 hours of the authorization. After that the SEFAZ rejects it and the note stays valid.
• Correction letter (CC-e): from the NF-e panel of the detail, Issue a correction letter (CC-e), up to 20 per note. Each letter replaces the previous one and must repeat everything that still needs correcting. It cannot change amounts, quantities, rates, bases, issuer, recipient or dates.
• No credit note: the NFS-e has none, and a return of goods is another NF-e that Cord does not issue yet. To correct an NFS-e, void it and issue another.
• Unused numbers (inutilização): in the NF-e section of Settings, Unused numbers (inutilização) lists the numbers left without a note; you declare the range with a reason and Declare to the SEFAZ.

If your state SEFAZ does not respond

Cord issues in contingency at your state’s Virtual SEFAZ (SVC) and returns to the normal SEFAZ by itself when it is back. See SEFAZ contingency.

Common issues

• “Split the invoice in two”. It mixes products and services. Issue one invoice with the products (NF-e) and another with the services (NFS-e).
• The municipality has not joined or has no active agreement. The national NFS-e system reports it and Cord translates it. Confirm it with your city hall.
• Certificate rejection. Check that it is A1, valid, for your CNPJ (or the head office root CNPJ) and for the right environment.
• My state requires something Cord does not have yet. In AM, MS, PE, PR, SC and TO the technical officer is missing; the NF-e is not available there for now.
• The ISS the municipality applied is not the one in my withholding profile. The NFS-e is issued and the invoice shows the difference in the net amount.

Not covered yet

• NFS-e: exports and foreign currency, services taxed where they are provided, construction works and events, base deductions, municipal benefits, federal withholdings (IRRF, CSLL, PIS/COFINS, INSS) and the IBS/CBS group.
• NF-e: tax substitution, DIFAL to a non-taxpayer in another state, exports, fuels, withholdings, Normal Regime sales to another state, returns (finNFe 4) and Simples Nacional from 4 January 2027.
• Withholdings: on the NFS-e only ISS withheld by the client.

Related

• SEFAZ contingency
• Collect with Mercado Pago
• Invoicing by country in the documentation