⚠️ Important notice
This is not a government website. Certificado Digital Global is a Registration Authority accredited to the Certisign network, a brand of Kindness in Business Consulting Ltd (UK Company No. 10386293), serving clients from London. Issuance depends on identity validation, documentation and ICP-Brasil rules. Do not send CPF, passport or sensitive documents via WhatsApp or the initial form.
O que é
A tax issue is never just one thing. A CPF marked “pending regularisation”, a return that was never filed, an audit hold, an open debt and an exit declaration left for later are different problems with different cause…
Para quem
e-CAC access without facial validation · Electronic power of attorney to your accountant
Como resolve
Video validation at your hour · RA accredited to AC Certisign
Limite
Não é site do governo. Emissão sujeita a validação de identidade, documentação e normas da ICP-Brasil.
Step one: find out which issue is yours
Most people learn about the problem sideways — a bank freezing an account, a notary refusing a deed, a buyer asking for a clearance certificate. Before acting, confirm the origin. The public CPF status lookup on the Revenue's website shows whether your CPF is regular, pending regularisation, suspended or cancelled. The detail behind each issue, however, only appears inside e-CAC: the mailbox, the return-processing statement, the debts and the audit status. How to get into e-CAC from abroad — via gov.br, via certificate or through a third party's power of attorney — is covered in how to access e-CAC while living outside Brazil; here we deal with what to do once you are in.
Public CPF lookup
Shows the registration status in one line. It explains no reason and lets you fix nothing.
e-CAC mailbox
Where notices, audit alerts and collection letters arrive. Many issues of people abroad began with a message here that nobody read.
Return statement
Tells whether each year was processed, is held in audit or was simply never filed — the information that sets the roadmap.
Debts and instalments
Lists what is being collected by the Revenue and what has already been enrolled as outstanding debt, which moves to the PGFN.
The roadmap, issue by issue
1. CPF “pending regularisation”
This status almost always means an annual return was not filed for a year in which you were still required to file. The route is to find on e-CAC which tax year is missing, prepare that year's return and transmit it. Once processed, the CPF returns to regular with no further request. IN RFB 2.119/2022 defines the CPF registration statuses, and “pending regularisation” stems from an unfiled return — it is neither a fine nor an administrative block a consulate could lift. Filing the missing year's return is what resolves it; the e-CPF lets you see on e-CAC which year it is instead of guessing.
2. Several years of unfiled returns
Those who left Brazil without formalising their exit often have two, three or more years without a return. Each year needs its own return, with that period's income — including rent, investments and foreign earnings if you still counted as a resident. The accountant assembles the returns from the statements you gather; transmitting them in a batch is the job of whoever holds the access and the power of attorney for it. under IN SRF 208/2002, whoever fails to file the Exit Communication and the Exit Declaration continues to be treated as a tax resident, with every obligation of someone living in Brazil. Before filing late years, settle with your accountant the exit date and which years still require a full return — that decision changes the content of each one.
3. Return held in audit
The audit hold keeps a return until a discrepancy is cleared: income reported by the payer but not declared, a medical expense without a receipt, rent received and not entered. On e-CAC you see the exact reason, file an amended return when the mistake is yours, or submit the documents when the information is correct and needs proof. the receipts the audit asks for can be sent scanned through e-CAC itself. Decree 10.278/2020 establishes that a scan made with an ICP-Brasil certificate has the same legal effect as the original document for the purposes it sets out — which is why receipts and statements signed with the e-CPF are accepted without anyone carrying paper to a Revenue office.
4. Open debt or enrolled outstanding debt
A debt still with the Revenue is checked, paid or put on instalments on e-CAC. Once enrolled as outstanding debt, instalments move to the PGFN's Regularize portal, which also accepts certificate access. Joining any instalment plan is a signed act — and that is where the certificate matters: you sign from where you are, or authorise your accountant to do so with powers limited to that. if you would rather have the accountant join the instalment plan for you, grant them the electronic power of attorney on e-CAC with only the service needed and a short term. The mandate in arts. 653 to 692 of the Civil Code is limited to what the grantor defines, and the electronic power of attorney lets you restrict it service by service. Never solve this by handing over your certificate.
5. Exit declaration never filed
This is the issue that breeds the other four. Formalising the exit has two parts: the Definitive Exit Communication and the Definitive Exit Declaration for the year in which non-resident status began. After that, resident obligations cease and the tax treatment of what you keep in Brazil changes. As the scenario below shows, this is often the last item on the roadmap, not the first. filing the definitive exit does not erase earlier years without a return. The logical order, under IN SRF 208/2002, is to close the tax years in which you were still a resident and only then formalise the exit — and all of it is done on e-CAC, from any country, with the e-CPF or through the electronic power of attorney granted with it.
Scenario: three years unfiled and a flat up for sale
Note the order: first she saw the full picture, then tackled each issue by the right route and left the definitive exit for the end. Without the certificate, every stage would have depended on gov.br's facial validation — which fails for anyone with an expired driving licence or no biometrics on record — or on someone in Brazil with access to her account.
I want to see my issues on e-CAC
Real case
Illustrative scenario. A Brazilian port logistics technician has worked in Antwerp for three years. She left Brazil in a hurry, kept a rented-out flat in Santos and never notified the Revenue of her exit. When she accepted an offer for the flat, the buyer asked for a debt clearance certificate — and the lookup showed her CPF as “pending regularisation”. On e-CAC, which she only reached after issuing an e-CPF A1 by video call at seven in the morning, before her shift at the terminal, she found two years without a return, an audit hold on the previous year for rent received and not entered, and a small debt from a forgotten monthly carnê-leão payment. She granted an electronic power of attorney to her accountant in Santos, who filed the late returns, amended the audited year, put the debt on an instalment plan and, last of all, filed the definitive exit. The CPF went back to regular and the deed was signed through e-Notariado, with no flight and no consulate. — A recurring situation among those who left Brazil keeping a rented property
Before you decide
“My time zone doesn't match Brazil's”
Validation is done with an agent of our RA in London, not during Brazilian office hours. For anyone in Europe, Africa or the Middle East, the session fits at the start or end of your working day.
“My driving licence expired and my ID card is old”
A Brazilian passport within its validity is enough as identification. A legible RG is also accepted; an expired CNH is not. If none works, we guide the renewal before booking.
“Will I be opening my CPF and finances to you?”
No. The RA checks identity and document; it never sees e-CAC, your return, the certificate password or your tax data. What happens after issuance stays between you and your accountant.
“Wouldn't it be better to wait for my holidays and sort it out in Brazil?”
A tax issue grows while it waits: interest, unread notices and returns that end up in audit. Resolving it now, from where you are, costs less than a trip and stops the issue from blocking the deal that prompted the lookup.
What the e-CPF does and what stays with the accountant
Diagnosis
Enter e-CAC, read the mailbox, view statements and debts · Interprets what is there and sets the filing order
Late returns
Gather statements and authorise the accountant by electronic power of attorney · Prepares and transmits each year
Audit hold
Sign and send scanned receipts through e-CAC · Assesses whether an amendment or a defence applies
Debt and instalments
Join and sign, or delegate that one service · Calculates and tracks the instalments
Definitive exit
Review and sign the filing · Sets the date and the tax effects
Transparent pricing
The e-CPF opens e-CAC, signs amendments, receipts and instalment plans and grants the electronic power of attorney to your accountant — every stage of the roadmap, with a single certificate. Accounting fees and any tax due are separate.
Starting figure for the e-CPF; A1 or A3 and the validity period you choose set the total. Ask on WhatsApp.
Request an e-CPF quote