Business

Law that created the MEI gave right to social security benefits, tax exemption and access to financial products

The legislation that created the Individual Microentrepreneur - the MEI (Article 18A of Complementary Law No. 128/2018) - completes ten years this July. It allowed thousands of self-employed professionals to work without legal certainty. As a result, they had access to rights and benefits, such as sick pay, maternity wages and death benefit for the family.

These professionals receive a CNPJ - which facilitates, for example, access to financial services and products, such as opening a bank account and requesting loans. They can also issue invoices. The MEIs are also included in the National Simple and are exempt from federal taxes such as Income Tax, PIS, Cofins, IPI and CSLL.

Since the legislation came into force in July 2009, Brazil already registers 8,551 million microentrepreneurs in the most diverse economic activities. In June, the state with the largest number of enrollees was São Paulo (2,288 million), followed by Rio de Janeiro (992.7 thousand) and Paraná (527.8 thousand). 
 
Check out more statistics of the Entrepreneur Portal . 
 
Formalization

The formalization process is made entirely online, exclusively and exclusively, in the Entrepreneur Portal , as explained by the Undersecretary of Micro and Small Business Development, Entrepreneurship and Handicraft of the Special Secretariat for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy, José Ricardo da Veiga.

"MEI is the simplest type of Small and Micro Enterprise for entrepreneurs who bill up to $ 81,000 per year," he says. "There are more than 450 types of activities allowed, such as seamstress, electrician, mason and craftsman. The entire process of formalization, cadastral change, issuance of card, among other services, is done online. In just 15 minutes, the microentrepreneur already has a CNPJ, "he points out.