Objective <p>Paracetamol is widely used throughout the world and its high consumption has led to its detection in the environment as an emerging contaminant. In this work, the actinobacterium <i>Amycolatopsis</i> sp. Poz14 is proposed as a new bacterium with the ability to degrade paracetamol.</p> Results <p>Poz14 was grown in minimal media supplemented with paracetamol at 100 mg L^− 1, achieving a specific growth rate of 0.42 d^− 1 and a degradation efficiency of 42%, equivalent to 58 mg L^− 1 at 21 days. Adding yeast extract increased the specific growth rate to 0.66 d^− 1 and reduced the paracetamol concentration to 29 mg L^− 1, achieving 71% efficiency at 21 days. In addition, catechol 1,2-dioxygenase, catechol 2,3-dioxygenase, and protocatechuate 4,5-dioxygenase demonstrated activity exclusively in cell extracts of Poz14 grown with paracetamol. These results demonstrate that <i>Amycolatopsis</i> sp. Poz14 uses paracetamol as a carbon and energy source for growth, where the enzymes catechol and protocatechuate dioxygenases are involved.</p>