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Registration numbers

Registration numbers

Indirect tax registration number formats vary across taxing jurisdictions. This article explains how registration numbers need to be formatted in each country.

The following table has an alphabetical list of countries with information about their registration number formats:

Country

The name of the country

ISO country code

The two-letter (alpha-2) code assigned to each country by the ISO.

Exception: The code for the European Union's Import One-Stop Shop, IOSS, contains four letters. This code was created by Sovos and does not follow the ISO's two-letter format.
If you are using new Global Tax Determination, always include this code at the beginning of the registration number. If you are using legacy Global Tax Determination, do not include this code.

Format

This column explains how the registration number is written. It usually includes details like:

The number of characters or digits
Whether there are spaces or hyphens
Which letters or numbers must be included (for example, "E" must be the first character)
Which letters or numbers cannot be used (for example, the first digit can't be five or six)

Example

This column contains example numbers that follow the registration number format. These are not actual registration numbers.

Short format

The country's ISO code followed by the number of characters or digits. This serves as a quick reference for a country's registration number format.

For example, Bolivia's ISO Country Code is BO and its registration numbers have seven digits, so the short format for Bolivia is BO_7.

Registration numbers

Note:

The examples show how registration numbers should look in new Global Tax Determination . If you are using legacy Global Tax Determination and you want to reference these examples, just ignore the country code at the beginning of the number. For instance, the example number for Austria is ATU43436484. In legacy Global Tax Determination, this number would be U43436484, without the AT country code.


Country	ISO country code	Format	Example	Short format
Argentina	AR	11 digits in a block OR Three blocks separated by hyphens The first block contains two digits The second block contains eight digits The last block contains one digit The first two digits are always 20, 23, 24, 27, 30, 33, or 34	AR20123456789 AR20-12345678-1	AR_11
Australia	AU	11 or 12 digits in a block OR Four blocks separated by spaces The first block contains two digits The second and third blocks contain three digits each The fourth block contains three or four digits The letters ABN may be inserted between the country code and the digits, with or without spaces	AU20234567890 AU202345678902 AU ABN 123456789012	AU_11 AU_12 AU_ABN_11 AU_ABN_12
Austria	AT	Nine characters in a block The first character is always U Followed by eight digits	ATU43436484	AT_U8
Belgium	BE	Ten digits in a block The first digit is always 0 or 1	BE0123456749 BE1123456889	BE_10
Bolivia	BO	Seven digits in a block	BO1234567	BO_7
Bulgaria	BG	Nine or ten digits in a block	BG123456789 BG1234567890	BG_9 BG_10
Canada (GST only)	CA	Nine digits OR Nine digits followed by two letters that represent the type of account with Revenue Canada followed by four digits that represent the number of accounts for that firm	CA123454746 CA123454746RT1234	CA_9 CA_15
Chile	CL	Eight digits followed by one verification digit in a block OR Three blocks separated by periods followed by a hyphen and one verification digit The first block contains two digits The second and third blocks contain three digits each	CL123456785 CL12.345.678-5	CL_9
Colombia	CO	Nine digits followed by one verification digit The verification digit is assigned by DIAN and is not part of the NIT	CO1234567896	CO_10
Costa Rica	CR	Usually 10 digits separated by hyphens: one digit, followed by three digits, then six digits Exceptions: 12 digits separated by hyphens: one digit, followed by three digits, then six digits, then two digits 11 digits separated by hyphens: one digit, followed by three digits, then five digits, then two digits	CR3-101-999999 CR3-006-071751-12 CR3-006-78822-17	CR_10
Croatia	HR	11 digits in a block	HR12345678910	HR_11
Cyprus	CY	Eight digits followed by one check letter in a block The last digit and the check letter may be separated by a space	CY12345678A CY12345678 A	CY_9
Czechia	CZ	Eight, nine, or ten digits in a block	CZ12345678 CZ123456789 CZ1234567890	CZ_8 CZ_9 CZ_10
Denmark	DK	Eight digits in a block OR Four blocks separated by spaces that each contain two digits	DK12345658 DK12 34 56 58	DK_8
Dominican Republic	DO	Nine digits in a block OR Four blocks separated by hyphens The first block contains one digit The second block contains two digits The third block contains five digits The fourth block contains one digit	DO123456789 DO1-23-45678-9	DO_9
Ecuador	EC	13 digits in a block	EC0191234567001	EC_13
El Salvador	SV	14 digits in a block OR Three blocks separated by hyphens The first block contains four digits The second block contains six digits The third block contains four digits	SV1234-567890-1234 SV12345678901234	SV_14
Estonia	EE	Nine digits in a block	EE123456789	EE_9
European Union	EU	Nine digits in a block The first three digits are the numeric ISO code of the country issuing the registration number	EU826123456	EU_9
Import One-Stop Shop (EU)	IOSS	Two characters followed by ten digits in a block The characters must be IM or IN The first three digits are the numeric ISO code of the country issuing the registration number	IOSSIM5281234567 IOSSIN5281234567	IOSS_IM10 IOSS_IN10
Finland	FI	Eight digits in a block	FI12345671	FI_8
France	FR	Two characters followed by nine digits in a block The characters can be letters or numbers	FR12345474944 FR1X345474944 FRXX345474944	FR_11
Germany	DE	Nine digits in a block	DE123456729	DE_9
Greece	GR EL	Before 1999: Eight digits in a block After January 1, 1999: Nine digits in a block The first digit cannot be 5 or 6	GR123456783 EL123456789	GR_9 EL_9
Guatemala	GT	Seven digits in a block There may be a hyphen before the last digit	GT1234567 GT123456-7	GT_7
Hungary	HU	Eight digits in a block	HU12345678	HU_8
Iceland	IS	Five digits in a block	IS12345	IS_5
India	IN	15 characters in a block The characters can be letters or numbers Optional spaces This format is only required for registrations at the country level	IN11AB345678901Z7 IN 22 ABC4567890 1Z5	IN_15
Ireland	IE	Current format: Seven digits followed by one letter in a block There may be an H after the letter Previous format (still recognized): The number 8 or 9 followed by one letter, then five digits, then one letter The optional H is not allowed for this format	IE1234567T IE1234567YH IE9J12345Y	IE_8 IE_9
Italy	IT	11 digits in a block	IT12341234545	IT_11
Jersey	JE	Seven digits in a block	JE1234567	JE_7
Luxembourg	LU	Eight digits in a block	LU12345678	LU_8
Malta	MT	Eight digits in a block The first digit cannot be 0 There may be a hyphen between the fourth and fifth digits	MT12345678 MT1234-5678	MT_8
Netherlands	NL	12 characters in a block The tenth character is always B The eleventh and twelfth characters must form a two-digit number between 01 and 99	NL123456782B01	NL_12
Nicaragua	NC	Ten digits in a block OR Two blocks separated by a hyphen The first block contains six digits The second block contains four digits	NC1234567890 NC123456-7890	NC_10
Norway	NO	Nine digits in a block followed by the letters MVA A seven digit format that accommodates VOEC registrations is also accepted	NO123456785MVA NO 7654312	NO_9_MVA NO_7
Pakistan	PK	13 digits in a block The first two digits are always 01, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 11, or 12	PK1234123412342	PK_13
Paraguay	PY	11 characters in a block OR Two blocks separated by spaces The first block contains four letters The second block contains six digits followed by one character, which can be a letter or a number	PYHBCO1234567 PYHBCO 1234567 PYHBCO 123456A	PY_11
Peru	PE	11 digits in a block	PE10123456789	PE_11
Poland	PL	Ten digits in a block	PL1234567890	PL_10
Portugal	PT	Nine digits in a block	PT123456789	PT_9
Singapore	SG	Nine characters in a block OR Ten characters in a block The first two characters can be letters or numbers The next seven characters must be numbers The tenth character can be a letter or a number There may be hyphens before and after the seven digits	SG123456789 SGXX1234567X SGXX-1234567-X	SG_9 SG_10
Slovakia	SK	Ten digits in a block	SK1234567890	SK_10
Slovenia	SI	Eight digits in a block The first digit can't be 0	SI12345678	SI_8
South Africa	ZA	Ten digits in a block The first digit is always 4	ZA4123456789	ZA_10
Spain	ES	Nine characters in a block The first and last characters must consist of one letter and one number or two letters. They can't both be numbers.	ESX12345501 ESX1534597X ES52345678X	ES_9
Sweden	SE	12 digits in a block The last two digits are always 01	SE123412341001	SE_12
Switzerland	CH	The letter E, followed by: Nine digits in a block OR three blocks of three digits separated by periods, followed by: The letters TVA, IVA, or MWST There may be a hyphen after the E There may be spaces before and after the nine digits	CHE123456789TVA CHE-123456789MWST CHE 123.456.789 IVA	CH_E9TVA CH_E9IVA CH_E9MWST
Taiwan	TW	Eight digits in a block	TW12345678	TW_8
United Kingdom	GB	Nine digit format: Nine digits in a block OR Three blocks separated by spaces The first block contains three digits The second block contains four digits The third block contains two digits 12 digit format: 12 digits in a single block OR Four blocks separated by spaces The first block contains three digits The second block contains four digits The third block contains two digits The fourth block contains three digits Five character format (for VAT registrations of governmental departments): The letters GD followed by three digits	GB123656772 GB181452560004 GB 181452569 994 GB181 4525 60 004 GB 181 4525 60 004	GB_9 GB_12 GB_GD3
Uruguay	UY	12 digits in a block	UY123456789012	UY_12
Venezuela	VE	Ten characters in three blocks separated by hyphens: The first block contains one letter, which must be V, E, G, or J The second block contains eight digits The third block contains one digit	VE V-12345678-9	VE_10

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