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A company registration number is the unique identifier a national company register assigns to a company at incorporation, and it stays with that company for as long as it exists. It comes from the register, not from the tax authority and not from the company itself, and it is the key a bank, a counterparty or a court uses to pull up the official record behind a name: registered office, directors, share capital, filing history.
The term is British in origin. In the United Kingdom it is called the company number and is printed on the certificate of incorporation that Companies House issues. Every other jurisdiction has its own name and its own register for the same thing, which is why the search so often ends in confusion.
It is not the VAT number. The VAT number comes from the tax authority, after a separate registration, and only where the company actually registers for VAT. In the Netherlands the Kamer van Koophandel issues the KvK-nummer and the Belastingdienst issues the BTW-nummer afterwards. In Poland the KRS entry brings NIP and REGON automatically, while VAT and VAT-EU are applied for separately. A company can hold a registration number for years and no VAT number at all.
It is not the tax number, except where it is. This is the other half of the confusion, and the answer differs by country. The Estonian registrikood doubles as the company’s tax identifier with the MTA, the Danish CVR number serves as its tax identification, the Norwegian organisasjonsnummer does the same, the Portuguese NIPC doubles as the tax identification and the Bulgarian EIK also serves as the tax number. Elsewhere the two are genuinely separate: a German GmbH takes its entry from the Handelsregister at the Amtsgericht and its Steuernummer and USt-IdNr. from the Finanzamt.
It is not the EORI number. EORI stands for Economic Operators Registration and Identification, and the system exists to speed up customs handling for traders. A company needs one only if it moves goods across a customs border.
It is not the LEI. The Legal Entity Identifier identifies a legal entity as a party to a financial transaction. It is obtained when something requires it; no company register assigns it.
And it is not the beneficial owner record. Beneficial ownership registers are a separate layer with separate access rules, and most stopped being open to the public after the Court of Justice ruling of 22 November 2022. The German Transparenzregister now runs on legitimate interest, Ireland removed general public access to its Register of Beneficial Ownership in 2023, and the Czech Evidence skutečných majitelů closed on 17 December 2025. The registration number stayed public throughout.
The table gives the name used in each jurisdiction we cover, the register that issues it and where the record is published. We state a format only where our own material evidences one: a guessed format is worse than none.
| Country | What the number is called | Register that issues it | Where the record is public |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | Company number, printed on the certificate of incorporation | Companies House | find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk |
| Ireland | CRO number, printed on the certificate of incorporation | Companies Registration Office (CRO) | cro.ie |
| France | SIREN, a 9 digit company identifier; SIRET, 14 digits, per establishment | Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS), with SIREN and SIRET issued by INSEE | infogreffe.fr |
| Germany | The company’s Handelsregister entry; Steuernummer and USt-IdNr. come later from the Finanzamt | Handelsregister at the competent Amtsgericht | court by court, no national portal |
| Netherlands | KvK-nummer; RSIN and BTW-nummer follow from the Belastingdienst | Kamer van Koophandel (KvK) Handelsregister | public, no address listed |
| Belgium | Numéro d’entreprise, the universal Belgian business identifier | Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises (BCE/KBO) | kbopub.economie.fgov.be |
| Austria | The company’s Firmenbuch entry | Österreichisches Firmenbuch | public, no address listed |
| Switzerland | UID-Nummer, the Swiss universal business identifier | Handelsregister, cantonal, with federal publication in SHAB | zefix.ch |
| Spain | The Registro Mercantil entry; the CIF comes from the Agencia Tributaria | Registro Mercantil | public, no address listed |
| Portugal | NIPC, which doubles as the tax identification | Conservatória do Registo Comercial | publicacoes.mj.pt |
| Italy | REA number, with the codice fiscale, numeric for entities | Registro delle Imprese at the Camera di Commercio | registroimprese.it |
| Poland | The KRS entry; NIP and REGON are issued automatically with it | Krajowy Rejestr Sądowy (KRS) | public, no address listed |
| Czech Republic | IČO; the DIČ follows at the Finanční úřad | Obchodní rejstřík, kept by the regional courts | or.justice.cz |
| Bulgaria | EIK, the unified identification code, also the tax number | Trade Register at the Registry Agency | brra.bg |
| Estonia | Registrikood, also the company’s tax identifier with the MTA | Äriregister, the e-Business Register | ariregister.rik.ee |
| Finland | Y-tunnus | Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus (PRH), Trade Register | ytj.fi |
| Cyprus | Company registration number | Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property (DRCIP) | efiling.drcor.mcit.gov.cy |
| Singapore | UEN, the Unique Entity Number | ACRA | bizfile.gov.sg |
| Hong Kong | The number on the Certificate of Incorporation; the Business Registration Certificate is separate | Companies Registry (CR); Business Registration Certificate from the Inland Revenue Department | public, no address listed |
| United States | The state register entry; the EIN from the IRS is the federal tax number, not the register number | Secretary of State of the state of formation | state by state, no federal register |
| Delaware | The Division of Corporations record, with the EIN alongside | Delaware Division of Corporations | icis.corp.delaware.gov |
Four more registers worth naming. In the Cayman Islands the application goes to the Registrar of Companies at the General Registry. In Sweden the organisationsnummer comes from Bolagsverket, in Denmark the CVR number from the Erhvervsstyrelsen through virk.dk, and in Norway the organisasjonsnummer from Brønnøysundregistrene. The rest sit on the country index.
Almost every register in the table searches on the company name or on the number itself, and the search is free. The Czech Obchodní rejstřík at or.justice.cz returns the registered office, the základní kapitál, the jednatel and the financial statements filed in the Sbírka listin. The Irish CRO register at cro.ie searches by name or number, the Bulgarian Trade Register at brra.bg by name or EIK.
Three cases behave differently. Germany has no single national search screen: the Handelsregister is kept court by court at the competent Amtsgericht, and what you obtain is a Handelsregisterauszug. The United States has no federal company register at all, so the entry sits with the Secretary of State of the state of formation and a Delaware entity is checked at the Division of Corporations. Hong Kong splits the record in two: the Companies Registry issues the Certificate of Incorporation, the Inland Revenue Department the Business Registration Certificate, renewed every year and carrying a different number.
Company law in most European jurisdictions requires the number to appear on business letters, order forms, invoices and the company website, next to the registered office and the register the company is entered in. A missing or mismatched number is a routine reason for a large customer’s accounts payable team to send an invoice back.
Banks treat it as the starting point of onboarding rather than a formality. A British corporate account application goes in with a Companies House extract dated within 30 days, alongside the memorandum and articles and the current shareholder and director registers. A US bank identifies the company through the state record and the federal tax identification before it identifies the people behind it, and an Estonian bank wants a current Äriregister extract.
And it is how a counterparty verifies that you exist and for how long. The incorporation date sits on the public record and cannot be moved, which is why landlords, payment providers and tender rules look at it.
This is the practical reason people take over a ready-made company instead of registering a new one. The register entry, the number and the incorporation date already exist on the day the shares change hands, so the company can go on an invoice or a contract immediately. A pre-formed British Ltd transfers with its company number, incorporation date, certificate of incorporation and statutory registers intact, and an Irish one arrives with the CRO number and filing history visible before you commit. Registering a new company gets you the same number, just later.
It is the unique identifier a national company register gives a company at incorporation, and it identifies that company for as long as it exists. It comes from the register, not the tax authority. In the United Kingdom it is the company number on the certificate of incorporation from Companies House; in France the SIREN, a 9 digit identifier; in Estonia the registrikood.
Search the national register of the country of incorporation, by name or by number. Irish companies are searchable at cro.ie, Czech at or.justice.cz, Bulgarian at brra.bg, Italian at registroimprese.it and Singapore at bizfile.gov.sg. The number is also printed on the certificate of incorporation and normally appears on the company’s own invoices and letterhead.
You do not apply for the number on its own. It is assigned automatically when the register accepts the incorporation filing, so getting one means registering a company. In the United Kingdom the certificate of incorporation normally issues within 24 hours. The alternative is to take over a company that already holds one, which is what acquiring a ready-made company does.
Companies House publishes the whole register and it is free to search at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk, by company name or by company number. The record shows the registered office, the officers, the share capital, the filing history and the people with significant control. Since 18 November 2025 directors and controllers must also verify their identity with Companies House.
No. The registration number comes from the company register at incorporation and every registered company has one. The VAT number comes from the tax authority, after a separate application, and only where the company registers for VAT. A Dutch BV holds a KvK-nummer from the Kamer van Koophandel and a BTW-nummer from the Belastingdienst, issued at different times by different bodies.
Hong Kong keeps two records and people routinely mix them up. The Companies Registry issues the Certificate of Incorporation when the company is formed, and that is the registration record. The Inland Revenue Department separately issues the Business Registration Certificate, which the company must hold before it may trade and which is renewed every year.
If you need to know what the number will be called in the jurisdiction you are about to use, and when it will exist, tell us the country and the entity type. Start at the country index or get in touch.