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Understand · Payroll glossary

What is the enterprise number?

Updated on

The enterprise number is a business’s unique 10-digit identifier in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE); preceded by BE, it is also its VAT number. In Dutch: ondernemingsnummer.

Definition of the enterprise number

It starts with 0 or, since 19 September 2023, with 1. Its last two digits are a check: 97 minus the remainder of dividing the first 8 digits by 97.

It appears on invoices, among other places, and lets you look the business up in the CBE (name, address, activities).

The key figure in 2026

10 digitsEnterprise number: 10 digits starting with 0 or 1, including 2 check digits

Source: Guide des identifiants fiscaux belges : numéro d’entreprise et contrôle 97 − (8 premiers chiffres modulo 97) (15 May 2026), LookupTax (secondary source). Value in force on 1 October 2026.

Worked example

The enterprise number of the National Bank of Belgium is 0203.201.340. Its first 8 digits, 02032013, divided by 97, leave a remainder of 57: 97 − 57 = 40, the last two digits. Its VAT number is written BE0203201340.

In Dutch: ondernemingsnummer

On a Dutch-language invoice, bank statement or business document, the enterprise number is called ‘ondernemingsnummer’; on a French-language one, ‘numéro d’entreprise’. Also called company number in English.

Dutch term taken from: FPS Economy.

Not to be confused with…

  • Establishment unit number: it identifies a place where the business operates (a shop, an office), not the business itself.

Calculate it for your situation

Belgian CBE (Crossroads Bank for Enterprises) or VAT number: format, check digits and a link to the CBE.

Check an enterprise number

Related terms

Sources

Parameters in force on 1 October 2026. Each parameter links to its source, the official one where it exists; a secondary source is flagged as such.