Belgian company number, VAT number and establishment unit
Updated 27 September 2026
Belgian administration uses several identifiers that look similar enough to cause confusion. The key distinction is between the legal enterprise, its VAT status and its individual establishment units.
Enterprise number - KBO / BCE
The enterprise number (ondernemingsnummer / numéro d'entreprise) identifies the legal entity or registered enterprise in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE). It has ten digits and is the core Belgian business identifier.
VAT number
For a Belgian enterprise that is VAT-registered, the VAT number normally uses the same ten digits with the country prefix BE. That does not mean every enterprise has the same VAT status, so a VAT check and a company lookup answer different questions.
Establishment-unit number
A company can operate from multiple establishment units (vestigingseenheden / unités d'établissement). Those locations have their own identifiers and should not be treated as a replacement for the enterprise number.
Which tool should I use?
- Use the VAT checker when VAT validity is the question.
- Use the company lookup for basic company information.
- Paste a document or block of text into the identifier detector when you first need to discover which Belgian numbers are present.
- For activities and coded values, use the NACE-BEL and KBO code references.