Tax Identification Numbers (TINs) are identification numbers used by most EU countries to identify taxpayers and facilitate the administration of their national tax affairs. They are also useful for identifying taxpayers who invest in other EU countries. TINs are more reliable than other identifiers such as name and address.
General overview
Financial institutions have to record the name and address of their account holders and, if there is one, the Tax Identification Number allocated by the EU country of residence. They must report the TIN, together with other personal and income details, every year to the tax authorities of the country where they are established as part of their obligations under the Savings Directive.
TIN specifications (structure, syntax, etc.) are set by the national authorities. Some countries even have a different TIN structure for different categories of individuals (e.g. nationals and foreign residents).
TIN online check
The Commission has launched a cooperative project whereby information about TINs for natural persons that EU countries choose to publish is available on one single web page.
Note that information is only available on the TINs of natural persons. EU countries may use other number formats for legal entities. These cannot be validated by the TIN portal.
The online check module does not confirm the identity of a person or the existence of the TIN. It simply confirms whether the syntax (i.e. algorithm) and/or structure of the TIN entered is correct. Where a country has not provided its algorithms, only the structure can be checked.
TIN by country
Descriptions of the structure and specificities of national TINs, examples of official documents showing the TINs, and information on national websites and contact points are available in English and 22 other languages.
- български
- español
- čeština
- dansk
- Deutsch
- eesti
- ελληνικά
- français
- hrvatski
- italiano
- latviešu
- lietuvių
- magyar
- Malti
- Nederlands
- polski
- português
- română
- slovenčina
- slovenščina
- suomi
- svenska
TIN by subject
TIN structures, TIN specifications, examples of official documents showing TINs, national reference websites and national contact points are available in English and 22 other languages.
- български
- español
- čeština
- dansk
- Deutsch
- eesti
- ελληνικά
- français
- hrvatski
- italiano
- latviešu
- lietuvių
- magyar
- Malti
- Nederlands
- polski
- português
- română
- slovenčina
- slovenščina
- suomi
- svenska
Limitations
There is no TIN at EU level, and not all EU countries have TINs. Some have other identifiers, which for legal or other reasons cannot be treated as TINs. Some do not automatically issue TINs to all taxpayers. Details of these limitations are shown on the individual country pages above.
For financial institutions, the information on this portal does not replace, but complements the Know Your Customer Procedures.
Legal notice
The information published on this page and all the pages dedicated to TIN (hereafter: the "European TIN Portal") and the use of the TIN online check module provided on this European TIN Portal, of which it constitutes an integral part, are subject to a disclaimer, a copyright notice and rules relating to the protection of personal data and privacy, available on the legal notice page.