Tax identification number by country: the company TIN and yours

Banks, brokers and payment firms in CRS countries have to collect a self-certification from each account holder: where it's resident for tax, and its taxpayer identification number there. For a company that's mainly investment income (a Passive NFE), the same form goes to every controlling person. Our CRS country list shows which countries exchange that data and what a company account is reported for.

US forms ask the same question in their own way: the W-8BEN-E for a foreign company and the W-8BEN for a foreign person both have a line for the foreign TIN, the number from the country where the holder is resident (IRS, Form W-8BEN-E).

When a number is missing, the form doesn't let you skip the box. Hong Kong's sample form sets out the three accepted reasons in these words:

• AThe jurisdiction where the account holder is a resident for tax purposes does not issue TINs to its residents.For the BVI, Bermuda, Bahrain, the Marshall Islands and, for individuals, the UAE.
• BThe account holder is unable to obtain a TIN.The country issues TINs, but not to you. You must explain why.
• CTIN is not required.Only if the authorities of the country of residence do not require the TIN to be disclosed.

One rule trips people up: the TIN goes with the country of residence, not the country of incorporation. A BVI company managed and taxed in Germany is German resident and gives its German tax number, and a director living in France gives a French number, wherever the company is formed.

Hong Kong doesn't hand out a separate tax number. The Hong Kong IRD names two identifiers as the TIN equivalent: the Business Registration (BR) number for a company and the HKID number for a person (OECD sheet for Hong Kong).

For the company: the first 8 digits on the BR certificate

A Hong Kong company receives its Business Registration Certificate from the Inland Revenue Department together with its Certificate of Incorporation. The number appears in the middle of the certificate, under "Certificate No.", as a long string. Only the 8 numerals at the front are the TIN. Since 27 December 2023 the same 8 digits are also the company number at the Companies Registry, so one number serves for both.

For you: the HKID number, never the eTAX "TIN"

A person with an eTAX account can choose a "TIN" to log in with, and it appears on the individual tax return and notice of assessment. The IRD says it's only for the e-services and should not be given for automatic exchange purposes. Banks want the HKID number.

If you control a Hong Kong company but don't live there, you don't need an HKID. Your row on the controlling person form carries your own country's number. Running costs and profits tax are in our Hong Kong tax guide, and the bank side is in our Hong Kong bank account guide.

Search for the UAE TIN and you'll read that it's the 15-digit TRN. That's half the story. The official sources disagree because they were written years apart:

1. 2018VAT arrivesThe FTA issues a TRN to every VAT registrant.
2. Jan 2021OECD sheet"The United Arab Emirates does not issue Tax Identification Numbers". A VAT number may not be used as one.
3. 2023 onCorporate taxEvery company registers with the FTA, free of charge, and gets a corporate tax TRN.
4. Oct 2026MoF defines a TINFor e-invoicing, the TIN is the first 10 digits of the corporate tax TRN.

The OECD sheet for the UAE hasn't been revised since January 2021. Since then the FTA has registered companies for corporate tax under its registration service (page updated 26 October 2026, about 20 business days to process), and the Ministry of Finance's e-invoicing field requirements now say: "The TIN is the first 10 digits of a Corporate Tax TRN."

One number is worth more than the TIN for a UAE company: a tax residency certificate, which proves to the bank and your home country that the company is UAE resident. Our guide to the UAE tax residency certificate covers who can get one. Corporate tax itself is in our UAE tax guide; banking is in our UAE bank account guide.

Every country Heirson forms companies in, plus 42 countries founders most often live in. Each row comes from that country's OECD information sheet on TINs, read on 13 November 2026, with the sheet's own date where it prints one. Search, filter or sort any column.

Most bank queries about a TIN aren't about a missing number. They're about the wrong one. These are the look-alikes the tax offices themselves warn about:

Some sheets add a rule rather than a warning. Guernsey resident trusts get no number, and the sheet tells institutions to report "NOTIN". Switzerland's AHV number is a TIN for automatic exchange, but the sheet says its use is restricted, so expect a bank to treat it as confidential.

Picking the reason takes three questions, in this order:

1. Does the country issue TINs to anyone at all? If its sheet says no, as for the BVI, Bermuda, Bahrain and the Marshall Islands, stop here.Reason A
2. Does it issue them, but only to people or companies registered for or liable to its taxes, and you aren't? Say so in one line.Reason B
3. Has its tax authority said the TIN need not be disclosed? Rare, and only on that authority's word.Reason C

Reason B is the one that needs care, because the explanation is read by a person. Short and factual works: what the company is, and why the office won't issue a number. These offshore cases come up most:

How the 27 jurisdictions on our list hand a company its tax number, from the same OECD sheets:

None of this decides whether a bank opens the account; it decides how quickly the tax page is done. Where registration for tax is part of our service, as with corporate tax for UAE companies, we file it for you. Our offshore bank account guide covers the rest of the bank's questions.