National tax number
An identifier assigned by a national government to a company, individual, or other entity for taxpayer identification.
A national tax number is a unique number or string of characters assigned by a national government to identify a company, individual, or other tax paying entity.
Each country sets its own form and its own name for it: the Steuernummer and Steuer-Identifikationsnummer in Germany, the Employer Identification Number in the United States, the Unique Taxpayer Reference in the United Kingdom.
The number identifies the taxpayer for tax administration. A company registration identifies a commercial registration. Depending on the country, the systems may share an underlying identifier or issue independent numbers.
Several countries treat the number as confidential and restrict its publication, so it is often absent for a company whose registration number is public.