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Find, connect, and expand with Corporate Number

About Corporate Numbers

The Corporate Number improves administrative efficiency, enhances citizen's convenience, and provides a social platform to realize a fair and just society.

Based on the "Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in the Administrative Procedure" (hereinafter,"Number Act"), which took effect on May 24th, 2013 (promulgated on May 31st, 2013), the National Tax Agency designates a Corporate Number to each corporation. Immediately after the designation it publishes the number with the corporation’s trade name or name and address of head office or principal place of business, and notifies the subject corporation of the number in writing.

Objective of Corporate Numbers

Each corporation is assigned a single 13-digit Corporate Number of which it is notified at its registered address, etc. (Branch offices and places of business of corporations, sole proprietors, associations and the like, acknowledged by the Civil Act, are not assigned a number).Unlike Individual Numbers (known as "My Number"), there are no restrictions to the range of use of Corporate Numbers and they may be used openly by anyone.

  • Improving Administrative Efficiency

    Aim to improve the efficiency of management of information on corporations and other organizations, reduce the cost associated with reference and exchange of corporate information, and improve the efficiency of administrative operations.

  • Enhancing Citizen's Convenience

    Aim to coordinate the exchange of information among administrative organs and reduce the administrative burden on the applicants by curtailing attachments and simplifying procedures of various applications and the like.

  • Realizing a Fair and Just Society

    Through sharing of information on corporations and other organizations, contribute to maintaining appropriate relationships between payment and burden in administrative fields, such as the social security system, taxation and others.

  • Creating New Value

    Since there is no limitation to the range of use of the Corporate Number, through promotion of use and application by private enterprises, new value creation through utilization of the Corporate Number is anticipated.

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Outline of the Corporate Number System

Overview of the Corporate Number System

Designation of the Corporate Number

The Corporate Number is designated to: 1. Corporations which have been registered for incorporation under provisions of the Companies Act or other laws and regulations(corporations registered for incorporation); 2. National government organs; 3. Local public entities; and 4. Corporations other than those mentioned earlier(including foreign corporations) or associations or the like without juridical personality but with the duty to file and pay corporate and consumption taxes or to withhold income tax on salary and the like. In regards to these corporations, the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency designates a Corporate Number without requiring any filing or the like in particular.

(Note) More specifically, organizations which are required to submit the following documents under the tax law.

Furthermore, corporations and associations or the like without juridical personality that is not designated a Corporate Number as outlined above, corporations which possesses a domestic head office that is established through individual laws and ordinances, or those that meet a certain requirement, such as submission of documents such as tax returns, statements, etc., to the district director of the tax office and the like based on laws on national tax, may still be designated a Corporate Number by notifying the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency.

In addition, since only one Corporate Number is designated per corporation, it is not assigned to any branch offices or addresses of business of a corporation (Corporate Numbers are neither designated to individual proprietors nor associations and the like defined by the Civil Act).

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Publication of the Corporate Number

The Corporate Number is published through the Internet (Corporate Number Publication Site).

Information to be made public is comprised of 3 components (Basic 3 Information): trade name or name of the association that has been designated a Corporate Number, address of head office or principal place of business, and the Corporate Number.

In addition, when a change has been made to the trade name, address, etc., after a Corporate Number has been designated, the published information is updated along with the revision history.

However, regarding an association or the like without juridical personality, the publication of the Basic 3 Information requires its representative or administrator's consent.

Anyone can use Corporate Number made public through the Internet.

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Notification of the Corporate Number

The Notification of Corporate Number is sent via a document on which the Corporate Number is written or the like by the Commissioner of the National Tax Agency.

Notifications are delivered to the registered address of the head office or the principal place of business of registered corporations, and for corporations other than registered corporations or associations and the like without juridical personality but that submit statements as prescribed in national tax laws, the notification is sent to the address of the head office or the principal place of business as indicated in the said statement.

(Note) If a corporation registered its incorporation using the one-stop company incorporation service, its Corporate Number is sent online to the corporation via the same service.

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National Tax Agency's Corporate Number Publication Site (Japanese version)

The National Tax Agency publishes the following corporate information (Basic 3 Information) through its web site: 1. Trade name or name, 2. address of head office or principal place of business, and 3. Corporate Number. The following functions are offered in regards to the publication of the Basic 3 Information.

  • Search and Browse Function

    The user is able to search and browse the Basic 3 Information using the Corporate Number, corporation name and address as criteria.

    Also, queries for multiple Corporate Numbers can be executed simultaneously.

    A site for smartphone users is also made available, making the site accessible from not only desktop PCs, but smartphones and tablet PCs.

  • Download Function

    The entire library of Basic 3 Information on corporations is available for downloading in CSV and XML formats.

    In addition to being able to download the entire data set at the end of every month sorted by address (by prefectures and abroad), incremental data by day (newly established and revisions to trade name and address) can also be downloaded.

  • Web-API Function

    An interface for the Basic 3 Information to be directly extracted by an enterprise system and the like is made available to the public.

    In addition to a function to obtain the Basic 3 Information of a specific corporation using its Corporate Number or corporation name, a function to extract the revision history information including the Corporate Numbers designated and changes in the trade name or address during a specified time period is also available.

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English version of the Corporate Number Publication Site

While economic transactions are being internationalized, there are increasing opportunities to use corporation names and addresses in English. In order for Corporate Numbers to be used more widely, the English version of the Corporate Number Publication Site is opened, and trade names or names and the addresses of head offices or principal places of business in English are published upon requests from corporations.

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Benefits of Introducing the Corporate Number

"Find," "Connect" and "Expand" with the Corporate Number.

As benefits of introducing the Corporate Number, improved efficiency of administration, enhanced fairness, reduction in administrative burden on corporations, and creation of new value are anticipated.

Find, Connect, and Expand with the Corporate Number

Through use of the Corporate Number, the following becomes possible.

A corporation's name and address can be found from its Corporate Number.

  • A corporation's name and address can be easily confirmed by using the Corporate Number as a key.
  • Its latest name and address is available, which improves the efficiency in registering and updating the information of business partners.

Companies become connected via their Corporate Numbers.

  • Adding the Corporate Number improves efficiency in compiling information on the said business partners and the name-based aggregation of this information, even though multiple departments or group companies manage the information of business partners by different codes.
  • If administrative agencies are able to exchange among one another information about each corporation using their respective Corporate Number, they can identify a corporation, conduct name-based aggregation, and link information more efficiently.

New services utilizing Corporate Numbers will be expanded.

  • If administrative agencies can provide a one-stop service for administrative procedures such as notifications and applications by sharing information utilizing Corporate Numbers, it will reduce the burden on corporations (companies).
  • If the private sector develops an infrastructure to share information on corporations by utilizing Corporate Numbers, these corporations can improve the efficiency of their clerical work, such as reducing the volume of attached documents for transactions among corporations, and can also provide citizens with useful information on corporations.

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Possible Applications of the Corporate Number

Application of Corporate Number

"Improvement of Operational Efficiency through Aggregation of Transaction Data by Corporate Number"

Here, we introduce an example of an application based on an imaginary case in which multiple departments within the same company manage information on a client, "Corporation A," individually.

Referring to the left hand side of the above image, each department retains information on Corporation A for different purposes, and it is assumed that they each use a different code to manage their information. Here, we assume that the General Affairs department uses the company's former name to manage its data, Accounting attaches the department name, and Sales uses its old address, in which case, should a need arise to collect all information available on "Corporation A," it would be a time-consuming effort since aggregation is based solely on names and addresses.

Taking a look at the right hand side of the above image, if the Corporate Number of "Corporation A," 001, was added to the transaction data managed by each department, improved efficiency would be gained when aggregating all data. Specifically speaking, through addition of the Corporate Number as a common management code among all departments, the following are some of the potential benefits that can be expected.

  • By using the latest name and address information provided by the National Tax Agency, maintenance of name and address data of business partners retained by each department is simplified.
  • If Corporation A is a client, by aggregating all transaction data, it becomes possible to execute a detailed sales approach and the like addressing Corporation A's actual needs.
  • If Corporation A is a supplier, by aggregating all transaction data, cost reduction can be achieved by streamlining all procurement from Corporation A across all departments.

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Registration with the International Standard as an Issuing Agency

Since the Corporate Number can be applied to various uses, government and private sector alike, in the private sector, business partners with company codes assigned individually by each company are now assigned a Corporate Number as a common company code, leading to the following anticipated results.

  • Reduced burden of maintenance of company codes (revision of trade name and address)
  • In electronic information exchange related to dispatch and receipt of orders among companies, reduced burden of translating the counterparty's unique company code to one's own code
  • Through availability of easy-to-obtain common company codes, small to mid-size companies are able to adopt e-commerce transactions, promoting the expansion of e-commerce and improvement in efficiency across the industry.

The National Tax Agency was registered as an agency (hereinafter, "issuing agency") which issues organization (company) codes based on the international standard and regulations set forth by the UN, in order to ensure the absolute uniqueness of the Corporate Number on a global basis to facilitate the following applications.

  1. Use of company codes in intercompany transactions (e-commerce)
  2. Use of company codes as identifiers in automatic recognition medium, such as RFID tags (IC chips using non-contact technology)

Coding System in Application of E-Commerce and RFID Tags (Proposed)

By combining the issuing agency code and Corporate Number (company code), it ensures singleness (uniqueness) of the company code on a global basis.

Issuing Agency Code

(International Standard Portion)

Code Assigned to the National Tax Agency

+

Company Code

(Portion determined by the issuing agency)

13-digit Corporate Number

International Standard Registered as the Issuing Agency

Three standards: (1) UN/EDIFACT Data Element 3055, (2) ISO/IEC 6523-2, and (3) ISO/IEC 15459-2. Details are shown in the table below.

Registered StandardUN/EDIFACT
Data Element 3055
ISO/IEC 6523-2ISO/IEC 15459-2
Outline
  • Managed by the UN
  • Standard on company codes to identify parties participating in exchange of orders through data exchange such as e-commerce
  • Managed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
  • Standard on company codes to identify parties participating in exchange of orders through data exchange such as e-commerce
  • Managed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)
  • Standard for company codes used in part in codes to identify goods, such as merchandise, supply being transported, and cargo
  • In use as identifiers in automated identification media, such as RFID tags
Issuing Agency Code 402Open a new window 0188
(PDF/16.9KB)Open a new window
TAJOpen a new window
  1. (Note 1)UN/EDIFACT(United Nations / Electronic data interchange for administration, commerce and transport)
  2. (Note 2)ISO(International Organization for Standardization)
  3. (Note 3)IEC(International Electrotechnical Commission)

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Frequently Asked Questions about the Corporate Number

The FAQ is published with regard to the Corporate Number and the English version of the Corporate Number Publication Site.

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Applicable Law

Act on the Use of Numbers to Identify a Specific Individual in Administrative Procedures(Japanese Law Translation)Open a new window

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