What is a UEN Number in Singapore?

A UEN (Unique Entity Number) is the identification number given to a business or organisation registered in Singapore. It works for entities roughly the way an NRIC or FIN works for individuals, and the same number is used across government agencies.

What a UEN looks like

There are three formats, according to the government's UEN specification:

• Businesses registered with ACRA (sole proprietorships and partnerships): 9 characters, in the form nnnnnnnnX, which is eight digits and a check letter. These are the existing ACRA registration numbers.
• Local companies: 10 characters, in the form yyyynnnnnX. It starts with the year of registration, followed by a five-digit running number and a check letter. For example, 199012345X.
• Other entities: 10 characters, in the form TyyPQnnnnX. The leading T is fixed, yy is the year of issuance, and PQ is a two-character code for the entity type. Entities in this group include limited liability partnerships, foreign companies, societies and representative offices.

So the older claim that the first two digits show the entity type does not hold for every format. Only the "other entities" format has an entity-type code, and it sits in the middle of the number.

Who issues it

The UEN was introduced by the Singapore government so that an entity would have one number across agencies instead of separate registration numbers. For companies and businesses registered with ACRA, the UEN is issued as part of registration. Other agencies issue UENs to entities they register, such as some societies and statutory bodies. Entities already registered keep their number.

Where the UEN is used

• Registration and public records: you can search for an entity by name or UEN on ACRA's Bizfile search.
• Tax: IRAS uses the UEN to identify businesses for corporate income tax and GST.
• Government services and grants: businesses log in to many government services with their UEN, often through CorpPass.
• Banking and payments: banks ask for the UEN when opening a corporate account. A business can also register its UEN as a PayNow proxy to receive PayNow payments.
• Contracts and invoices: companies usually show their UEN on invoices, quotations and websites.

Checking a UEN

To verify that a business is registered, search its UEN or name on the ACRA Bizfile search, or use the UEN checking service on uen.gov.sg. A registered UEN does not tell you whether a company is still trading or is the right firm for a job, so for regulated work also check the relevant licence or registration.

Sources

• Singapore government UEN specification (Annex E, gov.sg)
• ACRA: guides on LP and LLP UENs, and Bizfile search