What is the KBO (the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises)?

The Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen in Dutch, Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises in French, KBO/BCE) is the Belgian register of enterprises, kept by the FPS Economy, and it is where the Belgian company records Prometiam serves come from. Every legal entity in it carries an enterprise number: ten digits written 4-3-3, such as 0417.497.106 for Anheuser-Busch InBev. The Belgian VAT number is BE plus the same ten digits.

The enterprise number

The enterprise number (ondernemingsnummer, numéro d’entreprise) is ten digits, written 0NNN.NNN.NNN, and it starts with 0 or 1. The last two digits are check digits: 97 minus the first eight digits modulo 97. For 0417.497.106 the first eight digits, 04174971, leave 91 when divided by 97, and 97 minus 91 is 06. A typo is therefore caught offline, before it costs an API call. The dots and spaces are optional. The EU VAT number of a Belgian company is BE plus the ten digits: 0417.497.106 becomes BE0417497106.

Legal forms and status

The legal form is the KBO legal-form code with its label, for example 014 for the NV/SA, 610 for the BV/SRL and 017 for the VZW/ASBL. The status is one of active, in_dissolution, in_liquidation, in_restructuring, bankrupt, merged or deregistered, so a company in dissolution, liquidation, restructuring or bankruptcy is not served as plain active.

Names, address and activity code

The legal name is the official name, in Dutch, French or German as registered. The address is the registered seat. The activity code is the main activity in NACE-BEL 2025, which corresponds to NACE Rev. 2.1, and it is served where the register publishes one. A record also carries the start date.

What Prometiam serves for Belgium

Company records from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE): legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code and dates; no officers, no corporate-event stream, no monitoring, no registry-compliance signal and no insolvency notices, and enterprises of natural persons (eenmanszaak / entreprise individuelle) are never served. Belgium is updated daily.

Querying Belgian companies

GET /companies/search?company_number=0417.497.106&country=BE returns the record, and vat=BE0417497106 reaches it through its VAT number. The free enterprise number lookup runs the same call without a key.

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Official sources: KBO Public Search · FPS Economy. Contains data from the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (KBO/BCE), FPS Economy; see data_as_of for the date of the update

Who supplies what

NameWhat it is
KBO / BCEThe Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, in Dutch Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen and in French Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises. Its record is the source of the legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code and dates.
FPS EconomyThe Federal Public Service Economy, which keeps the register. Reuse of its data names the source and the date of the update, and the API reports that date as data_as_of.
Enterprise numberThe ten-digit number of a legal entity, written 0NNN.NNN.NNN, for example 0417.497.106. The key you store for the register record.
VAT numberBE plus the ten digits of the enterprise number, for an entity that is VAT-registered.

What a Belgian record holds

FieldNotes
Legal nameThe official name, in Dutch, French or German as registered.
Legal formThe KBO legal-form code with its label: for example 014 for the NV/SA (public limited company), 610 for the BV/SRL (private limited company) and 017 for the VZW/ASBL (non-profit association). legal_form holds the code and legal_form_full the label.
StatusOne of active, in_dissolution, in_liquidation, in_restructuring, bankrupt, merged or deregistered. A company in dissolution, liquidation, restructuring or bankruptcy shows as its own status, so it is not served as plain active.
Registered addressThe address of the registered seat: street, postal code and city.
Activity codeThe main activity in NACE-BEL 2025, which corresponds to NACE Rev. 2.1. Served where the register publishes one.
Start dateThe start date of the entity.

Frequently asked questions

What is the KBO?
The KBO (Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen, in French the BCE, Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises) is the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises, the Belgian register of enterprises kept by the FPS Economy. It is the source of the Belgian company records Prometiam serves: legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code and dates.
What is a Belgian enterprise number?
The ondernemingsnummer, or numéro d'entreprise, is ten digits written 0NNN.NNN.NNN, for example 0417.497.106. It starts with 0 or 1, and its last two digits are check digits: 97 minus the first eight digits modulo 97.
What is the difference between the enterprise number and the VAT number?
The Belgian VAT number is BE plus the same ten digits as the enterprise number, for an entity that is VAT-registered. Whether a VAT number is registered and active is a separate question that only VIES answers.
Does Prometiam serve Belgian directors or company events?
No. Belgian records are company-level: legal name, legal form, status, registered address, activity code and dates. There are no officers, no corporate-event stream, no monitoring and no registry-compliance signal for Belgium.
Does Prometiam have Belgian insolvency notices?
No. Belgium is not one of the nine insolvency markets (FR, DE, GB, AT, CH, NO, FI, US, NL), and insolvency notices are corporate only. A bankruptcy, a liquidation or a restructuring appears in the company's status.
Are Belgian sole traders included?
No. Enterprises of natural persons (eenmanszaak / entreprise individuelle) are never served, so searching for one returns nothing even though the business exists.