Every company in Taiwan is known by an 8-digit unified business number, shared by the company registration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the tax registration of the Ministry of Finance. Here: how the number works, what the two sources add, which entities are covered and what an API can serve.
The unified business number (統一編號, UBN, often 統編) is an 8-digit number that identifies a company in the commercial register kept by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (Department of Commerce, through the GCIS open data platform) and in the business tax registration of the Ministry of Finance (Fiscal Information Agency). Examples: 22099131 for TSMC, 20828393 for Acer, 04541302 for Hon Hai Precision and 22555003 for President Chain Store (7-Eleven Taiwan).
Leading zeros belong to the number: 04541302 is eight digits, and a seven-digit value is padded with one zero. The same number identifies a company, a sole proprietorship and every other taxpayer, so a Taiwanese number is not proof that a company exists; the lookup is.
22099131. Store this, with its zeros.A UBN has 8 digits. A TW prefix and full-width digits are read, and seven digits are padded with a leading zero. The last digit is a check digit with the weights 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 4, 1 (each product is split into its tens and units and the digits are added), but the rule changed in 2023 and 2024 and a few old dissolved numbers fail both versions, so the check is advisory: the shape is the gate, and a number that fails the check is looked up anyway and shown with a warning.
The identifier validator and the UBN lookup run the check in the browser before any call.
active for 核准設立, in_dissolution for 解散, reorganisation (重整), bankruptcy (破產) and deregistered for a revoked or cancelled registration (撤銷, 廢止). The register's own wording is kept in local_status.region comes from the tax file.activity_code, scheme TW-TAX-SIC), with secondary codes. It is not a NACE code and is not mapped to one.Company records from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (GCIS company registration) and the Ministry of Finance (business tax registration): legal name in Chinese, legal form, status, registered address with the county or city, capital, founding date, the tax industry code and the unified business number. Limited companies, companies limited by shares, unlimited companies, limited partnership companies and Taiwan branches of foreign companies are served; sole proprietorships and partnerships (business registrations), domestic branches, cooperatives, associations and representative offices are never served. Names and addresses are in Chinese, and there are no English names. Status includes dissolution, reorganisation, bankruptcy and revoked or cancelled registrations (deregistered). The activity code is the Ministry of Finance tax industry code, which is not mapped to NACE. No officers: the responsible person is not served. No registry-compliance signal and no insolvency notices. Register-change events (name, status, legal form and address changes, dated when first seen in the register data, none before the first load in October 2026) and company monitoring are available.
In short: from a UBN, a VAT number or a Chinese name you get the company, its form, status, capital and registered office, and whether the tax authority also lists it. Directors and the responsible person are not served. Updated daily.
The same call as for every other country, with country=TW:
The free UBN lookup makes the same call without a key, and Taiwan company data API describes the response.
What is the Taiwan unified business number?
An 8-digit number (統一編號) that identifies a company in the company registration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and in the business tax registration of the Ministry of Finance, for example 22099131 for TSMC. Leading zeros are part of it.
Is the unified business number the VAT number?
For a company that is in the Ministry of Finance tax file, yes: Prometiam gives the number as the VAT number and a vat search takes it. For a company that is not in the file the VAT number is null.
Is the check digit enforced?
No. The rule changed in 2023 and 2024 and a few old dissolved numbers fail it, so a failed check is a warning and the number is still looked up. The shape, 8 digits, is the gate.
Can I search in English?
No. Names and addresses are in Traditional Chinese and the register publishes no English name. A search treats 臺 and 台 as the same character.
Which entities are included?
Limited companies, companies limited by shares, unlimited companies, limited partnership companies and Taiwan branches of foreign companies. Sole proprietorships and partnerships, domestic branches, cooperatives, associations and representative offices are never served.
Which activity code do Taiwanese records carry?
The Ministry of Finance tax industry code (six digits), with scheme TW-TAX-SIC. It is not mapped to NACE.
Does it include officers or insolvency notices?
No. The Taiwanese record is company-level, the responsible person is not served and Taiwan is not one of the twelve insolvency markets. Dissolution, reorganisation and bankruptcy show in the status.
How fresh is it?
The registers are read daily.
Does it have register-change events and monitoring?
Yes. Register-change events (name, status, legal form and address changes, dated when first seen in the register data, none before the first load in October 2026) and company monitoring are available.
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Official sources: GCIS open data platform · Fiscal Information Agency, Ministry of Finance · Open Government Data License v1.0.
Contains data from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of Commerce (GCIS open data platform) and the Ministry of Finance, Fiscal Information Agency (business tax registration data), Republic of China (Taiwan), released under the Open Government Data License v1.0 (https://data.gov.tw/license). Adapted by Prometiam, not a certified register extract.
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Ministry of Economic Affairs, Department of Commerce | Keeps the company registration. The source of the name, legal form, status, capital, founding date, registered address and registration authority. |
| GCIS open data platform | The ministry's data platform (商工行政資料開放平臺) through which the company registration is published for reuse. |
| Ministry of Finance, Fiscal Information Agency | Publishes the nationwide business tax registration file. The source of the tax industry code, the VAT status and the county or city. |
| Unified business number (統一編號) | The 8-digit key, for example 22099131. Store this, with its zeros. |
| Credit line | Taiwanese records carry the Open Government Data License v1.0 credit shown at the foot of this page. |
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Name | The registered name in Traditional Chinese. There are no English names; 臺 and 台 are treated as the same character in a search. |
| Legal form | 有限公司 (limited company), 股份有限公司 (company limited by shares), 無限公司, 兩合公司 and the Taiwan branch of a foreign company (外國公司在台分公司). |
| Status | active for 核准設立, in_dissolution for 解散, reorganisation (重整), bankruptcy (破產) and deregistered for a revoked or cancelled registration (撤銷, 廢止). The register's own wording is kept in local_status. |
| Capital and dates | Authorised capital and paid-in capital in TWD, the founding date and the date of the last registered change. |
| Address | The registered address in Chinese; the county or city in region comes from the tax file. |
| Activity | The Ministry of Finance tax industry code, six digits (activity_code, scheme TW-TAX-SIC), with secondary codes. It is not a NACE code and is not mapped to one. |
| VAT number | The unified business number itself, for a company that is in the tax file; null otherwise. |