Glossary Term

Enterprise Number (Belgium)

The KBO/BCE enterprise number is a unique 10-digit identifier assigned to every business entity registered in Belgium, used as the primary business identifier in Belgian e-invoicing.

Quick Facts

Format
10 digits
Country
Belgium
Issued by
Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen
Peppol Scheme
0208

Definition

The KBO/BCE number (Kruispuntbank van Ondernemingen / Banque-Carrefour des Entreprises) is Belgium's official business registration number. Every legal entity, association, and branch registered in Belgium receives a unique 10-digit number starting with 0 or 1.

Since Belgium's B2B e-invoicing mandate (January 1, 2026), the KBO/BCE number is the primary identifier for businesses on the Peppol network. It maps to Peppol scheme ID 0208.

Format

10 digits, typically displayed with dots: 0XXX.XXX.XXX. In e-invoices, dots are omitted — just the raw digits.

In Peppol E-Invoices

The KBO/BCE number identifies both the sender and receiver:

0123456789

Important: use the enterprise number (10 digits), not the VAT number (which adds 'BE' prefix + different format). They refer to the same entity but are formatted differently.

Common Errors

Wrong identifier used — the Belgian VAT number (BE + 10 digits) is not the same as the KBO/BCE number, even though they share digits. Using scheme ID 9925 (Belgian VAT) instead of 0208 (KBO/BCE) is a frequent integration mistake.

Incorrect length — the number must be exactly 10 digits. Leading zeros matter.

XML Examples

UBL (Peppol, XRechnung)

<cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0208">0123456789</cbc:EndpointID>

CII (ZUGFeRD, Factur-X)

<ram:URIID schemeID="0208">0123456789</ram:URIID>