Under Section 139a of the German Fiscal Code (AO), there are four main tax numbers:

1. Tax number

2. Tax identification number (Tax ID),

3. VAT identification number (VAT ID),

4. Business identification number

A tax number is assigned to every natural or legal person by the tax office. Natural persons are also issued with a personal tax ID number. All companies that conduct business outside Germany are issued with a VAT ID number. In future, the business identification number is set to replace the tax number for all economically active natural and legal persons.

You will find a detailed explanation of the various tax numbers in the following questions.