Romanian company numbers explained: CUI, VAT, J number

Every Romanian company drags three identifiers around, and foreign paperwork mixes them up constantly. Getting them straight takes five minutes and saves real money, because two of the three are the keys to every public register in the country.

CUI: the tax identification number

The CUI (codul unic de înregistrare) is the unique tax ID, a number of two to ten digits assigned at registration and kept for life. It appears on every invoice and contract, and it is the number you type into ANAF's systems, the financial-statements database and our instant check. If you have exactly one piece of information about a Romanian company, make it the CUI. It never changes, not even when the company renames itself, which Romanian companies do more often than you might think.

The VAT number: RO + CUI, but only sometimes

Romania does not issue a separate VAT number. When a company registers for VAT, its VAT identification becomes the letters RO in front of the CUI, and that is what validates in the EU's VIES system. The trap: not every company is VAT-registered, and ANAF cancels VAT codes for inactivity and non-compliance. An invoice showing "RO12345678" from a company whose VAT registration was cancelled is a real and common problem, with the deduction risk falling on you. Same digits, different legal meaning, so always check the current VAT status rather than trusting the letterhead; the free one-minute method is in verifying a Romanian VAT number.

The J number: the Trade Register identity

The number that looks like J40/1234/2015 is the Trade Register number: J for companies, then the county code (40 is Bucharest), a sequence number and the year of registration. Sole traders and family enterprises get F numbers instead, which matters because F-numbered entities have no UBO register entry and a different document set. The J number also anchors the European Unique Identifier (EUID), which is simply ROONRC. followed by the J number, the form in which Romanian companies appear in the EU business registers interconnection system. You will find the J number on the Trade Register certificate, paired with everything else the register holds.

Validating and looking up

The CUI carries a checksum, so a mistyped digit usually produces an outright invalid number, which is why our order forms reject bad CUIs before payment. A valid checksum does not prove the company exists, only registration data does. From a CUI you can reach everything: the registration data via the Trade Register certificate, the financial statements, the insolvency bulletin and the tax debt records. Working backwards from just a company name is weaker, because names repeat and change; the registers themselves resolve names to CUIs, and so does the free layer described in checking a Romanian company for free.

One number, one minute

If what you actually want is the verdict rather than the numerology, the instant check takes the CUI and returns a report in about a minute: registration status, VAT standing, five years of financials, court and insolvency signals, with a 0-100 score. It is 39 RON, about €8, and it is the step-zero we recommend in the due-diligence checklist before any money moves.

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