ACRA UEN and Bizfile Singapore
How the UEN, Bizfile and ACRA's company registry connect to invoicing — UEN format, mandatory invoice fields and the Peppol 0195:SGUENT scheme.
The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is the statutory body that maintains Singapore's company and business registry under the Companies Act 1967 and the Business Names Registration Act 2014. Every registered entity receives a Unique Entity Number (UEN) — a 9- or 10-character identifier that is the single, government-wide reference for that entity across IRAS, CPF, MOM and Peppol. ACRA's Bizfile portal (bizfile.gov.sg) is where companies are incorporated, annual returns lodged and corporate data made public. For invoicing, the UEN must appear on every tax invoice and is the technical Participant ID on the Peppol network through the 0195:SGUENT scheme, making Bizfile data effectively load-bearing for InvoiceNow.
- UEN: 9 or 10 alphanumeric characters, government-wide entity ID.
- ACRA: maintains the company registry under the Companies Act 1967.
- Bizfile: portal at bizfile.gov.sg for incorporation, filings and APIs.
- Peppol: 0195:SGUENT scheme uses the UEN as Participant Identifier.
How it works
Look up or verify a UEN through Bizfile. The UEN format depends on entity type: 9-digit businesses (NNNNNNNNNX, e.g. sole proprietorships), 9-digit local companies (YYYYNNNNNX), 10-digit Singapore entities such as societies, trade unions and statutory boards (TYYPQNNNNX), or 10-digit foreign entities. The last character is a checksum letter. Bizfile's public 'Find a Business' service lets anyone confirm a UEN against the legal entity name at no cost.
Include the UEN on every tax invoice as required by IRAS. Regulation 11 of the GST (General) Regulations sets out the mandatory tax invoice content: supplier's name, address and GST registration number, an identifying number, the date of issue, the customer's name and address, a description of the goods or services, the GST-exclusive amount, the GST amount and the total. In practice the UEN is the supplier's anchor identifier, alongside the GST registration number (which for most entities is the UEN plus a suffix).
Use the UEN as the Peppol Participant Identifier under scheme 0195:SGUENT. When a Singapore company sends or receives an InvoiceNow message, the EndpointID in the UBL XML reads 0195:SG-UEN where SG-UEN is the UEN (sometimes with a subentity suffix). This is how IMDA's Service Metadata Publisher (SMP) routes messages to the correct Access Point — no separate Peppol ID lookup is required because the UEN IS the address.
Integrate with the Bizfile API for automatic registry lookups. ACRA offers paid APIs through the Bizfile+ developer portal for entity profile lookups, share capital, directors and officers, and company status. Invoicing platforms use these endpoints to pre-fill customer data when a UEN is entered, to verify that the counterparty is still active before sending an invoice and to flag UENs that have been struck off or wound up — reducing bad debt on dissolved entities.
Keep ACRA filings current to keep InvoiceNow working. If an entity is struck off the register for non-filing of annual returns, its UEN becomes inactive on Peppol and InvoiceNow messages to that endpoint will fail. Annual return obligations under section 197 of the Companies Act (local companies) and section 9 of the Business Names Registration Act are therefore not just compliance hygiene — they are operational prerequisites for staying reachable on Singapore's e-invoicing network.
Legal framework
- Companies Act 1967.
- Business Names Registration Act 2014.
- Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority Act 2004.
- GST (General) Regulations — regulation 11 on tax invoice content.
Frequently asked questions
What is a UEN and who issues it?
The UEN (Unique Entity Number) is a government-wide identifier issued at incorporation or registration. Local companies receive it from ACRA, sole proprietorships and partnerships from ACRA via Bizfile, societies from the Registry of Societies, trade unions from the Registrar of Trade Unions, and so on. Once issued, the UEN is the single reference used by IRAS for GST and corporate tax, CPF Board for payroll, MOM for work passes and IMDA for Peppol routing — there is no separate registration per agency.
Is the UEN the same as the GST registration number?
For most companies, yes — the GST registration number is constructed from the UEN. A 10-digit Singapore entity with UEN 199912345A typically has GST registration number 199912345A or 199912345A001 (where 001 is a sub-entity / division reference). However the GST registration number is only present if the entity is GST-registered; non-registered entities have a UEN but no GST number. On invoices, IRAS requires the GST registration number to appear if the supplier is registered, irrespective of the UEN.
Can a foreign company get a UEN?
Yes — foreign entities can register a branch, representative office or subsidiary through Bizfile and receive a UEN in the 'foreign entity' format (starting with 'F' or 'T'). Foreign companies cannot trade in Singapore through their head office only — they must register at least a branch under the Companies Act. For InvoiceNow purposes, only entities with a Singapore UEN can be addressed via the 0195:SGUENT Peppol scheme; head offices abroad use their own country's Peppol scheme (e.g. 0007 for SE, 0184 for DK).
What is the difference between Bizfile and Bizfile+?
Bizfile (bizfile.gov.sg) is the public-facing portal where companies file incorporations, annual returns and changes of particulars. Bizfile+ is the API gateway that ACRA exposes to third-party software vendors, banks and payment-services providers for programmatic access to the registry. Most invoicing platforms use Bizfile+ to validate UENs in real time, fetch entity names and check the active/struck-off status of customers before despatching an InvoiceNow message.
What happens if a customer's UEN is wrong on an invoice?
A typo in the UEN has two effects. First, the InvoiceNow message will not route — Peppol will reject it because the endpoint does not exist or the SMP lookup fails, and your Access Point will return a Message Level Response error. Second, even if you later issue a corrected PDF or paper invoice, IRAS reconciles GST claims against the buyer's UEN — a mismatch can cause the buyer's input GST claim to be denied on F5 reconciliation. Always validate UENs against Bizfile before issuing the invoice; 4invoices does this automatically on customer creation.