Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE): the complete guide

Key takeaways

• The Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE) is the central register that identifies every Belgian enterprise and centralises its data for all administrations.
• Each enterprise receives a unique ten-digit enterprise number, which becomes the VAT number preceded by BE when liable.
• A company obtains its number when the deed is filed at the registry, then activates its registration and declares its units of establishment via an approved enterprise counter.
• Any change of data must be declared within the month: office, activities, units of establishment, cessation.
• The Public Search service allows free consultation of the public data of any registered enterprise.

No enterprise can carry out an economic activity in Belgium without appearing in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises (CBE). Created by the law of 16 January 2003 and now governed by the Code of Economic Law, it is managed by the FPS Economy and constitutes the reference register that links each company and each self-employed person to all the public administrations. It is what assigns the enterprise number, that ten-digit number present on every invoice, contract and tax return. This article details its role, the format and use of the enterprise number, the registration procedure, the management of units of establishment, the obligation to update data and the public consultation of the register.

The role of the CBE in the Belgian administrative ecosystem

The CBE fulfils a function of identification and centralisation. Before its creation, a single enterprise had to communicate its data to several administrations that kept them separately, with the inconsistencies that implies. The CBE applies the principle of single collection: a piece of data transmitted once is shared between the public services, which can no longer ask for it again.

Concretely, the register keeps for each entity its identification data: name, legal form, date of incorporation, office address, capacities (enterprise subject to registration, liable for VAT, employer), economic activities coded in NACE nomenclature, and list of units of establishment. This data feeds the FPS Finance, the NSSO, the social insurance funds and the registries of the enterprise courts.

The enterprise number: format and uses

The enterprise number is the unique identifier assigned by the CBE. It has ten digits and starts with a 0 or a 1, the administration having opened the 1 series once the 0 series was close to being exhausted. It is most often written in groups for readability, in the form 0123.456.749. The last two digits constitute a check digit calculated from the first eight, which allows an input error to be detected.

This number accompanies the enterprise throughout its life. It appears mandatorily on invoices, order forms, the website, official documents and commercial correspondence. When an enterprise is liable for VAT, its VAT number takes exactly this enterprise number, preceded by the BE prefix: the number 0123.456.749 gives the VAT number BE0123.456.749.

Registration with the CBE, step by step

The way to obtain an enterprise number depends on the chosen form. A company with legal personality receives its number when its deed of incorporation is filed at the registry of the enterprise court, a step that follows the visit to the notary for forms requiring an authentic deed such as the SRL or the SA. A self-employed natural person, for their part, goes directly to an approved enterprise counter.

In both cases, it is an approved enterprise counter (Securex, Partena, Liantis, Acerta, Xerius and others) that finalises the registration: activation of the capacities, recording of the activities in NACE codes and declaration of the units of establishment. This formality conditions the legal start of the activity.

1. 1

   Incorporation of the company

   Step 1

   Visit to the notary for the authentic deed (SRL, SA), then filing of the deed at the registry of the enterprise court, which assigns the enterprise number.

2. 2

   Activation with an enterprise counter

   Step 2

   The counter activates the registration, records the activities in NACE codes and declares the units of establishment. A self-employed natural person goes directly through this step.

3. 3

   VAT identification

   Step 3

   If the activity is subject to it, request for activation of the VAT number (enterprise number preceded by BE), often via the same counter.

The enterprise counter charges a registration fee per unit of establishment, set by royal decree and indexed every year. This amount is non-negotiable and identical from one counter to another, since it is a regulated tariff. To structure this step without error, our support services cover the incorporation and administrative set-up of the company.

Units of establishment: a distinct number per place of activity

An enterprise is a legal entity; a unit of establishment is a geographical place where it carries out an activity (a shop, a workshop, an office, a warehouse). The distinction is structuring in the CBE: each unit of establishment receives its own number, also ten digits, but currently starting with a 2.

An enterprise always has a single enterprise number, but it may have several units of establishment, each with its own activities and its own address. A company whose office is based at one address and which operates two shops at two other addresses will thus declare one enterprise number and several unit-of-establishment numbers.

	Enterprise number	Unit-of-establishment number
First digit	0 or 1	2
Identifies	the legal entity	a place of activity
Number per enterprise	only one	one or more
Serves as basis for the VAT number
Appears on invoices

The registered office is not necessarily merged with a unit of establishment: a company may have a based office without carrying out a material activity there. This nuance is important in the event of a business address and during a transfer of the registered office, which must be reflected in the CBE.

Updating your data in the CBE

The recorded data must remain accurate. The enterprise is required to declare any change, in principle within the month following the event: relocation of the office, opening or closing of a unit of establishment, addition or removal of an activity, change of name, cessation. Outdated data exposes you to concrete difficulties, from a refusal of payment by a client who cannot find the enterprise to an irregularity during an audit.

Changes to declare to the CBE

• Registered office address

  Any transfer of the office must be recorded, after publication in the Moniteur belge for companies.

• Units of establishment

  Opening, closing or change of address of a place of activity.

• Economic activities

  Addition or removal of a NACE code when the actual activity changes.

• Name or legal form

  Change of trade name, corporate name or form.

• Cessation of activity

  Deregistration of the enterprise or closure of a unit of establishment.

Not all updates are done in the same way. Some data can be modified free of charge online by the enterprise itself via the FPS Economy's My Enterprise application, with a secure connection by electronic identity card or identification app. Other changes go mandatorily through an approved enterprise counter and give rise to a registration fee per unit of establishment concerned.

Launch your company on sound administrative foundations

Monsiegesocial supports the creation and business address of your company in Belgium, from the deed of incorporation to correct registration in the Crossroads Bank for Enterprises.

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Consulting the CBE: the Public Search service

The CBE is not just a closed administrative register: part of its data is public and can be consulted free of charge by all. The CBE Public Search service, accessible on the FPS Economy website, allows you to search for an enterprise by its number, its name or its address, and to display its public data: status (active, in liquidation, deregistered), name, legal form, start date, office address, units of establishment and declared activities.

This tool renders real services every day. Before contracting with a supplier or a client, you check that they are indeed active and that their details match. When creating a company, you check that a contemplated name is not already in use. The data remains factual and drawn from official declarations, which makes it a reliable source, to be distinguished from commercial platforms that resell it enriched.

Going further

• Setting up an SRL in Belgium: steps, costs and timelines, to understand where the assignment of the enterprise number fits into the incorporation
• Accounting obligations of an SRL: complete guide, to link identification with the CBE to the keeping and filing obligations
• Transfer of the registered office in Belgium, to know how to reflect a change of address in the register