The introduction of „Wirtschafts -ID Nummer (W-IdNr.)“ in Germany

German taxpayers are already familiar with the so-called „Steuernummer” and “Ust-IdNr” which are used for identification purposes. “Wirtschafts-ID nummer” (i.e. Value Added Tax) is a novelty: it is defined as an economic identification number in the private sector for the economically active persons, such as: a. Natural persons who are economically active (retailers, sole traders, freelancers); b. Legal persons, c. Associations of persons

Sole traders and freelancers will receive W-IdNr. in addition to their IdNo., so that the operational area is clearly and unambiguously separated from the private sphere.

The idea is that the Federal Central Tax Office in Germany will assign each taxpayer with another unique identifier and that each economically active person will have one ID number for all types of taxes.

W-IdNr. will consist of the letter sequence DE and will be followed by 9 unique digits. This unique ID number is still not issued to the German taxpayers. German Federal Central Tax Office will inform its taxpayers in a timelly manner about the obligatory assignment of the W-IdNr.