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Spotlight PEPPOL BIS Billing 3.0 The EU e-invoicing mandate is here — France Sept 2026, Belgium Jan 2026, Germany 2025.

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Foundations

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Standards

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Flagship messages

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Tools

Identifiers — TIC, CY VAT number, Registrar of Companies (HE)

A Cypriot company lives with several distinct identifiers, and confusing them is the leading source of error on an electronic invoice. The TIC (Tax Identification Code) is its fiscal identity; the VAT number (CY + 8 digits + 1 letter) is for VAT operations and e-invoice routing; the Registrar of Companies number (HE prefix) attests its legal existence. Think of them as a passport (HE), a taxpayer number (TIC) and a VAT number — three pieces of ID, three uses.

History — DRCIP, Tax Department, VAT register

The Cypriot Registrar of Companies, inherited from British law (Companies Law Cap. 113, modelled on the UK Companies Act), has registered companies since the colonial era. It is today carried by DRCIP (Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property). The Tax Department, formed in 2014 from the Inland Revenue + VAT service merger, handles the TIC and the VAT register. This duality explains why a company has a "registry" number (HE) and a "tax" number (TIC / VAT).

Governance — who issues what

text cyprus-identifiers.txt 
Identifier           | Format            | Issuer            | Role
---------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-------------------------
TIC (Tax ID Code)    | 8 digits + letter | Tax Department    | Fiscal identity (taxes)
VAT number           | CY + 8 digits + L | Tax Department    | VAT, VIES, intra-EU
Registrar (HE)       | HE + 6-9 digits   | DRCIP (Registrar) | Legal existence of company
ICD 9933 (PEPPOL)    | = CY VAT number   | OpenPEPPOL        | E-invoice routing address

The HE number is assigned at company incorporation by DRCIP; the TIC and VAT number are assigned by the Tax Department at fiscal and VAT registration (the latter only above the EUR 15,600 threshold or by option). A company not registered for VAT has an HE and a TIC, but no VAT number.

The four identifiers in detail

  • TIC — Tax Identification Code. General fiscal identity (corporate income tax, withholding, etc.). Form: 8 digits followed by a check letter. It is the taxpayer's pivot identifier at the Tax Department.
  • VAT number. Country prefix CY + 8 digits + 1 trailing letter. Used for VAT collection, intra-EU reporting and VIES validation. This is the number that serves as the PEPPOL address.
  • Registrar number (HE). Prefix HE (from Ημεδαπή Εταιρεία, "domestic company") + sequential digits. Attests legal existence and appears on all official documents.
  • ICD 9933. PEPPOL identification code for Cyprus: it declares that the identifier that follows is a Cypriot VAT number.

Which goes where on the invoice

xml cyprus-party-identifiers.xml 
<!-- Cypriot seller: the three identifiers coexist -->
<cac:Party>
  <!-- PEPPOL routing address = VAT number under scheme 9933 -->
  <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="9933">CY10123456X</cbc:EndpointID>

  <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    <cbc:CompanyID>CY10123456X</cbc:CompanyID>   <!-- VAT number -->
    <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
  </cac:PartyTaxScheme>

  <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
    <cbc:RegistrationName>Limassol Trading Ltd</cbc:RegistrationName>
    <cbc:CompanyID>HE123456</cbc:CompanyID>     <!-- Registrar of Companies number -->
  </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
</cac:Party>

ICD 9933 and PEPPOL routing

  • Address = VAT. PEPPOL routing of an invoice to a Cypriot receiver uses its VAT number declared under ICD 9933 in the SMP (Service Metadata Publisher).
  • SML discovery. The PEPPOL network resolves 9933:CY10987654Y via the SML to find the recipient's access point — hence the importance of an exact number, letter included.
  • VIES. Before any intra-EU reverse-charge invoice, the customer's VAT number must be validated in VIES — an HE number is not recognised there.

Common pitfalls

  • Using the HE as PEPPOL address. PEPPOL routing only accepts the VAT number under ICD 9933. An endpoint HE123456 cannot be found in the SML.
  • Dropping the VAT number's trailing letter. CY10123456 without the letter fails VIES validation and routing.
  • Confusing TIC and VAT number. The TIC (8 digits + letter, no CY prefix) is not a VAT number and is not VIES-checkable.
  • Treating a non-taxable company as taxable. A small company below the EUR 15,600 threshold has no VAT number: inventing one breaks the whole chain.