Matricule, RCSL and company identifiers

For an electronic invoice to reach the right recipient and attach to the right company, you need reliable identifiers. In Luxembourg a company carries several, each with its role: the matricule (its national "ID card"), the RCSL number (its trade-register registration), the VAT number (for the tax authority), and the ICD 0240 code (its routing address on the PEPPOL network). Knowing which goes where avoids most delivery errors.

History — from matricule to PEPPOL routing

The Luxembourg matricule is a long-standing national identification number, shared across the tax administration, social security and registers. Originally purely administrative, it became, with the arrival of B2G electronic invoicing, a routing identifier: it is what PEPPOL uses to address an invoice to a Luxembourg public or private entity.

PEPPOL requires an ICD (Issuing agency identification Code) to qualify each identifier. Luxembourg was assigned code 0240 for its matricule, alongside Belgium's 0208 (CBE number) or France's 0009 (SIRET). This code makes the matricule globally unique on the network.

The four identifiers of a Luxembourg company

  Matricule (national identification number)
    Legal person   : 11 digits   YYYY MM DD NNN  (e.g. 2026 24 12 345)
    Natural person : 13 digits   YYYYMMDD + 5 digits
    Assigned via the CTIE / Joint Social Security Centre.

  RCSL number
    Format: letter + digits   e.g. B 123456
    B = companies (SA, Sarl...), other letters = other forms.
    Held by the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register.

  VAT number
    Format: LU + 8 digits      e.g. LU12345678
    Assigned and managed by the AED, used in intra-EU VIES.

  PEPPOL ICD code
    0240 = "National Business Identifiers (LU matricule)"
    Used as schemeID in EndpointID to route the invoice.

Governance — RCSL, AED, CTIE

Three players share the identifiers. The RCSL (Trade and Companies Register, operated by the GIE Luxembourg Business Registers) registers companies and assigns the RCSL number. The AED manages the VAT number. The CTIE and the Joint Social Security Centre are involved in assigning and managing the matricule, and the CTIE operates the PEPPOL routing based on that matricule.

Identifier structure

A legal person's matricule has 11 digits and encodes the date of incorporation (YYYY MM DD) followed by a sequence number. A natural person's matricule has 13 digits and encodes the date of birth plus a suffix with a check digit. The RCSL prefixes the legal form with a letter (B for commercial companies). The VAT number is strictly LU + 8 digits.

<!-- PEPPOL routing: the matricule via ICD 0240 -->
<cac:AccountingCustomerParty>
  <cac:Party>
    <cbc:EndpointID schemeID="0240">20262412345</cbc:EndpointID>
    <cac:PartyTaxScheme>
      <cbc:CompanyID>LU12345678</cbc:CompanyID>   <!-- VAT number -->
      <cac:TaxScheme><cbc:ID>VAT</cbc:ID></cac:TaxScheme>
    </cac:PartyTaxScheme>
    <cac:PartyLegalEntity>
      <cbc:RegistrationName>Atelier Mecanique Sarl</cbc:RegistrationName>
      <cbc:CompanyID schemeID="0240">B123456</cbc:CompanyID> <!-- RCSL -->
    </cac:PartyLegalEntity>
  </cac:Party>
</cac:AccountingCustomerParty>

Which identifier for which use

Use in PEPPOL BIS 3.0

• The matricule is the address. To deliver an invoice to the Luxembourg state, the sender puts the matricule in EndpointID with schemeID="0240".
• The RCSL is the identity. It proves the entity's legal existence in the companies register.
• VAT is mandatory whenever there is taxation: the LU + 8 feeds the intra-EU VIES check.
• ICD 0240 recognised by OpenPEPPOL — listed in the PEPPOL Code List for Party Identifiers, guaranteeing global uniqueness.

Common pitfalls

• Putting the VAT number in EndpointID. Luxembourg routing uses the matricule (0240), not the VAT number — otherwise the invoice is not delivered.
• Confusing legal-person and natural-person matricule. 11 vs 13 digits: a sole trader (natural person) has a 13-digit matricule, not to be truncated.
• Dropping the RCSL letter. "123456" without the "B" is not a valid RCSL number.
• Reusing a foreign ICD. 0240 is specific to Luxembourg; sending an LU matricule with a Belgian ICD (0208) is a routing inconsistency.

Cross-links

• Luxembourg hub — full view
• B2G PEPPOL — act of 13 December 2021
• The pure-PEPPOL model
• VAT regimes
• CTIE — multilingual eGovernment
• RCSL — Luxembourg Business Registers
• OpenPEPPOL — Code Lists (ICD)