Croatia · HR
The Croatian VAT number
Croatia has what most countries do not: one number for everything. The OIB is the tax number, the practical company identifier and — with an HR in front — the VAT number.
Format: HR + 11 digits (the OIB)
Example: HR13579392023 — OIB 13579392023
Issued by: the Tax Administration; the VAT number exists once the entity is in the VAT register.
The format
A Croatian VAT number is always thirteen characters: the country code and eleven digits. Those digits are the OIB, unchanged.
- HRThe country code.
- 1357939202Ten digits of the OIB.
- 3The check digit.
The check digit follows ISO 7064, MOD 11,10 — the same standard Germany uses. The OIB carries no internal meaning: the digits say nothing about the type of entity or its location.
OIB, MBS and MB
The OIB (personal identification number) is assigned by the Tax Administration to every legal and natural person. It was introduced in 2009 precisely to replace a scattering of older numbers, and it succeeded: the same OIB is used with the tax administration, the pension and health funds and the court register.
There is also the MBS, the court register subject number, and the MB, the number from the register of business entities. Both are older and increasingly rare, but they still appear on documents.
The OIB is not the same as the VAT number. Every company has an OIB from incorporation; the VAT identification number only exists once the entity enters the VAT register. The digits are identical, but the HR prefix may only be used after registration.
Finding the company
The court register
Sudski registar is public and free, searchable by OIB, name or MBS. It holds the name, seat, legal form, share capital, authorised representatives and annual financial statements.
Alongside the web interface there is sudreg-data.gov.hr, an official API with OAuth access. Credentials are granted free of charge on request by email, with no company registration required.
The Tax Administration
The Tax Administration publishes the VAT register, which is the only source that confirms an OIB actually carries VAT status.
VIES
Croatia discloses the name and the address. The address arrives as one comma-separated line, and the place name is often repeated — once on its own and once alongside the postcode.
Croatia-specific pitfalls
- The OIB is not the VAT number. The digits match, but the
HRprefix only applies once the entity is in the VAT register. - MBS and MB are not the OIB. They are older, still appear on documents, and the OIB cannot be computed from either.
- The OIB carries no internal meaning — nothing about the entity type or location can be read from the digits.
- The place name is repeated in the address VIES returns.
- The court register API needs OAuth credentials, free though they are.
One API for 27 member states
Vatlas turns a European VAT number into a company record: legal name, national identifier, legal form, status and address. Same call, same shape, for Croatia and for the other twenty-six.
curl "https://api.vatlas.dev/v1/vat/HR13579392023" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VATLAS_KEY"Response:
200 OK
{
"data": {
"vatNumber": "HR13579392023",
"countryCode": "HR",
"nationalNumber": "13579392023",
"nationalId": "13579392023",
"name": "HRVATSKI ŠUMARSKI INSTITUT",
"legalForm": null,
"status": "active",
"address": {
"line1": "CVJETNO NASELJE 41",
"line2": null,
"postalCode": "10450",
"city": "JASTREBARSKO",
"country": "HR"
}
},
"meta": {
"origin": "vies",
"source": "VIES",
"sourceUpdatedAt": "2026-08-28T10:16:39.431Z",
"checked": ["database", "VIES"]
}
}meta.origin says where the answer came from: database for a register imported locally, source for a national API queried live, vies as a last resort. The shape of the response never changes from one country to the next.
Free to try. An email address creates an account — no credit card, no sales call — with 100 requests a month and a working key in about a minute.
Frequently asked
The Croatian VAT number in short
How many digits does a Croatian VAT number have?
Eleven after the HR country code — thirteen characters in total.
Is the OIB the same as the VAT number?
The digits are. The VAT identification number is the OIB with an HR prefix, but it exists only once the entity is in the VAT register.
What are MBS and MB?
Older identifiers from the court register and the register of business entities. The OIB replaced them as the single identifier in 2009.
Why does VIES reject an existing company?
Because it is not in the VAT register. It has an OIB but no VAT status.
Can I search the Croatian court register for free?
Yes, it is public and free, and there is an official API with free OAuth credentials granted on request.
VAT numbers in other countries
Last updated 28 August 2026.