Romania · RO
The Romanian VAT number
The VAT number is the CUI with RO in front, and ANAF resolves it for free and without an account: a hundred codes per request, and several things VIES does not carry.
Format: RO + 2 to 10 digits (the CUI)
Example: RO14905506, CUI 14905506
Issued by: ANAF, on VAT registration.
The format
A Romanian VAT number carries between 2 and 10 digits after the prefix. The variable length surprises people, but it is correct: companies registered early have very short CUIs, and those remain valid.
- ROThe country code.
- 1490550The identifying part, of variable length.
- 6The check digit.
The check digit uses the weights 7, 5, 3, 2, 1, 7, 5, 3, 2, right-aligned. A code such as RO1154 is perfectly valid: a validator that insists on a minimum of eight digits rejects real companies.
CUI, CIF and the trade register number
The CUI (unique registration code) is assigned by ANAF to every company at incorporation. CIF is the same thing under an older name that is still widely used.
The VAT number is the CUI with RO in front, but the prefix only appears if the company is actually VAT registered. That is the essential distinction: a non-VAT-registered company has a CUI and no prefix. Its documents show 14905506, not RO14905506.
Separately there is the trade register number, in the form J12/1234/2005, county, sequence, year. Nothing computable links it to the CUI.
Finding the company
The ANAF API
ANAF runs a public service that is free and unauthenticated: give it a CUI and it returns the company name, the seat address in separate fields, the company status and the VAT registration periods. It accepts up to 100 codes in one request, rate-limited to one request per second.
What it returns goes well past validity: whether the company is fiscally inactive, whether it applies cash-accounting VAT, and the exact periods for which it was VAT registered.
The trade register
ONRC offers online search, but detailed information is supplied for a fee. It is searched by name or by CUI.
VIES
Romania discloses the name and the address. The address arrives on one line, starts with the locality type (MUN., ORȘ., COM.) and carries the postcode in the middle, between the locality and the street, an unusual ordering.
Romania-specific pitfalls
- The length varies.
RO1154is valid; a validator demanding eight digits rejects real companies. - No
ROprefix means not VAT registered. The CUI exists, but the company is not registered for VAT. - Fiscally inactive companies are flagged as such by ANAF, and VIES says nothing about it.
- Cash-accounting VAT changes when the tax becomes chargeable for the counterparty, information only ANAF provides.
- The postcode sits in the middle of the address, between the locality and the street.
One API, one response shape
Vatlas turns a business tax number into a company record: legal name, national identifier, legal form, status and address. Romania: the same call and the same response as for every other country covered.
curl "https://api.vatlas.dev/v1/lookup/RO1154" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $VATLAS_KEY"Response:
200 OK
{
"data": {
"vatNumber": "RO1154",
"countryCode": "RO",
"nationalNumber": "1154",
"nationalId": "J23/986/2002",
"name": "INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE- DEZVOLTARE PENTRU MICROTEHNOLOGIE - IMT BUCURESTI INCD",
"legalForm": "ALTE FORME JURIDICE",
"status": "active",
"address": {
"line1": "STR. EROU IANCU NICOLAE nr. 126A",
"line2": "",
"postalCode": null,
"city": "Sat Voluntari Orş. Voluntari",
"country": "RO"
}
},
"meta": {
"source": "ANAF",
"sourceDate": "2026-09-15",
"sourceSince": "2026-09-15",
"sourceUpdatedAt": "1992-12-10T00:00:00.000Z"
}
}meta.source names the register that answered (SIRENE, ARES, VIES…) and meta.sourceDate the day it said so: the publication date of the file for a register we import, the day of the call for one we query live. The shape of the response never changes from one country to the next.
Try it on your own numbers. An email address is all it takes to create an account, with 100 requests a month and a working key in about a minute.
Frequently asked
The Romanian VAT number in short
How many digits does a Romanian VAT number have?
Between 2 and 10 after the RO prefix. Companies registered early have very short codes, and they remain valid.
What is the difference between the CUI and the VAT number?
The CUI is assigned to every company at incorporation. The VAT number is that same CUI with RO in front, and it exists only if the company is VAT registered.
What does it mean when a company has no RO prefix?
That it is not VAT registered. It has a CUI and trades lawfully, but cannot charge VAT and does not appear in VIES.
What is cash-accounting VAT?
A regime in which VAT becomes chargeable when the invoice is paid rather than when it is issued. ANAF publishes this; VIES does not.
How do I check a Romanian company for free?
Through the public ANAF service, which takes a CUI and returns the name, seat, status and VAT registration periods, with no account and no cost.
VAT numbers in other countries
Last updated 28 August 2026.