What is Unique Entity Number(UEN) in Singapore?
When you successfully incorporate a company with ACRA, the agency sends an email to you. The email contains your company Incorporation Certificate and company details like UEN (Unique Entity Number).
As you can guess it, UEN uniquely identifies your Singapore company. It is important information for the investors who may want to invest in your company’s shares or for the lenders who may have asked for a loan for business expansion. You do not want them to confuse your company with some other company. Right?
How does UEN benefit me?
Singapore government is high on digitalisation. It has made many e-portals available for its citizens and companies to save time and efforts. If your company wants to interact with government authorities, you do it using these e-portals. UEN facilitates your online interaction with agencies.
UEN helps government agencies to identify you and facilitate the filing of your annual returns, corporate tax returns, or approving import and export permit for your company. If you have UEN, you do not need to use different numbers.
Different ID Numbers?
Today, business entities interact with agencies using multiple numbers issued to them by different agencies like ACRA, IRAS, CPFB, etc. You may be familiar with the following list:
- Business registration number
- Central registration number
- Employer reference number
- Tax reference number
Now, you get to initiate all the transactions with the government agencies with UEN.
Who will get UEN?
You will be issued with UEN, if your business, company, LLP, society and representative office,
- has multiple interactions with government agencies
- is recognised by a UEN Issuance Agency (e.g. ACRA, ROS)
Who will not get UEN:
- Individuals have their NRIC numbers to initiate interaction with government agencies
- Business entities that rarely transact with agencies
- Sub-entities like Branch offices and divisions of an entity
Who will issue UEN to me?
ACRA registered businesses and companies will retain their ACRA Registration Number as their UEN. Other registered entities will get a new UEN.
There are three UEN formats that you may encounter. They are listed in the table below:
|
| Issued To | UEN Format | Description |
| A | Businesses registered with ACRA1 | nnnnnnnnX | ‘n’ = a number For example, the UEN for a limited liability partnership (LLP) formed on 1 January 2009 could be ‘T09LL0001B’. |
| B | Local companies registered with ACRA1 | yyyynnnnnX | |
| C | All other entities which will be issued new UEN | TyyPQnnnnX |
1. No change from existing ACRA Registration Number
2. E.g. ‘LL’= ‘Limited Liability Partnership’
3.’T’ represents ’20’, ‘S’ represents ’19’ and ‘R’ represents ’18’. E.g. T08 means year 2008, S99 means year 1999 and R00 means year 1800
Source: https://www.uen.gov.sg/
Depending on your entity type, you need to check with the agencies listed in the table for your UEN.
| Issuance Agency | Entity-Type | Entity-Type Indicator (PQ) * |
| Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) | Limited Partnership | LP |
| Enterprise Singapore (ESG) | Representative Offices of: – Foreign Companies, | RF |
| Islamic Religious Council of Singapore | Mosques | MQ |
| Ministry of Communications and Information (MCI) | News Bureaus | NB |
| Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth – Charities Unit | Charities and Institutions of a Public Character | CC |
| Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth – Registry of Co-operative Societies | Cooperative Societies | CS |
| Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth – Registry of Mutual Benefit Organisation | Mutual Benefit Organisations | MB |
| Ministry of Defence (Mindef) | Foreign Military Units | FM |
| Ministry of Education (MOE) | Government and Government-Aided Schools | GS |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) | High Commissions, Embassies | DP |
| Ministry of Health (MOH) | Healthcare Institutions and Clinics – Only Medical Clinic |
|
| Ministry of Law (MLAW) | Foreign Law Practice Representative Offices | RP |
| Ministry of Manpower (MOM) | Trade Unions | TU |
| Ministry of National Development (MND) | Town Councils | TC |
| Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) | Financial Representative Offices – Bank Representative Offices | FB |
| People’s Association (PA) | PA Services | PA |
| Registry of Societies (ROS) | Societies | SS |
| Singapore Land Authority ( SLA) | Management Corporations | MC |
| Smart Nation and Digital Government Office (SNDGO) | Government Agencies and bodies performing public duties – Organs of State, Ministries and Departments | GA |
* The UEN format has an entity-type indicator(PQ) built into the identification number. For example, “LL” = “LimitedLiability Partnership”.
Source: https://www.uen.gov.sg/
To reiterate, UEN (Unique Entity Number) is the standard identification number for your company. It is intended to streamline your interaction with government agencies in Singapore.
