Company number
The company number is an eight-digit number that is continuously assigned in Germany by the company number service of the Federal Employment Agency . It is used to identify employers in social security and is used in numerous other business processes of the social security agencies. The official employment statistics are also compiled on the basis of the reports from employers to the health insurance companies in accordance with the Data Collection and Transfer Ordinance (DEUEV), which must contain the company number. The local employment structure contained therein - in addition to the economic classification - is u. a. used to distribute the municipal share of sales tax. In this respect, a correct company number is worth money for the municipalities.
Application
The company number can be requested by the employer himself or by a person authorized to represent. Often this is the employer's tax advisor. The issuing of company numbers and the collection of the company data required in this context has been carried out nationwide by the company number service of the Federal Employment Agency in Saarbrücken since January 1, 2008 .
Since January 1, 2017, there has been a legal obligation to apply for the company number electronically. An online application is available for this on the website of the company number service.
Definitions of terms and principles
“Employer” is any natural or legal person for whom at least one person subject to social insurance or marginal employment is employed. The term “company” encompasses all of the business premises and workplaces of the same employer. One of the branches acts as the company's headquarters. “Company” in the sense of the notification procedure is a regionally and economically delimited unit in which employees are active. The operation can consist of one or more branches of a company. Establishment is always the unit for which an establishment number is to be assigned in accordance with the principles of establishment number allocation.
These principles are as follows:
- If the company only has one branch or if the company has only one branch in a municipality, this branch is the company and receives a BBNR.
- If there are several branches of the same company in a municipality, these only represent one company if they are assigned to the same economic class and not each one represents a separate legal entity. The 2nd and possibly further branch (s) of the same economic class is / are then the work place (s) assigned to this one permanent establishment, for which no separate, additional company number (s) can be assigned.
- If the individual branches in a municipality belong to different economic classes, each of these branches is to be treated as a company and receives a BBNR.
- In principle, the BA's establishment number service issues the BBNR on a company-specific basis and not on a person-group basis. H. Additional company numbers to differentiate between individual employment groups in a company are i. d. Usually neither necessary nor useful.
scope
According to Section 28a Paragraph 3 No. 6 SGB IV in conjunction with Article 1 Paragraph 5 Paragraph 5 of the Ordinance on the Collection and Transmission of Data for the Social Insurance Institutions (Data Collection and Transmission Ordinance - DEÜV ) a company number. If a company has several branches at the same location, one company number is sufficient in accordance with the above principles if the branch belongs to the same branch of industry . He can then register all employees for social security under this number. However, if the employee is employed in a different location - or in the same location, but in a different branch of the economy - a separate establishment number is required because the employment statistics would otherwise be distorted. If the data stored for the establishment number change, e.g. B. because the company is moving or the focus of the company's economic activity changes and it is subsequently assigned to a different branch of the economy, the companies are obliged to report these changes to the company number service of the Federal Employment Agency.
Exceptions to the award
Basically, a company number is assigned by the company number service (BNS) of the Federal Employment Agency.
There are, however, three exceptions:
- Private households that do not yet have a company number and only employ marginally employed workers (450 euro jobs) receive the company number from the minijob center at the Knappschaft .
- Mining companies (mining, extraction of minerals, e.g. coal, etc.) receive the company number from the "Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See".
- Companies that belong to the See-Berufsgenossenschaft also receive their company number from the "Deutsche Rentenversicherung Knappschaft-Bahn-See". (The See-Berufsgenossenschaft has merged into BG-Verkehr. It is therefore not currently clear which companies are involved)
