UEN checker

Check that a Singapore UEN adds up, or find the letter it should end in. Businesses, companies, LLPs, societies, charities and more.

How the UEN check letter works

A UEN (Unique Entity Number) is the one number the government uses for a business, company or other organisation. It comes in three shapes, and each ends in a check letter worked out from the rest, so a mistyped UEN shows up.

Businesses: 8 digits and a letter

Sole proprietorships and partnerships registered with ACRA, like 53123456L.

Multiply the eight digits by 10, 4, 9, 3, 8, 2, 7, 1 in turn, and add them up.
Divide the total by 11: the remainder picks the letter, counting from 0, from X M K E C A W L J D B.

Local companies: the year, 5 digits and a letter

Companies incorporated in Singapore, like DBS Bank’s 196800306E: the first four digits are the year it was registered.

Multiply the nine digits by 10, 8, 6, 4, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1 in turn, and add them up.
Divide the total by 11: the remainder picks the letter, counting from 0, from Z K C M D N E R G W H.

For 196800306: 1×10 + 9×8 + 6×6 + 8×4 + 0×9 + 0×7 + 3×5 + 0×3 + 6×1 = 171; 171 ÷ 11 leaves 6, and letter 6 is E, so 196800306E.

Everything else: R, S or T, the year, a type code, 4 digits and a letter

LLPs, foreign companies, societies, charities, schools, clinics, condos’ management corporations and government bodies, like T08LL0003B. R, S and T mean the 1800s, 1900s and 2000s, so T08 is 2008, and the two letters after the year say what kind of entity it is.

Turn each of the first nine characters into its place in the UEN alphabet, counting from 0: A B C D E F G H J K L M N P Q R S T U V W X (no I, O, Y or Z) are 0 to 21, then the digits 0 to 9 are 22 to 31.
Multiply them by 4, 3, 5, 3, 10, 2, 2, 5, 7 in turn, add them up and take away 5.
Divide by 11: the remainder picks the letter from the start of the same alphabet, A to L.

The entity type codes

Code	Entity	UEN from
LP	Limited partnership	ACRA
LL	Limited liability partnership (LLP)	ACRA
FC	Foreign company	ACRA
PF	Public accounting firm	ACRA
UL	Unregistered local entity	ACRA
UF	Unregistered foreign entity	ACRA
RF	Representative office of a foreign company, government or trade body	Enterprise Singapore
RP	Foreign law practice representative office	Attorney-General’s Chambers
MQ	Mosque	MUIS
MM	Madrasah	MUIS
CC	Charity or institution of a public character	Charities Unit, MCCY
CS	Co-operative society	Registry of Co-operative Societies
MB	Mutual benefit organisation	Registry of Mutual Benefit Organisations
FM	Foreign military unit	MINDEF
GS	Government or government-aided school	MOE
GA	Government agency: a ministry, department or organ of state	MOF
GB	Statutory board	MOF
DP	High commission or embassy	MFA
CP	Consulate	MFA
NR	International organisation	MFA
CM	Medical clinic	MOH
CD	Dental clinic	MOH
MD	Medical and dental clinic	MOH
HS	Hospital	MOH
VH	Voluntary welfare home	MOH
CH	Commercial home	MOH
MH	Maternity home	MOH
CL	Clinical laboratory	MOH
XL	X-ray laboratory	MOH
CX	Clinical and X-ray laboratory	MOH
NB	News bureau	MCI
TU	Trade union	MOM
TC	Town council	MND
FB	Bank representative office	MAS
FN	Insurance representative office	MAS
PA	People’s Association service	People’s Association
PB	Grassroots unit	People’s Association
SS	Society	Registry of Societies
MC	Management corporation (a condo’s MCST)	SLA
SM	Subsidiary management corporation	SLA

The government doesn’t publish the check letter’s sums: these are the ones in python-stdnum’s UEN module, which every real UEN in its tests passes. The formats and codes are from uen.gov.sg’s About UEN page, with MC and SM from python-stdnum.

Questions

What is a UEN?

The Unique Entity Number: one ID for each business, company or organisation in Singapore, used with every government agency since 2009. Companies and businesses kept their ACRA registration number as their UEN; other entities were given one in the R, S or T format.

Does a UEN that adds up mean the company exists?

No. It means the number has the right shape: a mistyped one usually fails, but a made-up one can pass. Search uen.gov.sg or ACRA’s Bizfile to see whose it is and whether it’s still live.

Is a company’s GST registration number its UEN?

Usually, for a business or company registered with ACRA. Others, and some kinds of GST registration, get a number from IRAS that starts with M instead; it isn’t a UEN, and its check isn’t published. IRAS’s GST register on iras.gov.sg looks up either.

What do the first digits of a company’s UEN mean?

For a local company, the first four digits are the year it was registered: 196800306E, DBS Bank, is from 1968. For the R, S and T format, the letter and the two digits after it are the year: S65 is 1965, T08 is 2008.

Is the UEN I type sent anywhere?

No. It’s checked in your browser. It goes into the page’s address so you can share the answer, as UENs are public.

NRICs and car plates end in a check letter too: check an NRIC · check a car plate · More small things at liddat.com