OR data

Must an invoice include the customer’s Commercial Register details, such as the court, section and entry number?

Short answer

No. Under § 3a of the Commercial Code, details of registration in the Commercial Register, including the registration court, section and entry number, are stated for the issuer or supplier. The invoice does not have to reproduce the customer’s corresponding Commercial Register details.

Section 3a Commercial Code

Own identification

Refers to the issuer of the document, not to the customer.

Section 74(1) Act on VAT

The customer's concerns

Name, address and VAT identification number, not the court/section/insert.

Invoice OR details

About supplier only

The customer is not identified in this way.

Practical location

Field BT-33 (Company legal form)

V e-invoice this information on the supplier is given here.

Detailed explanation

Section 74(1) of the VAT Act, which sets out the mandatory details of an invoice, also does not require the inclusion of details of the customer’s entry in the Commercial Register — for the customer, the main details required are their name or company name, address and tax identification number (if assigned), not the court, section or entry number of their entry in the Commercial Register. You should therefore only include details of your own entry in the Commercial Register on the invoice, in accordance with the Commercial Code’s requirement to identify your own commercial documents, and not to identify the other party to the transaction.

As set out in the Act

The obligation to state on commercial documents the business name, registered office, legal form, identification number and details of the entry in the Commercial Register (name of the register, section, file number) is laid down in Section 3a of Act No. 513/1991 Coll. (Commercial Code) in relation to the entrepreneur’s own identification. The mandatory details of an invoice, including information on the customer, are governed by Section 74(1) of Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, which does not include details of the customer’s entry in the Commercial Register.

Practical examples

The invoice states under ‘Supplier’: ‘registered in the Commercial Register of the District Court of XY, Section Sro, File No. 12345’ – referring only to the issuer.
For the customer, the invoice states their name, address and VAT registration number, without any details of their entry in the Commercial Register.
When issuing an invoice, the supplier does not need to ascertain the court, section or file number of their customer’s entry.

Most common mistakes

“The customer must also be identified on the invoice by details of their entry in the Commercial Register.” Neither the VAT Act nor the Commercial Code imposes such an obligation in relation to the customer.
“The obligation under Section 3a of the Commercial Code concerns the identification of both parties to the transaction.” It relates exclusively to the trader’s own identification on their own commercial documents.
“Without details of the customer’s entry in the Commercial Register, the invoice is incomplete.” An invoice is complete if it meets the requirements under Section 74(1) of the VAT Act, which do not require this information about the customer.

Conclusion

Commercial Register details under Section 3a of the Commercial Code are stated for the invoice issuer, not for the customer.

Legal basis

Act No. 513/1991 Cf. (Trade Code), Section 3a
Act No. 222/2004 Coll. on VAT, Section 74(1)