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Overview

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Identifiers

Collect two identifiers from each business customer in Germany and submit them as strings on the application body. Tax ID: District-specific Steuernummer issued by the local Finanzamt (separate from the EU USt-IdNr / VAT number). Registration number: Format: HRB [number] or HRA [number] + court identifier (e.g. HRB 12345 Berlin). HRA = partnerships; HRB = capital companies. Found on Handelsregisterauszug.

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Sector regulators

BaFin · Deutsche Bundesbank · BNetzA/Bundesnetzagentur · Bundeskartellamt

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How documents combine

For each evidence area, this table shows whether the listed documents are alternatives (any one of) or a bundle (all required). The artifact-by-artifact lookup follows below.

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Documents to collect

The physical documents you’ll collect from your customer, with the evidence area each one proves. One document can prove multiple areas — for example, Brazil’s Cartão CNPJ covers both tax and business-registration proof, so it appears once with both areas listed.

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Collection notes

  • Legal Registration: Download free at handelsregister.de; confirms HRB/HRA number, legal form, registered office, current status.
  • Constitutive Documents: GmbH: notarised per GmbHG §2. AG: notarised per AktG §23. Filed with and retrievable from Handelsregister.
  • Tax Registration: Steuernummer is the primary domestic tax ID issued by the local Finanzamt. USt-IdNr (DE + 9 digits) is required for EU-VAT purposes and issued by BZSt.
  • Operating Permit: Required for most commercial activities; issued by local Gewerbeamt.
  • Sector-Specific License: Banking (KWG §32), payment services (ZAG §10), insurance (VAG §8), investment services (WpIG §15). Collect applicable authorisation only.
  • Ownership Records: GmbH Gesellschafterliste filed with and retrievable from the Handelsregister (handelsregister.de).
  • Governance Records: Lists Geschäftsführer (GmbH/UG), Vorstand members (AG), and Prokuristen with scope (Einzel- or Gesamtprokura); publicly searchable.
  • Signing Authority: Prokura registered in Handelsregister (HGB §§48–53) is self-evidencing from extract. For third-party representatives, use notarised Vollmacht.
  • Address: Conduit universal policy: lease (no time bound) OR utility bill OR bank statement, with utility/bank dated within 90 days. Same evidence satisfies both registered-address and operating-address checks.
  • Good Standing: Germany has no separate certificate of good standing; the dated Handelsregisterauszug (aktueller Ausdruck) downloaded from handelsregister.de serves as the live-status proof (subsumed-by-extract jurisdiction).

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Person roles

When you submit a person on the application body, set their role to one of Conduit’s canonical BusinessPersonRole values. Use this table to map a local corporate-governance title onto the right canonical role.

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Notes

  • W-IdNr is not yet a KYB substitute for USt-IdNr. Phase 1 (VAT-registered entities) started 2024-11; Phase 2 (all economically active entities) expected from Q4 2026 per BZSt. Collect USt-IdNr as primary tax identifier until further notice.