By SupplierVerify Team | Published: March 26, 2026
Your Chinese supplier sends you a "business license" with a long string of numbers on it. Is that their tax ID? Their company registration number? Something else? If you're a buyer trying to run a background check on a Chinese company, you need to know which number to look up — and what each one actually tells you. This guide explains the difference between China's Unified Social Credit Code (USCC), the legacy tax registration number, and other identifiers you'll encounter on Chinese corporate documents.
Since October 2015, China has consolidated all company identification numbers into a single 18-digit Unified Social Credit Code (统一社会信用代码, often abbreviated as USCC). Before that, a Chinese company had three separate numbers: a business registration number from the Administration for Industry and Commerce (AIC), a tax registration number from the tax bureau, and an organization code from a separate agency. The USCC replaced all three. If a supplier gives you a number that isn't 18 digits — or that they call a "tax ID" but can't verify — you may be looking at an outdated or fabricated document.
The Unified Social Credit Code is the closest thing China has to a universal corporate fingerprint. It is the key that unlocks a company's records in every major government database: the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System (NECIPS), the tax bureau, the social security system, and the statistical bureau. When you search a USCC in NECIPS (gsxt.gov.cn) or third-party platforms like Tianyancha and Qichacha, you can pull the company's full official registration details — legal name, registered address, business scope, legal representative, shareholder structure, registered capital, operating status, and any administrative penalties or enforcement actions. A single 18-digit code gives you access to the company's entire public legal footprint.
The USCC isn't random. Here's what each section represents, using a hypothetical code 91440300MA5DABC123:
Knowing this structure matters because fake business licenses sometimes use USCCs with incorrect first digits (e.g., starting with "1" instead of "9") or invalid check digits. A quick structural sanity check can catch a lazy forgery before you ever search a database.
In the US, you're used to the concept of an EIN (Employer Identification Number) — a tax ID issued by the IRS. So when a Chinese supplier says "here's our tax ID," you might think that's the number to verify. The US commercial equivalent doesn't map cleanly. Before 2015, Chinese companies had a separate tax registration number (税务登记号), typically 15 digits. After the 2015 reform, the USCC also serves as the tax registration number. If a supplier provides a number that is not 18 digits and calls it a "tax ID," it is either a pre-2015 relic from a company that should have updated its license, or it is not a legitimate corporate identifier. In either case, you cannot reliably verify a modern Chinese company using a standalone tax ID — you need the USCC.
China completed a nationwide license transition from 2015 to 2020. All active companies were required to update to the new three-in-one license with a USCC. If a supplier shows you a license that still has separate registration numbers — a 15-digit business registration number (注册号), a 15-digit tax registration number (税务登记号), and a 9-digit organization code (组织机构代码) — one of three things is true: the license is a pre-2015 document that the company failed to update (unlikely for an active exporter), the company is using an old scan because their updated license reveals something they don't want you to see, or the license is fabricated using an outdated template. None of these scenarios is reassuring. Always ask for the current-version business license with the 18-digit USCC.
Look for the 18-digit USCC near the top of the license. Verify it starts with "9" (for standard enterprises). Check that the check digit (16th position) is internally consistent — tools exist online to validate this. Then search the USCC in NECIPS or a third-party platform to confirm the registration details match what the supplier told you.
Ask for the full Chinese company name and the 18-digit USCC. If they cannot provide both, that is a red flag — every legally registered Chinese company has a USCC and knows what it is. A supplier who can't produce it on request is either a trading company hiding their real identity, an unregistered operator, or a scam. Do not send money to an entity you cannot cross-reference in a government database.
The USCC is not what you search in customs databases like Panjiva or ImportGenius. For customs records, you search by the supplier's English trading name (as it appears on bills of lading) or their Chinese legal name. The USCC confirms the company exists and is legally registered; customs databases confirm they have actually shipped product. Use both.
That claim is false. Since the 2015 reform, every registered enterprise in China — from a one-person consultancy to a 10,000-employee manufacturer — receives a USCC at registration. Even individual industrial and commercial households (个体工商户) receive a USCC. A supplier claiming they have no USCC is either unregistered or lying.
The USCC confirms legal identity. It does not confirm operational reality. After verifying the USCC, you should still: check whether the company's registered address matches the address the supplier gave you (fake factories often register at a virtual office and claim a different physical location), verify the business scope includes manufacturing if the supplier claims to be a factory, check the paid-in capital — not just the registered capital — to gauge financial substance, search the company name in China Judgments Online for lawsuits, and confirm social security filings to see how many people the company actually employs. The USCC is the starting point of verification, not the finish line.
| Number | Digits | Status | Use For Verification? |
|---|---|---|---|
| USCC (Unified Social Credit Code) | 18 | Current (post-2015) | Yes — primary identifier |
| Legacy Business Registration No. (注册号) | 15 | Obsolete | No — demand the USCC |
| Legacy Tax Registration No. (税务登记号) | 15 | Obsolete (merged into USCC) | No — demand the USCC |
| Organization Code (组织机构代码) | 9 | Obsolete (merged into USCC) | No — demand the USCC |
| Customs Registration Code (海关注册编码) | 10 | Current (for exporters) | Yes — confirms export authorization |
Our Safety Shield report starts with USCC verification — we pull the official registration record from NECIPS, confirm the license is active, check the business scope against what the supplier claims, and flag any discrepancies between the registered address and the address they gave you. You get a plain-English summary of who the company actually is, not who they say they are.
Verify a USCC Now