Matični broj and PIB: the difference, and how to check both

A Serbian company has two numbers you will meet on invoices and in contracts. They get confused constantly, though the difference is simple.

Matični broj

Eight digits, no letters. Assigned on entry into the register kept by the Business Registers Agency (APR). Every registered entity has one — companies, cooperatives, associations, endowments, branches of foreign companies.

It never changes — not when the business name changes, nor the seat, nor the ownership — and after a company is struck off it is not reissued to anyone else. That is exactly why it is a reliable way to identify a company years later.

A small but common trap: the matični broj carries leading zeros. "08721165" is not the same as 8721165, and a table that stores it as a number loses that zero — which affects about 14% of the register.

PIB

The tax identification number. Nine digits, with no country prefix. It is issued by the Tax Administration, not by the register. Unlike some other countries, the PIB is not derived from the matični broj — they are two independent numbers and neither can be computed from the other.

An entity that is not registered for VAT still has a PIB. Registering for tax and registering for VAT are two different things, so the fact that someone quotes a PIB does not mean they account for VAT — that is checked separately, in the Tax Administration's register of VAT payers.

Why you do not see a PIB against every company here

APR's open data publishes the matični broj, the business name, the municipality, the status, the date of registration, the legal form and the activity code — but not the PIB. That is a real limitation of the source rather than an omission here: the PIB has to be filled in from other public records, one company at a time.

How to check them

Check the matični broj in the APR register: enter it and see whether the company that comes back is the one you expect. The PIB is checked with the Tax Administration, one company at a time.

One point that is often missed: the European VIES system validates VAT numbers of European Union member states. Serbia is not a member, so a Serbian PIB cannot be checked there — whatever some sites claim. VIES is useful when you are checking an EU counterparty, not a domestic one.