Cyprus tax identification number (TIN): how to get one

Its names. The law calls it the tax identification number, which you get by registering in the Tax Registry. In English the Tax Department writes TIN, or TIC/TIN; in Greek, ΑΦΤ. The European Commission's 2023 country sheet for Cyprus calls it the Tax Identification Code, or TIC.

Law 4/1978 · Tax Department, registration page · European Commission, TIN country sheet

Numbers from before March 2023. If you registered before March 2023, you keep the number you were given, so a number that doesn't start with 6 can still be valid. Numbers issued since then are random and carry nothing that identifies you. The OECD's 2023 sheet for Cyprus dates the new numbers from 27 March 2023, and says the check letter comes from an algorithm.

Tax Department, registration FAQ · OECD, Cyprus TIN sheet

Where you'll find yours. Once your registration is complete, the Tax Department emails you your number. It isn't printed on Cyprus identity documents, the European Commission's 2023 sheet for Cyprus says. Lost it? If you sign in to Tax For All with CY Login, a number you already have is linked to your account automatically. Your employer can also look it up for you with the Tax Department's lookup tool for employees' numbers.

Tax Department, registration FAQ · European Commission, TIN country sheet

The ARC, ID card and social insurance numbers. Your ARC is the number the Migration Department gives you when it registers you as a foreigner; it's on your residence permit and on the receipt for the permit's fee. Identity cards, for citizens of the Republic, are issued under the Civil Registry Law. Your social insurance number comes from the Social Insurance Services. None of them comes with a tax number: Cyprus doesn't issue tax numbers to individuals automatically, its 2023 OECD sheet says.

In the law's own words. The duty as the Assessment and Collection of Taxes Law states it since 1 January 2026, in translation:

(1A) An individual is obliged to submit a notice for registration in the Tax Registry and to obtain a tax identification number where they- (a) are resident in the Republic and have completed the twenty-fifth (25th) year of their age; or (b) have income falling within article 5 of the Income Tax Law: Provided that an individual who for tax years 2026 and 2027 has no income falling within the provisions of article 5 of the Income Tax Law and is not already registered in the Tax Registry may submit the notice for registration in the Tax Registry up to 31 December 2027.

Law 4/1978 · Law 243(I)/2025

By when. The duty sets no period that runs from turning 25 or from your first income. Its only date is 31 December 2027, for someone not yet registered who has no listed income in 2026 and 2027.

Law 4/1978

What counts as listed income, resident or not. If you're tax resident, the list covers income from Cyprus and abroad, including business profits, a salary, dividends and interest, pensions and rent. If you're not, the Tax Department says you must register if you have income in Cyprus of a kind the Income Tax Law lists for non-residents, such as pay for work done here.

Income Tax Law · Tax Department, registration page

Over 70, with no income. The law's duty to register has no upper age. The Tax Department's registration page lists, among tax residents with no income, only those aged 25 to 70 as required to register. Which of the two applies has not been settled.

Under 18, with income. The law's duty for anyone with listed income has no lower age. A Tax For All account is only for people aged 18 or over, and the Tax Department's pages don't say how someone younger registers.

Law 4/1978 · Tax For All account guide (in Greek)

Your employer's part. Registering is each person's own responsibility, the Tax Department says, though an employer can help with guidance or technical support. From 2025, the department says, an employer's monthly payroll declarations must show every employee's tax number, which is why yours asks for it. In one case the employer starts the process itself: for people who were never registered and with whom it has lost all contact, it sends the Tax Department a message through its own Tax For All account. You don't need an ARC before you register: the Tax Department's lists cover people still waiting for their papers (step 3, below).

Tax Department, PAYE FAQ (in Greek) · Tax Department, employees without a tax number · Tax For All announcement, 24 July 2025 (in Greek)

Registering is not filing. Registering and filing a tax return are separate duties in the law, though the Tax Department's registration page lists them together.

Law 4/1978 · Tax Department, registration page

Why banks ask. The rules are the OECD's Common Reporting Standard, known as CRS; in the EU they apply through an EU directive, which Cyprus has made law. When you open an account, a bank or other financial institution must get your own statement of where you're tax resident, and check that it's reasonable against what it learned when you opened the account. If you're tax resident in another country that takes part, the statement must also give your tax number there and your date of birth, unless an exception applies, such as no number having been issued.

OECD, Common Reporting Standard (2025) · Law 205(I)/2012 · Tax Department, CRS guidance notes

Which number to give. The number to give is the one from the country where you're tax resident, not a number another country gave you only because you have income there, the Tax Department's guidance says. If you're tax resident in two countries, you're expected to declare both, and may have two numbers to give. A bank elsewhere in the EU has to report a Cyprus tax resident, so it asks for your Cyprus number. The standard's stand-ins for a tax number, such as a social insurance or ID card number, are for countries that issue none, and Cyprus issues tax numbers.

When the reporting rules don't need a Cyprus number. If you're tax resident only in Cyprus and not a US citizen, a Cyprus bank needs only your name, address and country of tax residence for this statement, the Tax Department's guidance says.

Tax Department, CRS guidance notes · Law 205(I)/2012

If you have no number yet. Where no number has been issued to you, none has to be reported: the OECD reads the standard that way, and the Tax Department's guidance says the same. That exception covers what the bank reports. The OECD says a bank should not ask someone to get a number they aren't required to have; that does not stop a bank asking someone who is. If you're tax resident and 25 or over, or have income of a kind the Income Tax Law lists, the law requires you to register. None of these rules says what happens while an application is pending, so the practical step is to apply now. The OECD's commentary indicates that once a number is issued and the bank has it, it has to be reported.

E-money apps in the EU, since 2026. In the EU, since 1 January 2026, the rules also cover e-money: a provider that holds e-money for customers counts as a depository institution, as a bank does. An e-money account is left out if its rolling 90-day average end-of-day balance did not exceed USD 10,000 on any day of the calendar year.

Directive (EU) 2023/2226 · Law 205(I)/2012

If your tax residence changes. If a change gives the bank reason to know your statement is wrong or unreliable, it can no longer rely on it and must get a new one.

OECD, Common Reporting Standard (2025) · Law 205(I)/2012