Commercial registration (CR)

Meaning

The commercial registration (السجل التجاري) is the entry in the Ministry of Commerce's register that makes a business a legal trader, and the CR number is its ten-digit identifier. It states the trade name, the legal form, the owner or partners, the capital, the registered address and the business activities. Banks, ZATCA, GOSI, Qiwa and customers all ask for it; a tax invoice shows it next to the VAT number.

Under the Commercial Register Law in force from April 2025 a business holds one registration covering the whole Kingdom, with no separate branch registrations and no expiry date; instead the data is confirmed annually, and a registration left unconfirmed is suspended. The CR number, the unified national number and the VAT number are three different numbers for the same business.

Also called: CR · CR number · commercial register · السجل التجاري

Example

Al Noor Trading Est. holds CR 1010123456, issued in Riyadh, naming its owner, a capital of 100,000.00 and the activity "wholesale of office furniture". The number appears on its invoices beside VAT number 310122393500003, and the registration is confirmed each year on the Ministry's portal.