Applying for a NIF: your tax identification number

The NIF identifies you to the tax administration. It appears on your tax registration card, your returns and your invoices. Without it, you cannot meet your tax obligations properly or move on to the next steps.

It shapes the rest of the setup. ONS (National Office of Statistics) asks for the NIF document before issuing the NIS, CNAS asks for the tax registration card in the employer file, and the bank asks for it to open the company account.

Every taxpayer starting an activity:

• an individual trader listed in the trade register (registre du commerce);
• a craftsperson holding a craftsman card;
• a liberal professional working under a licence;
• a company (SARL, EURL, SPA, SNC...), through its legal representative.

The online form offers several types of authorisation to operate, including the trade register, the craftsman card and the licence (agrément). For a licence, it also asks for the supervising ministry.

1. 1

   Get the trade register extract first

   The form asks for the number, date and place of issue of your authorisation to operate. Without it, the application cannot go through.

2. 2

   Gather the documents

   Identity card, birth certificate, residence certificate and trade register extract. Keep them in front of you while typing.

3. 3

   Fill in the pre-form

   Surname, first names, email entered twice, then the security code. The detailed form opens in the same tab.

4. 4

   Fill in the detailed form

   NIN, sex, date and place of birth, wilaya and commune of birth, certificate number and type, nationality, authorisation to operate and its number, business address.

5. 5

   Choose the directorate and inspection

   Select the wilaya tax directorate, wait for the list of inspections to load, then choose the one for the commune of the activity. Use the first activity in the trade register as the main activity.

6. 6

   Send and download the receipt

   Check everything, send, then save the PDF receipt. It is part of the file.

7. 7

   Prepare the G n°8 and the file

   Fill in the declaration of existence and gather the documents: receipt, trade register extract, identity card, proof of premises, plus articles and BOAL notice for a company.

8. 8

   File at the tax office

   Bring the file to the office covering the business address. Keep the tax documents you receive: you will need them for the NIS, CASNOS and CNAS.

Step 1: the online application

On nifenligne.mf.gov.dz, the pre-form asks for your surname, first names and email address, entered twice, then a security code. The detailed form then opens: civil status, NIN, birth certificate, authorisation to operate, business address, wilaya tax directorate, tax inspection and main activity. Once sent, the site generates a PDF receipt.

Step 2: the tax office

You then file the papers at the tax office covering your business address, the one you selected in the form (wilaya directorate, then inspection). For a company using a domiciliation address, the registered office address counts. For example, an activity in Dely Brahim falls, in the portal's list, under the Alger Ouest tax directorate.

What Neuron does

You do the online application yourself with this guide: Neuron does not fill it in, and the security code, final submission and filing stay with you. The G no. 8 that goes with the file has its own page. Full support for the business setup costs 50,000 DA for a sole trader and 60,000 DA for a company, 10,000 DA less with domiciliation at Neuron (official fees excluded).

The portal does not show a deadline specific to the NIF application. But it goes hand in hand with the declaration of existence (G n°8), whose deadline is set by the Direct Taxes Code (CIDTA) and runs from the start of the activity.

Other deadlines are already running: CASNOS registration is due within 10 days of starting, and CASNOS offices ask in practice for the certificate of existence issued by the tax office. So start your NIF application as soon as you have your trade register extract.

• Writing your surname or first name differently from the birth certificate.
• Copying the trade register number as printed on the paper extract, when the portal expects another format.
• Choosing the wilaya and moving on too fast: the list of communes or inspections does not load and the field stays empty.
• Picking the wrong tax directorate or inspection: the file must go to the office covering the business address.
• Choosing a main activity different from the first activity in the trade register.
• Thinking the online receipt is the NIF: you still have to file the papers at the tax office.
• Mistyping the email address entered twice.