Invoice From a Closed Firm? Partner Business Closure Check
A partner business closure check almost always turns into a problem the same way. You place the order, receive the goods, send the payment, and then, while filing your tax invoices away, discover that the company shut down some time ago. The other side rarely volunteers the news.
This article answers the five questions people actually ask about a partner business closure check, in that order. Everything here is written around Korea's business registration system, which the National Tax Service runs.
It is not an article that hands you a tax conclusion. That turns on the facts of each case and belongs to a tax agent. What it covers is how to check and when to check.
- Where and how to look a Korean supplier's registration up.
- What separates a suspended business from a closed one in practice.
- A sense of which moment in a deal makes the check cheapest.
Q. How do I run a partner business closure check?
All you need is the ten-digit business registration number. Korea's National Tax Service publishes a business registration status lookup, which tells you what state that number is in right now. The answer comes back as one of three: active, suspended or closed.
There is a second thing you may want to test: whether the details the other party gave you are true in the first place. That is what verification is for.
You submit the business registration number together with the representative's name and the opening date, and the combination is matched against the National Tax Service record.
The two ask different questions. The status lookup asks "is this business alive right now?" The verification asks "do the details I was given match the record?" A change of ownership, or a name card that has gone stale, shows up in the second one.
| Lookup | What you submit | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Business registration status lookup | Business registration number | Active · suspended · closed |
| Verification | Number + representative's name + opening date | Whether the three values match the record |
Where you take the number from matters more than you would think. A number on a name card or an old contract may be years out of date. When you run the check, type in the number exactly as it is printed on the tax invoice you received — that is the most reliable source.
To run it straight from the browser, use business registration number lookup. Enter the number, the representative's name and the opening date and it tells you whether they match the National Tax Service record; what you type is used for the lookup only and is not kept on a server.
Q. What is the difference between a suspended and a closed business?
There is a reason the result splits three ways. A suspended business has paused trading, and the registration itself still stands. A closed business has had its registration cancelled.
In practice only one question follows: can you keep dealing with this counterparty? Closed gives you a clear answer. Suspended does not — they may be about to resume, or they may have effectively wound down.
If it comes back as suspended, do not let the result screen settle it. It is safer to add one step: ask the person in charge directly when they plan to resume, and whether an order placed today would actually be delivered.
The reverse happens too — the lookup says closed while the other party insists everything is normal. Check the business registration number again in that case. A branch number or an affiliate's number getting mixed in is a real occurrence.
Q. When should a partner business closure check happen?
You do not need to look up every transaction. But there are moments where the check is unusually cheap, and once they pass the price climbs sharply.
Narrow the moments worth checking down and you get four.
Before you sign with a new supplier
With a first-time counterparty there is no history to judge by. Before the seal goes on the contract, match the number and representative's name from the name card against the actual record once, and start from there.
When you order again after a gap in trading
A long-standing supplier is easy to take for granted, but things may have changed during the quiet stretch. The risk is precisely that nobody checks the suppliers they know best.
Before sending a large payment
Once money has left, the cost of reversing it jumps. Set a monetary threshold and build the lookup into the process above that line — attach the result to the payment approval and it stops being something you forget.
While pulling purchase records together before a VAT filing
This is the last gate. A sweep of your issuers just before filing shows whether anything odd has slipped in, and if something has, you still have time to talk it through with your tax agent.
When the purchase records come out of your accounting system as one large file, CSV column extraction pulls out just the supplier numbers, which leaves you a short list to run the lookup against.
If you have a lot of regular suppliers, running the partner business closure check once a quarter against a list is the realistic approach. Splitting the list and working through it in advance beats cramming it all in right before filing season.
Q. What if the check says the business is closed?
Doubt the result first. A business registration number is ten digits, so a single wrong digit produces a completely different answer, and the record may not yet reflect a recent change. Re-entering the number is step one.
If the number is right, the next job is gathering documents. Put the supply date printed on the tax invoice alongside the status you found, and collect the records that back up the fact that the transaction really happened.
- The contract, or the purchase order and quotation
- The payment transfer record and the original tax invoice
- Evidence the goods or services were actually received (delivery statement, receipt confirmation, email or messenger threads)
- The lookup result screen and the date you ran it
Stop there. How the tax side of this should be handled varies from case to case. The supply date, whether payment was made, whether a real transaction took place, whether you have already filed — each one moves the answer.
So take the conclusion from your tax agent or your district tax office. Walking in with the bundle above makes the consultation far quicker. Do not settle a filing on the strength of something you read online, this article included.
Q. If the lookup comes back clean, can I relax?
No. The business registration status lookup tells you whether that number is alive on the register. It does not vouch for whether the company can take your money and ship what you ordered.
A business listed as active can still leave you unpaid, and a suspended one may be about to resume normally. The lookup is a minimum gate, not a credit assessment.
So for a large transaction, handle the contract and the payment terms separately from the lookup. The result is an input to your judgement, not the judgement itself.
Who asks about closure checks most often
- Businesses that take on new suppliers often: wholesale, distribution and manufacturing, where the ordering party keeps changing
- People who outsource frequently: small firms and sole traders change registration status more often
- Owners who handle their own VAT filing: anyone assembling purchase records themselves
- Bookkeeping and accounting staff: anyone who has to review a supplier list on a schedule
Whichever you are, the method is the same. Put the number, the representative's name and the opening date into business registration number lookup and see whether they match the record. It is free and runs in the browser with nothing to install.
One boundary is worth keeping straight. That tool verifies the details you were given; the closed-or-suspended status itself comes from the National Tax Service. If you need a check with legal force, run it yourself on the Hometax site.
References
- National Tax Service (Korea): business registration status lookup and business registration number verification service
- Value-Added Tax Act (Korea): the statute behind business registration, closure filings and tax invoice issuance. How a specific case is treated for tax purposes varies, so confirm it with your tax agent or your district tax office. Korean Law Information Center
- Public Data Portal (Korea): National Tax Service business registration information verification and status lookup service (fields provided include taxpayer status and taxation type)