Cyprus Tax Identification Number

Detects Cyprus Tax Identification Number patterns. This pattern is based on a Microsoft Purview built-in sensitive information type. Due to the numeric format, corroborative evidence keywords are essential for reliable detection.

Type

regex

Engine

universal

Confidence

high

Confidence justification

High confidence: eight digits followed by a single letter is a distinctive format for Cypriot tax identification numbers. Added context gating and exclusion rules improve precision and reduce incidental matches.

Detection quality

Verified

Jurisdictions

cy, eu

Regulations

gdpr

Data categories

pii, financial, government-id

Scope

narrow

Risk rating

5

Platform compatibility

Purview: Compatible, GCP DLP: Compatible, Macie: Compatible, Zscaler: Compatible, Palo Alto: Compatible, Netskope: Compatible

Pattern

\b\d{8}[A-Z]\b

Corroborative evidence keywords

TIC, tax identification, φορολογικός, αριθμός, ΤΙΝ, [object Object], tax identification number, tax number, tax return, [object Object], [object Object], tax ID, inland revenue, taxpayer identification, αριθμός φορολογικού μητρώου, ΑΦΜ, Abgabenkontonummer, adóazonosító, adószám, belastingnummer (+44 more)

Proximity: 300 characters

Should match

• 12345678A — Cypriot TIN with letter suffix
• 98765432Z — Cypriot tax identification number
• 11223344M — Cypriot TIN format

Should not match

• 1234567A — Only 7 digits, too short for Cypriot TIN
• 123456789A — 9 digits with letter, exceeds Cypriot TIN format
• template example placeholder record identifier — Template/sample context should be excluded even when anchor words are present

Known false positives

• Generic numeric sequences in non-tax contexts such as reference numbers or account identifiers Mitigation: Require corroborative evidence keywords within the proximity window to distinguish tax identifiers from general numeric data.
• Numbers from other identification schemes with similar digit patterns Mitigation: Layer with jurisdiction-specific detection to prioritise matches in tax-related documents and cross-reference with other identifier types.

References

• Cyprus Tax Identification Number entity definition - Microsoft Learn