vat checker

EU VAT Checker

Check one VAT number or paste multiple VAT numbers (max 20 lines).

Fast validation via VIES API Bulk check up to 20 VAT numbers Structured results per line
Create invoice Invoice requirements

Use formats like DE123456789 or FR12345678901.

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Create an invoice with verified VAT details

Validate your client's VAT number, then generate a clean, compliant invoice in minutes.

Create my invoice EU e-invoicing rules

The EU VAT checker validates a VAT number against the official European Commission VIES system in real time. Enter one number or paste up to 20 on separate lines, click validate, and the tool returns the registration status plus the registered company name and address for each. Free, no sign-up, no account, no rate limit beyond the EU's own VIES throttling. Built for freelancers, agencies, and businesses that need to confirm a buyer is genuinely VAT-registered before applying reverse charge or zero-rating.

How VAT Validation Works

VAT numbers are issued by national tax authorities, not by the EU centrally. The European Commission runs VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) as a federated gateway: when you submit a number, VIES forwards the query to the issuing country's tax database and returns whatever that database reports. A valid result means the number existed in the national database at the time of the check, owned by the company VIES returns. An invalid result means the number does not exist, is no longer active, or the issuing country could not respond.

The checker calls the official VIES REST API directly and forwards the response without modification. The validation result, company name, address, and request date you see are the same fields VIES returns to its own portal. Using the API gives identical legal weight to checking on the EC's website, with the addition of batch processing and a cleaner UI.

What the Result Tells You

Why a Real-Time Check Matters

VAT registration is not permanent. Companies deregister when they cease trading, get suspended for non-compliance, or restructure under a different entity. Applying reverse charge to a buyer whose VAT number was valid last year but invalid today exposes you to a tax authority correction: the burden of paying the VAT shifts back to you, plus penalties and interest in some jurisdictions. The cost of a 5-second check before issuing the invoice is trivial against the cost of a tax audit several months later.

For cross-border B2B invoices into the EU, validating the buyer's VAT number against VIES is the standard control most tax authorities expect. Save the verified result with the invoice in the My Invoices workspace so you have an audit trail if the tax office ever asks.

Batch Validation

Paste up to 20 VAT numbers on separate lines, one per line, in any of the supported formats. Numbers are validated against the per-country format regex before hitting VIES, so typos (a missing prefix, an extra digit) are caught client-side without burning quota at the EU. Each remaining number is sent to VIES sequentially and the results appear in a table with status, country, name, and address per row.

Batch validation is the right pattern for one-off cleanup of a customer database, for vetting a list of new clients before billing them, or for the start-of-month sanity check on existing recurring buyers. For ongoing automation against your invoicing flow, validate at the moment of each new invoice.

Supported VAT Number Formats

The checker accepts numbers from all 27 EU member states in their official country-code-prefixed format:

UK VAT numbers (GB prefix) are not covered by VIES since Brexit. Validation for UK numbers requires HMRC's separate API and is not currently part of this checker.

Pairing With the Invoice Generator

The natural workflow is: validate the buyer's VAT number here, then move to the invoice generator to draft the invoice with the validated company name and address autofilled. For an overview of which EU countries already require structured e-invoicing alongside the PDF, check the EU e-invoicing requirements page: Italy via SDI, France via Chorus Pro and PPF from 2026, Poland via KSeF, Germany under the Wachstumschancengesetz.

Privacy

VAT numbers and the VIES responses are not stored on the server. Validation requests go from your browser to the BlueInvoice endpoint to VIES and the result returns the same path; nothing is logged beyond standard request metadata for diagnostics. No account is required, no email is collected, no third-party tracking is attached.

Frequently Asked Questions

VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European Commission's federated gateway for VAT validation. It does not maintain its own database. When you submit a number, VIES forwards the query to the issuing country's national tax authority and returns whatever that authority reports. A national VAT register is the actual source of truth held by each country's tax office; VIES is the access layer that lets you query 27 of them through one interface. Checking a VAT number via VIES is functionally equivalent to checking it on the issuing country's official portal, and is the EU-standard control for cross-border B2B transactions.

Three common causes. First, the buyer typed the number with extra spaces, missing prefix, or a transposed digit. Re-check the format against the country pattern. Second, the buyer is VAT-registered in their country but has not requested inclusion in VIES; some EU countries require a separate opt-in for cross-border visibility (Germany is the most common example). Ask the buyer to contact their tax office and confirm VIES enrollment. Third, the buyer's VAT registration was suspended or revoked; this happens after non-filing or restructuring. In all three cases, do not apply reverse charge; either resolve the registration or charge your local VAT.

Some EU member states (Germany, Spain, Italy, and a few others) do not publish company name and address through VIES. They confirm whether the number is valid but withhold the details, treating them as private business information. A valid result with empty name and address is still a valid VAT number; the registration is confirmed, just not the identifying details. For your records, save the buyer's name and address as they declared them on the invoice; the validation timestamp from VIES is the audit-trail signal.

Up to 20 numbers per batch, pasted as one number per line. Each line is validated against the country-prefix format regex first to catch typos cheaply, then forwarded to VIES one at a time. The VIES system itself does not officially document a hard rate limit but does throttle high-volume requests; staying within 20 per submission and not hammering the form repeatedly is the safe pattern. For larger one-off cleanups, run multiple batches with a few seconds between them.

Not through VIES. Since Brexit, the UK is no longer part of the VIES system, so UK VAT numbers (GB prefix) cannot be validated through this tool. UK VAT validation requires HMRC's separate API and is not currently supported here. For UK B2B trade, validate the buyer's VAT number directly on the HMRC portal at gov.uk and keep the screenshot or printout with the invoice for audit purposes.

In most EU jurisdictions, yes. Tax authorities accept a VIES validation timestamp as proof that you verified the buyer's VAT registration at the moment of issuing the invoice, which is the standard for applying reverse charge under Article 138 (intra-EU supplies of goods) and Article 196 (cross-border services) of the VAT Directive. Keep the timestamp with the invoice record. The exact evidentiary standard varies by member state, so consult your local accountant for high-value or contested transactions.

VIES occasionally goes down, usually because one specific country's database is temporarily unreachable. The checker will return an error or timeout when this happens. Two options: try again in a few minutes (most outages last under an hour), or check directly on the European Commission's VIES portal at ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/. If the buyer is recurring and you have a previous valid check on file, most tax authorities accept that for short windows; for first-time buyers, wait until VIES is reachable before applying reverse charge.

Free with no sign-up, no account, no rate limit beyond the EU's own VIES throttling, no premium tier. The same applies to the rest of the BlueInvoice toolkit: the invoice generator and My Invoices workspace are also free, with an optional free account if you want to save and reuse invoices.

No. VAT numbers and the VIES responses are not stored on the server. Validation requests pass through the BlueInvoice endpoint to VIES and the result returns by the same path; only standard request metadata (timestamp, status) is kept for diagnostics. No account is required, no email is collected, no third-party tracking is attached. To save a check result with an invoice record, use the optional free account and the My Invoices workspace.

For B2B services sold to a VAT-registered business in another EU country, the default rule is reverse charge: you do not charge VAT, and the buyer accounts for it in their own country. The invoice must show both VAT numbers, include an explicit reverse-charge note (for example "Reverse charge, Article 196 VAT Directive"), and reflect a zero VAT amount on the line. Reverse charge does not apply if the buyer is not VAT-registered, if the supply is to the buyer's private address rather than their business, or if the service is one of the exceptions under the place-of-supply rules (real estate, events, restaurants). Validate the VAT number first; if VIES does not confirm registration, charge your local VAT rate instead.