What is an EU VAT number?

A VAT identification number identifies a business registered for value added tax in a European Union country. It starts with a two-letter country code, such as DE for Germany or FR for France, followed by 2 to 12 letters and digits; Greece uses EL and Northern Ireland XI. Businesses print it on their invoices, and a supplier needs a customer's valid VAT number to invoice another EU country without VAT under the reverse charge.

Tool description

Paste a VAT number with its country code and press Check VAT number. The check runs on our server through VIES, the VAT Information Exchange System of the European Commission, which asks the tax authority of the number's country. You see:

  • Whether the number is valid, that is registered and active for trade within the EU
  • The business's registered name and address, when its country shares them
  • The country and when VIES answered

Spaces, dots and hyphens are ignored, so you can paste a number as it's printed on an invoice. GR is checked as EL, the code Greece uses in VIES.

AI assistants connected to the Rapid Tool Set MCP server can run the same check as eu_vat_number_checker.

Tips

  • Some countries, Germany among them, never share a business's name or address through VIES, so only the validity is shown.
  • A number VIES doesn't list as valid may be mistyped, deregistered, or registered for domestic VAT only. Ask the business to confirm it before you leave VAT off an invoice.
  • When a country's database is busy or down for maintenance, the check fails. Try again a few minutes later.
  • UK (GB) numbers aren't in VIES since Brexit; only Northern Ireland's XI numbers are.