EU VAT number checker
Check a supplier's or customer's VAT number against VIES, the European Commission's register, before you zero-rate an invoice or add a new supplier.
Paste the number with or without the country prefix. Nothing you enter is stored.
What the result means
Valid means the number is registered for intra-EU trade today. You can rely on it for the reverse charge on cross-border B2B supplies, alongside your other evidence.
Not valid means VIES has no active intra-EU registration for that number. It may be mistyped or deregistered, or the business may be registered for domestic VAT only.
Unavailable means that country's register didn't answer. It says nothing about the number. Try again later.
Formats by country
Most numbers are the two-letter country code followed by 8–12 characters. Greece uses EL in VIES, not GR. Northern Ireland uses XI. You can paste the number with spaces and dots; the checker removes them.
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Questions about VAT number checks
What is VIES?
VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European Commission's search engine over the national VAT registers of the EU member states and Northern Ireland. It confirms whether a VAT number is registered for intra-EU trade on the day you check it.
When should I check a supplier's or customer's VAT number?
Before you zero-rate a cross-border supply of goods or services to a business customer (reverse charge), when you take on a new supplier from another EU country, and periodically for regular trading partners. Keep the check result with your VAT records.
Why does a valid number show no name or address?
Some member states, including Germany and Spain, do not share the registered name and address through VIES. The number is still confirmed as valid or invalid.
The checker says the service is unavailable. What does that mean?
VIES asks each country's own database in real time. When a member state's system is down or busy, VIES returns 'unavailable' for that country only. Try again a few minutes later; it does not mean the number is invalid.
Can I check UK VAT numbers here?
Only Northern Ireland numbers with the XI prefix, which remain in VIES for trade in goods. GB VAT numbers are checked with HMRC's own service.
Do you store the numbers I check?
No. The number is passed to VIES and the answer is shown to you. Nothing is saved.