VAT Validation

Validate EU VAT numbers against the official VIES database.

Audit-proof by design

Every response includes a consultationNumber — the EU Commission-issued reference for the exact VIES check — and a permanent checkId + verifiedAt timestamp. Store these alongside your invoice records as audit evidence. Requires requesterCountryCode + requesterVatNumber query params to obtain the consultation number.

Endpoint

GET /v1/vat/{vatId}

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
vatId	string	Yes (path)	The VAT number to validate (e.g., IE6388047V)
requesterCountryCode	string	No (query)	Your two-letter EU country code (e.g. `FI`). Required together with `requesterVatNumber` to obtain a VIES consultation number.
requesterVatNumber	string	No (query)	Your own EU VAT number without the country prefix (e.g. `12345678`). When provided alongside `requesterCountryCode`, vatnode calls VIES `checkVatApprox` and returns a `consultationNumber` in the response.
force	boolean	No (query)	Set to `true` to bypass the Redis cache and force a fresh VIES lookup. Useful for high-value checks where freshness matters.

Request

Basic request

curl https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IE6388047V \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vat_live_your_key"

With consultation number (audit)

curl "https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IE6388047V?requesterCountryCode=FI&requesterVatNumber=12345678" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer vat_live_your_key"

Response

Success Response (200 OK)

Response

{
  "valid": true,
  "vatId": "IE6388047V",
  "countryCode": "IE",
  "countryName": "Ireland",
  "companyName": "GOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED",
  "companyAddress": "3RD FLOOR, GORDON HOUSE, BARROW STREET, DUBLIN 4",
  "companyRegistrationDate": null,
  "companyForm": null,
  "industryDescription": null,
  "registryCode": null,
  "registryCodeName": null,
  "verifiedAt": "2026-03-26T14:25:57.209Z",
  "checkId": "019d2a89-a5d9-7b97-b710-57b84604de2b",
  "consultationNumber": "WAPIAAAAZ27qPadm",
  "source": "VIES",
  "countryVat": {
    "vatName": "Value Added Tax",
    "vatAbbr": "VAT",
    "currency": "EUR",
    "standardRate": 23,
    "reducedRates": [9, 13.5],
    "superReducedRate": null,
    "parkingRate": null,
    "vatNumberFormat": "IE + 7 digits + 1–2 letters",
    "vatNumberPattern": "^IE\d{7}[A-W][A-IW]?$|^IE\d[A-Z+*]\d{5}[A-W]$",
    "countryVatUpdatedAt": "2026-03-27"
  },
}

Response Fields

Field	Type	Description
valid	boolean	true if the VAT number is valid and active
vatId	string	The normalized VAT number
countryCode	string	Two-letter EU country code
countryName	string	Full country name (e.g. "Finland")
companyName	string \| null	Company name from VIES (may be null)
companyAddress	string \| null	Company address from VIES (may be null)
companyRegistrationDate	string \| null	Date the company was registered (ISO 8601 date). Populated from national registries where available (SE, FR, CZ, FI, DK, PL, DE…); null otherwise.
companyForm	string \| null	Legal form of the company (e.g. "AB", "GmbH", "SAS"). Populated from national registries where available; null otherwise.
industryDescription	string \| null	Industry or business activity description from national registry (e.g. NACE/SNI code label). Populated where available; null otherwise.
registryCode	string \| null	National company registry identifier (e.g. Y-tunnus for FI, SIREN for FR, Registrikood for EE). Derived from the VAT number where the mapping is known; fetched from national registry for EE and LT. Null for DE and countries without a public registry API.
registryCodeName	string \| null	Name of the registry identifier type (e.g. "Y-tunnus", "SIREN", "CVR", "Registrikood"). Null if registryCode is null.
countryVat.vatName	string	Official local name of the tax (e.g. "Arvonlisävero", "Mehrwertsteuer")
countryVat.vatAbbr	string	Short abbreviation (e.g. "ALV", "MwSt", "TVA")
countryVat.currency	string	ISO 4217 currency code (e.g. "EUR", "BGN")
countryVat.standardRate	number	Standard VAT rate in percent (e.g. 25.5)
countryVat.reducedRates	number[]	Reduced VAT rates, empty array if none
countryVat.superReducedRate	number \| null	Super-reduced rate (CY, ES, FR, GR, IT, LU, PL, PT)
countryVat.parkingRate	number \| null	Parking rate (transitional, only some countries)
countryVat.vatNumberFormat	string	Human-readable VAT number format (e.g. "DE + 9 digits")
countryVat.vatNumberPattern	string	Regex for local format validation.
countryVat.countryVatUpdatedAt	string	Date the VAT rates were last updated from EC TEDB
checkId	string	UUID v7 uniquely identifying this check — matches the record in the audit log
verifiedAt	string	ISO 8601 timestamp of the check
consultationNumber	string \| null	EU Commission-issued reference for this VIES check (the VIES `requestIdentifier`). Present when `requesterCountryCode` and `requesterVatNumber` are supplied and VIES is used directly. Null when served from cache, when national fallback was used, or when no requester was provided. Store this alongside your invoice record as audit evidence.
source	string	Identifies which system produced the result: `VIES` for the normal path, or a national registry code when VIES fell back (e.g. `BZST` for DE, `MF_PL` for PL, `ANAF_RO` for RO).

VAT Number Format

VAT numbers must include the two-letter country code prefix. Here are some examples:

Country	Format	Example
Germany	DE#########	DE123456789
Finland	FI########	FI12345678
France	FRXX#########	FR12345678901
Netherlands	NL#########B##	NL123456789B01
Spain	ESX########	ESA12345678

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/vatnode/eu-vat-rates-data/main/data/eu-vat-rates-data.json↗

Normalization

VAT numbers are automatically normalized:

Converted to uppercase
Whitespace and dashes removed
Leading/trailing spaces trimmed

All of these are equivalent:

IE6388047V
IE 6388047V
IE-6388047V
  IE6388047V

Country-Specific Notes

Germany (DE) and Spain (ES)

German and Spanish VIES queries do not return company name or address. The companyName and companyAddress fields will always be null for German and Spanish VAT numbers.

National fallbacks

For select EU countries, vatnode automatically falls back to official national tax authority APIs when the VIES member-state node is unavailable. The fallback is fully transparent — the response format is identical and the result is equally authoritative.

Error Responses

Invalid Format (400)

Response

{
  "error": {
    "code": "INVALID_FORMAT",
    "message": "Invalid VAT ID format. Expected format: country code (2 letters) followed by VAT number",
    "requestId": "req_abc123"
  }
}

VIES Unavailable (503)

Response

{
  "error": {
    "code": "VIES_UNAVAILABLE",
    "message": "VIES service is temporarily unavailable",
    "requestId": "req_abc123"
  }
}

Code Examples

JavaScript

async function validateVat(vatId) {
  const response = await fetch(`https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/${vatId}`, {
    headers: {
      'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.VATNODE_API_KEY}`
    }
  });

  if (!response.ok) {
    const error = await response.json();
    throw new Error(error.error.message);
  }

  return response.json();
}

// Usage
try {
  const result = await validateVat('IE6388047V');
  if (result.valid) {
    console.log(`Valid: ${result.companyName}`);
  }
} catch (error) {
  console.error('Validation failed:', error.message);
}

Python

import requests
import os

def validate_vat(vat_id):
    response = requests.get(
        f'https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/{vat_id}',
        headers={'Authorization': f'Bearer {os.environ["VATNODE_API_KEY"]}'}
    )
    response.raise_for_status()
    return response.json()

# Usage
try:
    result = validate_vat('IE6388047V')
    if result['valid']:
        print(f"Valid: {result['companyName']}")
except requests.HTTPError as e:
    print(f"Validation failed: {e}")