Is vatnode suitable for tax audit purposes?

Partly: vatnode gives you the reference that makes a check provable, but it is not a tax opinion. Of the fields you get back, the VIES consultation number is the one that comes from VIES rather than from vatnode.

The consultation number

Set your own EU VAT as the requester in dashboard Account details and every qualified check returns it – a reference proving the check was made against VIES at a given date and time (see the validation section above). It is a receipt issued by VIES, so it can be checked against the VIES system’s own records rather than only against your logs. When no requester is configured, a national fallback was used or the result came from cache, consultationNumber is null.

The other fields

• checkId is vatnode’s internal identifier for the call, mainly useful for looking a specific check up with support – it isn’t evidence by itself.
• verifiedAt is just an informational timestamp of when the check ran.
• companyName is the name returned by the registry at the time of the check, worth recording on your invoice because it shows what was validated.

What to keep and for how long

Store the consultation number, verifiedAt, the VAT number and the company name next to the invoice they support. Your check history in vatnode is available while your account is active and is anonymised after 5 years, as described in the privacy policy; the audit-trail guide recommends keeping your own archive for long-term retention. Retention requirements vary by country, so confirm yours with a tax advisor.

Limits

A consultation number shows that a check was performed through the official EU system. It does not guarantee compliance or provide a legal safe harbour in every member state.

See the audit-trail guide for what to store and why.