Updated daily

EU VAT Insights

Patterns and curiosities found in real EU VAT number validations — company ages, founding habits, legal structures, and more.

Last updated: 18 Jul 2026, 17:19 UTC

22,378

Total validations

unique live requests

84%

Valid VAT numbers

of non-cached checks

320

Unique companies

distinct valid VAT IDs

28

Countries covered

EU member states

Who's having a birthday?

Companies validated through vatnode whose registration date falls near today. Dates come from the national registries that share them; only registered companies — sole traders and other natural persons are left out.

Tomorrow

19 July · 1 company

SA DPU PROXIMUS

🇧🇪Belgium
registered 19 July 1930

🎂 turning 96 years

in 2 days

20 July · 1 company

SOCIETATEA NATIONALA DE GAZE NATURALE " ROMGAZ " SA

🇷🇴Romania
registered 20 July 2001

🎂 turning 25 years

2 days ago

16 July · 1 company

EURL PRO SYSTEMES

🇫🇷France
registered 16 July 2002

🎂 turned 24 years

Record Holders

The oldest and most recently registered companies among those validated through vatnode — not the absolute oldest in the EU. Registration dates come from countries whose registries share them — see coverage.

Oldest validated company

SA SOLVAY

🇧🇪Belgium
registered 26 December 1863
162 years old

BE0403091220

Newest validated company

Movilla Oy

🇫🇮Finland
registered 21 March 2026
3 months old

FI36097844

Among companies validated through vatnode — not the absolute oldest/newest in the EU.

When do founders file?

Do companies prefer January fresh starts, or is it all random? Registration dates from national registries.

By Month

unique companies

9.6%
Jan
7.8%
Feb
10%
Mar
3.5%
Apr
10%
May
7.8%
Jun
6.1%
Jul
11%
Aug
5.2%
Sep
6.1%
Oct
7.8%
Nov
14%
Dec

By Day of Week

Mon–Fri vs weekends

11%
Mon
19%
Tue
25%
Wed
17%
Thu
20%
Fri
7.0%
Sat
0.9%
Sun

Company Age Distribution

How many companies from each decade are still active and being validated today?

Registrations by Decade

companies still active

0.9%
1860s
0.9%
1890s
0.9%
1900s
3.5%
1910s
0.9%
1920s
1.7%
1930s
1.7%
1940s
1.7%
1950s
1.7%
1960s
4.3%
1970s
1.7%
1980s
31%
1990s
18%
2000s
17%
2010s
13%
2020s

The Great Legal Form Debate

GmbH vs SRL vs OY vs Ltd — which corporate structure wins Europe?

Top Legal Forms

share of top 10

1Limited company (AB)
35%
2Public limited company (AG, NV, SA, A/S, AB, OYj)
28%
3Joint-stock company (a.s., SpA, AD, d.d., SA)
14%
4Private limited company (OY, OÜ, BV, UAB, ApS, SIA, Lda)
11%
5Limited liability company (GmbH, SARL, SRL, s.r.o., Sp. z o.o., Kft, d.o.o.)
9.0%
6Sole proprietorship (EI)
1.8%
7European company (SE)
1.8%

What do these companies actually do?

Industry data from countries whose registries share it — see coverage. Non-English labels are mapped to canonical NACE Rev. 2 English equivalents.

Top Industries

1Activities of head offices
20%
2Other monetary intermediation
17%
3Wired, wireless and satellite communication service activities
11%
4Freight transport by road
8.6%
5Other repair and maintenance of motor vehicles
8.6%
6Other software publishing
8.6%
7Non-specialised wholesale trade
8.6%
8Restaurants and cafeterias
5.7%
9Business and other management consultancy activities
5.7%
10Manufacture of other builders’ carpentry and joinery n.e.c.
5.7%

VIES Response Time by Country

Average round-trip to each country's VAT registry.

Average Response Time

ms · fastest → slowest · 10+ calls only

🇲🇹Malta
1039msp95 1790ms
🇮🇪Ireland
1070msp95 2204ms
🇭🇺Hungary
1075msp95 2321ms
🇪🇪Estonia
1087msp95 2189ms
🇮🇹Italy
1123msp95 2507ms
🇸🇮Slovenia
1126msp95 2770ms
🇱🇺Luxembourg
1133msp95 3039ms
🇵🇹Portugal
1141msp95 2175ms
🇪🇸Spain
1142msp95 2738ms
🇦🇹Austria
1180msp95 3310ms
🇭🇷Croatia
1259msp95 2942ms
🇱🇹Lithuania
1268msp95 2666ms
🇵🇱Poland
1295msp95 3202ms
🇸🇰Slovakia
1314msp95 2735ms
🇬🇷Greece
1424msp95 3259ms
🇧🇬Bulgaria
1433msp95 3178ms
🇨🇾Cyprus
1486msp95 3508ms
🇬🇧Northern Ireland
1612msp95 3237ms
🇱🇻Latvia
1857msp95 4671ms
🇷🇴Romania
2252msp95 5849ms
🇳🇱Netherlands
2261msp95 4758ms
🇧🇪Belgium
2479msp95 5648ms
🇸🇪Sweden
2499msp95 5157ms
🇫🇷France
3307msp95 6607ms
🇫🇮Finland
3409msp95 7825ms
🇩🇪Germany
3960msp95 8813ms
🇨🇿Czech Republic
4636msp95 10718ms
🇩🇰Denmark
5894msp95 10929ms

About this data — Statistics computed nightly from anonymised VAT validation logs. Cached results excluded. Registration dates and legal forms: Romania (ANAF), Czech Republic (ARES), France (SIREN), Finland (PRH), Denmark (CVR), Sweden (Bolagsverket). Industry data sourced from countries whose local registries provide it — see /docs/coverage.