Make Integration for EU VAT Validation
A business customer types a VAT number into a form, and everything downstream — the invoice, the reverse charge, the quarterly return — treats it as a fact. The vatnode app checks it against the official EU VIES register inside the scenario, and keeps checking it after the deal closes.
Validation Is Not a One-Time Event
Most scenarios check a VAT number once, at signup, and never again. Registrations get cancelled, companies get struck off, and the number that was valid in March is not the number you invoice against in September. If you zero-rate an intra-EU sale against a lapsed registration, the VAT you did not charge is still owed — by you, with interest.
That is why the app has both halves: a module that validates now, and an instant trigger that tells you when the answer changes later.
Modules
| Type | Module | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Instant trigger | Watch VAT Events | Fires the moment a monitored VAT number stops being valid, becomes valid again, or the trader name or address changes in VIES. Webhook-based — no polling interval to tune. |
| Action | Validate a VAT Number | Checks a number against the live VIES register. Returns validity, registered trader name and address, the country VAT rates, and the VIES consultation number when your account has a requester VAT set. |
| Action | Monitor a VAT Number | Adds a VAT number to daily monitoring, which is what feeds the instant trigger. |
| Action | Get VAT Rates | Standard, reduced, super-reduced and parking rates for a European country, plus the country VAT number format. |
| Universal | Make an API Call | Any other authorized call to the vatnode API, for the endpoints the dedicated modules do not cover. |
Setup
- Create a key in your dashboard and paste it into the vatnode connection. The key is sanitized out of the Make logs.
- Add Validate a VAT Number to the scenario that creates customers or invoices, and route on the
validfield. - Add Monitor a VAT Number to the same scenario, then build a second one starting with Watch VAT Events for everything that happens afterwards.
Scenarios Worth Copying
New customer in the CRM → Validate a VAT Number → update the record
Store validity, trader name and the consultation number on the account, so the reverse-charge decision has evidence behind it months later.
New order → Validate a VAT Number → route B2B and B2C down different paths
The zero-rate branch only runs when VIES actually confirms the number.
New customer → Monitor a VAT Number
Every counterparty gets watched from the day it signs up. No list to maintain.
Watch VAT Events → create a task, notify the account owner
The invoice stops being reverse-charge-eligible the moment this fires. Nobody has to remember to re-check.
Google Sheets iterator → Validate a VAT Number → write the result back
Bulk cleanup of an inherited customer list without writing any code.
Questions
What do I need to connect it?
One vatnode API key, pasted into the connection dialog. Live keys work everywhere. A test key validates the XX fixture numbers only, so the instant trigger and the monitoring module need a live key.
How does the instant trigger work?
Adding the module registers a vatnode webhook pointing at the Make webhook URL and verifies it straight away. vatnode then pushes each event as it happens. Removing the module deletes the webhook.
How many operations does a scenario cost?
On the vatnode side, one request per Validate module run. The instant trigger and rate lookups cost nothing against your quota. Make counts its own operations separately.
Why not call VIES with an HTTP module?
You can, until you meet the reality of it: VIES is a SOAP service returning XML, individual member states go down without warning, it rate-limits by IP, and the audit consultation number is only issued when the request is shaped correctly. The app hides that behind one module and a flat output bundle.
Which countries are covered?
Validation covers the 27 EU member states plus XI for Northern Ireland. Rate and format data covers those plus around 17 other European jurisdictions, lookup only.
The app is free and open source. The validation module needs a key, and the free plan comes with a monthly quota and no card.
Get a free API key