Italy VAT API – Validate Italy VAT Numbers in Real Time

Why an Italy-Aware VAT API

In Italy, VAT is known as Imposta sul valore aggiunto (IVA) and the current standard rate is 22%. Every Italy VAT number starts with the prefix IT and follows a fixed structure issued by the Italian tax authority. A generic VAT validator that ignores country-specific quirks will accept malformed input and miss the country’s format rules.

The vatnode API normalises IVA input, runs the official VIES check, and returns a single JSON shape with the consultation number, company data where published, and the current Italy VAT rates inline.

Italy VAT Number Format

Real Italy VAT numbers you can validate right now:

• IT15844561009 — Gruppo IVA Enel
• IT10182640150 — Luxottica Group SpA
• IT00905811006 — Eni SpA

More of them live in the EU VAT number directory, grouped by member state.

Validating Italy VAT Numbers – Code Examples

All three examples validate the same Italy VAT number IT15844561009. To receive a consultation number back, set your own VAT as requester once in dashboard Account details – then every call, including these, returns a consultation number automatically, with no extra parameters.

curl 'https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IT15844561009' \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

const res = await fetch(
  'https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IT15844561009',
  { headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${process.env.VATNODE_API_KEY}` } }
)
const data = await res.json()
console.log(data.valid, data.companyName, data.consultationNumber)

import os, httpx

r = httpx.get(
    "https://api.vatnode.dev/v1/vat/IT15844561009",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['VATNODE_API_KEY']}"},
)
data = r.json()
print(data["valid"], data["companyName"], data["consultationNumber"])

What You Get Back

A successful response for a valid ItalyVAT number, once you've set your VAT as requester in dashboard Account details, looks like this:

{
  "valid": true,
  "vatId": "IT15844561009",
  "countryCode": "IT",
  "countryName": "Italy",
  "companyName": "Gruppo IVA Enel",
  "consultationNumber": "WAPIAAAAXk7ZpY3o",
  "source": "VIES",
  "countryVat": {
    "currency": "EUR",
    "standardRate": 22,
    "reducedRates": [5,10],
    "superReducedRate": 4,
    "parkingRate": null
  },
  "verifiedAt": "2026-05-19T08:14:22Z"
}

When the number is not registered, valid is false and company fields are null. The consultationNumber is the EU VIES requestIdentifier – the documented audit reference for reverse-charge ‘reasonable care’ evidence. It is returned once you set your own VAT as requester in dashboard Settings; otherwise it is null.

Italy VAT Rates

vatnode returns the current Italian IVA rates inline with every successful response. Today’s rates (standard 22%, reduced 5%, 10%, super-reduced 4%) are sourced from the European Commission TEDB feed, checked daily and updated on any change.

VIES vs National Fallback for Italy

For Italy, VIES is the sole authoritative source. vatnode does not run a national-registry fallback for this country today – when VIES is unavailable, the API surfaces a structured VIES_UNAVAILABLE error with retry guidance so you can degrade gracefully rather than silently accept unverified numbers.

Cached VIES responses (15-minute TTL on identical VAT IDs) absorb the majority of short outages transparently. For the full per-country fallback status, see the coverage matrix.

Italy VAT API – FAQ

VAT APIs for Other EU Countries

• Latvia VAT API — validate PVN numbers
• Lithuania VAT number validation API
• Luxembourg VAT API — validate TVA numbers
• Netherlands VAT number validation API

See Also

• vatnode Quickstart – API key in 60 seconds
• VAT validation reference – endpoint, parameters, error codes
• Italy VAT number format, rates, and verified examples
• Validate Italy VAT numbers from AI agents (Claude, Cursor) via MCP

Building an AI workflow? vatnode is also available to AI agents through the official MCP server — Claude, Cursor and ChatGPT can validate Italy VAT numbers and look up rates directly in chat.