EU VAT Number Validation & VAT Checker (VIES)

VAT validation and VAT checker for EU businesses: check the VAT numbers of the businesses you trade with against the European Commission's official VIES service, and see at a glance whether the registered name and address match what you have on file. Paste a list, or add counterparties with their expected name and address. You get one table with valid or invalid, the registered details, 0–100 match scores and, with your own VAT number, a VIES consultation number per check. Only definite VIES answers are charged, at $2 per 1,000 checks.

Contents

• What it does
• How to use
• Use cases
• Input
• Output
• Compared with other VIES Actors
• Use with AI agents (MCP)
• API
• Schedules and integrations
• Pricing
• FAQ
• Limits
• Data source

What it does

• Validates EU VAT numbers (all 27 member states plus Northern Ireland, XI) with the VIES REST service.
• Normalises input: spaces, dots and dashes are ignored, GR is mapped to VIES's EL, and a default country can be set for bare numbers.
• Checks each number's format locally first, so typos are flagged at once and for free.
• Scores the registered name against the one you expect. The score ignores case, accents, punctuation and legal forms such as Ltd, GmbH or S.L.
• Scores the registered address against the street, postal code and city you give.
• Also passes your expected details to VIES's own approximate matching, for the member states that support it.
• With your own VAT number, returns the VIES consultation number for each check. Keep it as evidence that you checked.
• Checks VIES's member-state availability first and reports unavailable countries instead of failing.

How to use

1. Paste VAT numbers (with country prefix) into VAT numbers, or add Counterparties with the name and address you expect.
2. Optionally add your own EU VAT number to get consultation numbers.
3. Run, then export the dataset as CSV, Excel or JSON, or call the Actor from your ERP or scripts through the Apify API.

Ready-made examples you can open and run:

• Validate a list of EU VAT numbers in bulk with VIES
• Check that a supplier's VAT number matches its name and city
• Clean and check messy VAT numbers from a CRM export

Use cases

Check B2B customers before zero-rating an intra-EU invoice

An intra-EU B2B supply can go out without VAT only when the customer has a valid VAT number. Check it on the day you invoice, with your own number so each check carries a consultation number.

{
  "vatNumbers": ["IE6388047V", "LU20260743"],
  "requesterVatNumber": "<your own EU VAT number>"
}

Onboard a supplier and confirm who the number belongs to

A valid number is not enough if it belongs to someone else. Give the name and city you expect; a low name score is worth a phone call before the first payment.

{
  "counterparties": [
    { "vatNumber": "IE9700053D", "name": "Apple Distribution International Ltd", "city": "Cork" },
    { "vatNumber": "LU20260743", "name": "Amazon EU S.a r.l.", "city": "Luxembourg" }
  ]
}

Clean the VAT numbers in a CRM or ERP export

Numbers typed by hand come with spaces, dots and missing prefixes. Bad formats come back as free invalid_format rows without a VIES call.

{
  "vatNumbers": ["ie 6388047 v", "LU-202.607.43", "9700053D", "DE12345"],
  "defaultCountry": "IE"
}

Re-check your whole customer list every month

VAT registrations get cancelled. Save your list as a task, schedule it monthly and filter the dataset for invalid. A 1,000-customer list costs $2.00 per run.

{
  "vatNumbers": ["IE6388047V", "IE9700053D", "NL805734958B01", "FR40303265045"],
  "maxNumbers": 5000
}

Input

Field	Description
vatNumbers	VAT numbers, one per line, e.g. DE811569869, FR 40 303 265 045.
counterparties	Optional JSON list: {"vatNumber", "name", "street", "postalCode", "city"}.
defaultCountry	Country used for numbers without a prefix.
requesterVatNumber	Your own VAT number, for consultation numbers.
maxNumbers	Safety cap per run (default 1,000, maximum 10,000).

A number listed in both fields is checked once; the counterparty entry, with its expected details, wins.

{
  "vatNumbers": ["DE811569869"],
  "counterparties": [{ "vatNumber": "IE6388047V", "name": "Google Ireland Ltd", "city": "Dublin" }]
}

Output

One row per VAT number. This record comes from a real check on 22 Oct 2026 of Google Ireland's public VAT number, run with our own VAT number as requester, so VIES issued a consultation number:

{
  "input": "IE6388047V",
  "vatNumber": "IE6388047V",
  "countryCode": "IE",
  "status": "valid",
  "valid": true,
  "registeredName": "GOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED",
  "registeredAddress": "3RD FLOOR, GORDON HOUSE, BARROW STREET, DUBLIN 4",
  "expectedName": "Google Ireland Ltd",
  "nameMatchScore": 100,
  "nameMatch": "match",
  "addressMatchScore": 60,
  "addressMatch": "partial",
  "viesApproximateMatch": { "name": "NOT_PROCESSED", "street": "NOT_PROCESSED", "postalCode": "NOT_PROCESSED", "city": "NOT_PROCESSED" },
  "consultationNumber": "WAPIAAAAaFieTXog",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-22T07:17:53.359Z",
  "error": null
}

The input expected "street": "Barrow Street", "postalCode": "D04", "city": "Dublin". Street and city were found; the Eircode district D04 was not, because VIES holds the address as "DUBLIN 4". So the address score is 60, partial. Ireland does not run VIES's approximate matching, hence NOT_PROCESSED.

A number with a bad format costs nothing and looks like this:

{
  "input": "DE12345",
  "vatNumber": "DE12345",
  "countryCode": "DE",
  "status": "invalid_format",
  "valid": null,
  "error": "Does not match the DE VAT number format",
  "checkedAt": "2026-10-22T07:22:11.113Z"
}

status is valid, invalid, invalid_format, unavailable or error. Match verdicts: match (score ≥ 85), partial (60–84), mismatch, not_available (the member state does not publish names or addresses, e.g. Germany) or not_requested.

Compared with other VIES Actors

Facts from each Actor's own README and input schema, read on 22 Oct 2026. Prices are the Store's listed price per 1,000 of each Actor's main event.

	This Actor	scrapers_lat/eu-vat-vies-validation-scraper	apnoda/anaf-vies-company-lookup	n1ckyta/eu-invoice-vat-extractor
Main job	VIES check + name and address match	VIES check	Romanian ANAF company data + VIES	Invoice extraction + VIES + IBAN
EU 27 + XI	yes	yes	yes	yes
VIES consultation number	yes	yes	yes	not stated
Own 0–100 name and address scores	yes	no	no	name vs invoice
VIES approximate-match fields	yes	yes	not stated	not stated
Free rows for bad formats and outages	yes	not stated	yes (cache fallback)	yes
Numbers per run	1,000 default, 10,000 max	10 on free plans, up to 100,000	100 per call	100 documents
Price per 1,000 (main event)	$2.00	$15.00	$60.00 (company), $20.00 VAT-only	$40.00 (invoice)

If you need Romanian registry data or invoice OCR, the other two do jobs this Actor does not.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Agents such as Claude, Cursor or any MCP client can call this Actor through Apify's hosted MCP server at https://mcp.apify.com. Add it with the Actor preloaded:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "apify": { "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=brisaworks/eu-vat-validator" }
  }
}

The tool is named brisaworks--eu-vat-validator. Example prompts:

• "Check these EU VAT numbers with VIES and tell me which are invalid: IE6388047V, LU20260743, NL805734958B01."
• "Our new supplier says it is Apple Distribution International Ltd in Cork with VAT number IE9700053D. Check that the number is valid and registered to that name."

For the second prompt the agent sends:

{
  "counterparties": [
    { "vatNumber": "IE9700053D", "name": "Apple Distribution International Ltd", "city": "Cork" }
  ]
}

API

Run the Actor and get the rows in one call (fine for short lists; the synchronous endpoint waits up to 5 minutes):

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/brisaworks~eu-vat-validator/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"vatNumbers": ["IE6388047V", "LU20260743"]}'

Node.js with apify-client:

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: process.env.APIFY_TOKEN });
const run = await client.actor('brisaworks/eu-vat-validator').call({
    counterparties: [{ vatNumber: 'IE6388047V', name: 'Google Ireland Ltd', city: 'Dublin' }],
});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items.map((i) => [i.vatNumber, i.status, i.nameMatch]));

Python with apify-client:

import os
from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient(os.environ["APIFY_TOKEN"])
run = client.actor("brisaworks/eu-vat-validator").call(
    run_input={"vatNumbers": ["IE6388047V", "LU20260743"]}
)
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item["vatNumber"], item["status"], item.get("registeredName"))

For long lists, start the run asynchronously and read the dataset when it finishes: 1,000 numbers take 25–50 minutes.

Schedules and integrations

• Schedules: save your customer list as a task and add an Apify schedule (for example on the 1st of each month).
• Webhooks: send the run's dataset to your own endpoint when a run succeeds, and filter for invalid or mismatch.
• Make, Zapier and n8n: use Apify's integrations to start a check when a customer is added to your CRM and write the status back.

Pricing

Event	Price	Per 1,000	Charged when
vat-check	$0.002	$2.00	VIES gives a definite valid or invalid answer

Apify subscribers pay less: Bronze $0.0018 ($1.80 per 1,000), Silver $0.0016 ($1.60 per 1,000), Gold $0.0014 ($1.40 per 1,000).

Format errors, unavailable member states and VIES errors are free. An invalid answer is a definite VIES answer and is charged.

FAQ

How much does it cost to validate EU VAT numbers?

• 100 VAT numbers: $0.20.
• A monthly check of 1,000 customers: $2.00.
• VIES itself is free. Apify adds its standard small run-start fee.

Set a maximum cost per run in the run options: the Actor checks it before saving each answer and stops before going over it.

Is a VIES check enough proof for zero-rating an invoice?

It is the European Commission's official check. Add your own VAT number to get a VIES consultation number for each check, which you can keep as evidence that you checked on that date. Ask your tax adviser what your country requires.

Why is the name "not_available" for German numbers?

Some member states, Germany among them, never return names or addresses through VIES. The Actor still passes your expected details to VIES's own approximate matching where the member state supports it.

What happens when a country's VIES service is down?

The Actor checks member-state availability first and returns a free unavailable row; busy member states are retried with a back-off. Run those numbers again later.

Can I validate UK VAT numbers?

Only Northern Ireland (XI) numbers are in VIES. Great Britain (GB) numbers are checked by HMRC, not VIES.

Can I give numbers without a country prefix?

Yes. Set Default country (e.g. DE) and bare numbers get that prefix. Numbers that already have a prefix keep it.

Limits

• VIES is designed for single requests, so the Actor sends one check at a time, at least a second apart, and retries busy member states (MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ, MS_UNAVAILABLE) with a back-off. 1,000 numbers take roughly 25–50 minutes, depending on how fast the member states answer.
• Some member states never return names or addresses (Germany among them); scores are then not_available.
• VIES answers come from the national databases in real time and can be briefly unavailable during national maintenance windows.
• At most 10,000 numbers per run.

Data source

• VIES on-the-Web REST API (https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/rest-api/check-vat-number and /check-status), contract published at https://ec.europa.eu/assets/taxud/vow-information/swagger_publicVAT.yaml — read on 2026-10-14.
• VIES disclaimer and FAQ (https://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/#/disclaimer, read 2026-10-14): the service exists so that businesses can confirm the VAT numbers of the persons they supply; other uses, re-publication and data extraction are forbidden, and VIES is "designed for single requests". Use this Actor only to check the counterparties you deal with, not to build or resell databases.

Privacy

For sole traders, the registered name and address are personal data. You are the controller of the counterparties you check; the Actor processes them only to run your checks, keeps nothing after the run, and writes results only to your dataset.

Support

Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab; issues are answered within a few days and fixed within 14 days.