# EU VAT Number Validator - VIES Quick Verify (`factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify`) Actor

Verify EU and Northern Ireland VAT numbers with the European Commission VIES service. Get VALID, INVALID, or source-unavailable results, company details when supplied, batch VAT checks, and structured output.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify.md
- **Developed by:** [Liou](https://apify.com/factrelay) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$2.00 / 1,000 completed vat verifications

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

Paste an EU or Northern Ireland VAT number and get the current validity answer returned by the European Commission VIES service. The Actor keeps invalid input separate from official-source outages, so a VIES problem is never silently reported as an invalid VAT number.

**Quick example:** `CZ04788290` returns `VALID` and, when supplied by VIES, the official company name and address.

### EU VAT number validation and VIES checker

Use this Actor for EU VAT number validation, VIES VAT checks, VAT ID lookup, and structured VAT verification. A completed official response is returned as `VALID` or `INVALID`; source failures are returned separately as `VIES UNAVAILABLE`.

The result includes the normalized VAT number, country, official request date, checked timestamp, source metadata, and company name or address when the national source supplies those fields.

### Verify VAT numbers for business workflows

The Actor supports EU Member State VAT prefixes and Northern Ireland `XI`. General Great Britain `GB` VAT numbers are outside the VIES service and are rejected before a live request.

Company details are not guaranteed for every valid VAT number because availability differs by country. A valid response can therefore contain no company name or address without changing the validity verdict.

### VAT validation API and batch checks

Single verification is the default. Batch input accepts up to 100 VAT numbers, with bounded concurrency to respect the official service. Normalized duplicates reuse the first completed verification and are not charged twice in the same run.

Structured Dataset output is suitable for API integrations, onboarding checks, finance operations, vendor workflows, and automated VAT validation.

### Quick start

1. Paste a VAT number including its country prefix, for example `CZ04788290`.
2. Click **Start**.
3. Read `VALID`, `INVALID`, or `VIES UNAVAILABLE` in the Dataset overview.
4. Copy the structured row or use the Dataset API for automation.

### Important VIES scope

VIES reports whether the submitted VAT number is valid for intra-EU VAT purposes at the time of the request. It is not a complete tax, legal, sanctions, credit, identity, or counterparty due-diligence opinion.

When VIES or a national VAT service is unavailable, the Actor returns `VIES UNAVAILABLE` instead of converting the outage into an `INVALID` verdict.

### Billing policy

A completed official `VALID` or `INVALID` verification is one completed event. Invalid local input and official-source failures are not completed billable verifications. Duplicate normalized values within the same run reuse the first result and are not charged a second time.

### Data source and independence

Verification requests are sent to the European Commission VIES service over HTTPS. The structured result records whether the source was queried and preserves the official request date when provided.

This is an independent verification tool. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or operated by the European Commission or any national tax authority.

# Actor input Schema

## `vat_number` (type: `string`):

EU Member State or Northern Ireland VAT number including country prefix.

## `vat_numbers` (type: `array`):

Paste one VAT number per line, up to 100. Duplicate normalized values are reused and not charged twice in the same run.

## `concurrency` (type: `integer`):

Keep low to respect VIES service limits.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vat_number": "CZ04788290",
  "concurrency": 2
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "vat_number": "CZ04788290"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "vat_number": "CZ04788290" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "vat_number": "CZ04788290"
}' |
apify call factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,factrelay/eu-vat-quick-verify"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Bwdb4pNGNC9vGUsxD/builds/4QP4P6Q02tQs36Cmx/openapi.json