# EU VAT Number Validation (VIES, 28 jurisdictions) (`groundtruth/eu-vat-validation`) Actor

Check VAT numbers against the European Commission's official VIES service across all 27 EU states plus Northern Ireland. Tells you when a number is genuinely invalid and, crucially, when the tax service simply did not answer.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/groundtruth/eu-vat-validation.md
- **Developed by:** [Ground Truth](https://apify.com/groundtruth) (community)
- **Categories:** AI, MCP servers, Agents
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 1,000 vat checks

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

## EU VAT Number Validation (VIES, 28 jurisdictions)

Check VAT numbers against the **European Commission's official VIES service**,
covering all 27 EU member states plus Northern Ireland, in one run.

Give it a list of VAT numbers. Get back, for each one, whether the
registration is real and who it belongs to.

### The thing that makes this different

**VIES answers "invalid" when it means "I could not check".**

When a member state's tax service is busy, VIES returns `isValid: false` with
`userError: MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ`. Measured on 24 August 2026, the Czech
number CZ03479919 returned valid, valid, then false within seconds. In one
batch of 26 numbers, 22 of the false answers were the Czech service throttling
rather than genuine rejections.

Any tool that passes that straight through will tell you a real supplier's VAT
number is fake. You might refuse to trade with them, or charge VAT you should
not have.

This one never does. Every record carries a **`check_status`**:

| check\_status | is\_valid | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| `valid` | `true` | The registration exists, and `legal_name` is filled in |
| `invalid` | `false` | The tax authority says this number is not registered |
| `unchecked` | `null` | **No verdict.** The tax service did not answer, and `check_note` says why. Re-run these. |

It also retries through transient failures before giving up, so most throttled
numbers still come back with a real answer.

### Output

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `vat_number` | The number checked, normalised |
| `country_code` | Two-letter code; `EL` for Greece, `XI` for Northern Ireland |
| `check_status` | valid, invalid, or unchecked |
| `is_valid` | true, false, or null when unchecked |
| `legal_name` | Registered name, only ever present on a valid verdict |
| `check_note` | Why a check could not be completed |
| `checked_date` | The date VIES answered |
| `verify_url` | The official VIES page, to check by hand |

### Input

| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| `vat_numbers` | A list of VAT numbers, each starting with its country code. Up to 5,000 per run. |

Formatting is forgiving: `CZ00177041`, `cz 001 770 41` and `CZ-001-770-41` are
the same number. Greece can be typed `GR` or `EL`, Northern Ireland `XI`, `GB`
or `UK`. Anything that is not a usable VAT number is reported in the log and
skipped, and you are not charged for it.

### What it does not collect

**The registered address.** VIES returns one, but for a sole trader that is
very often a home address, and you do not need it to verify a registration.

### Licensing

Data comes from the European Commission's VIES service, licensed under
**CC BY 4.0** under the Commission's reuse decision of 12 December 2011. Every
run writes the required attribution to its log.

# Actor input Schema

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

One or more VAT numbers, each starting with its country code, for example CZ00177041. Spaces, dots and hyphens are fine. Use GR or EL for Greece, and XI, GB or UK for Northern Ireland.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vat_numbers": [
    "CZ00177041",
    "DE811907980"
  ]
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

## `resultsCsv` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runDetails` (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_numbers": [
        "CZ00177041"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("groundtruth/eu-vat-validation").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_numbers": ["CZ00177041"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("groundtruth/eu-vat-validation").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_numbers": [
    "CZ00177041"
  ]
}' |
apify call groundtruth/eu-vat-validation --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

```

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/Lj2P4jYekQcKBrQrX/builds/q8X1oMowLW7tSQ9uZ/openapi.json