# EU VAT Number Validator (VIES) – Bulk (`marksimon/eu-vat-validator`) Actor

Validates thousands of EU VAT numbers against the official VIES service and returns validity, company name and address. Cleans messy input, retries VIES outages and only charges for definitive answers.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/marksimon/eu-vat-validator.md
- **Developed by:** [Mark Simon](https://apify.com/marksimon) (community)
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.50 / 1,000 vat number checkeds

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## EU VAT Number Validator (VIES) – Bulk

Check a whole customer or supplier list against **VIES**, the European Commission's official VAT validation service, in one run. For every number you get whether it is valid today, the registered company name and address (where the member state publishes them) and the VIES request date for your records.

Useful for accountants, e-commerce shops applying the reverse charge, B2B marketplaces, procurement teams onboarding suppliers, and freight companies checking a new client before accepting a load.

### Why this Actor

- **Messy input is fine:** `hu 1234 5678`, `DE-123.456.789`, `GR...` (mapped to `EL`) and Hungarian tax numbers like `12345678-2-42` are normalised automatically.
- **Format check first:** obviously wrong numbers are flagged without calling VIES, and you are not charged for them.
- **Outages handled:** VIES national services are often temporarily down. The Actor retries with backoff and marks the rest as `unavailable` (not charged) instead of wrongly calling them invalid.

### Input example

```json
{ "vatNumbers": ["HU12345678", "ATU12345678", "12345678-2-42"], "defaultCountry": "HU" }
```

### Output

| Field | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| `status` | `valid`, `invalid`, `invalid_format` or `unavailable` |
| `valid` | `true` / `false`, or `null` when VIES could not answer |
| `fullVatNumber` | Normalised number with country prefix |
| `name`, `address` | Registered name and address, if the member state shares them (Germany, for example, does not) |
| `viesRequestDate` | Timestamp from VIES |

### Pricing

You pay per definitive VIES answer (event `vat-checked`, valid or invalid). Format errors and VIES outages are free.

### Notes

Data comes from the official public VIES REST service of the European Commission. VIES confirms registration for intra-EU transactions only; it is not a credit check.

# Actor input Schema

## `vatNumbers` (type: `array`):

One per line, with or without country prefix and separators, e.g. HU12345678, DE 123 456 789, ATU12345678.

## `defaultCountry` (type: `string`):

Country code for numbers written without prefix (e.g. HU). With HU, Hungarian tax numbers like 12345678-2-42 are accepted too.

## `deduplicate` (type: `boolean`):

Check each distinct input only once.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

VIES limits concurrent requests per country; keep this low for large lists.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "vatNumbers": [
    "HU12345678",
    "DE123456789"
  ],
  "deduplicate": true,
  "maxConcurrency": 3
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

One row per VAT number: status (valid, invalid, invalid_format, unavailable), company name and address from VIES.

# 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 = {
    "vatNumbers": [
        "HU12345678",
        "DE123456789"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("marksimon/eu-vat-validator").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 = { "vatNumbers": [
        "HU12345678",
        "DE123456789",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("marksimon/eu-vat-validator").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 '{
  "vatNumbers": [
    "HU12345678",
    "DE123456789"
  ]
}' |
apify call marksimon/eu-vat-validator --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/wWT5SQDEO10NQ9Z64/builds/zVeoHag9XAoMU2jvu/openapi.json