Pricing

Pay per usage

UK VAT number checker

This actor uses https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/ to check if UK VAT number is valid or not. It can check multiple VAT numbers in one run. If VAT number is valid then business name and address are fetched.

Pricing

Pay per usage

Rating

0.0

(0)

Developer

Jan Novotny

Actor stats

Bookmarked

Total users

Monthly active users

12 days ago

Last modified

.actor/Dockerfile

# Specify the base Docker image. You can read more about
# the available images at https://sdk.apify.com/docs/guides/docker-images
# You can also use any other image from Docker Hub.
FROM apify/actor-node:18

# Copy just package.json and package-lock.json
# to speed up the build using Docker layer cache.
COPY package*.json ./

# Install NPM packages, skip optional and development dependencies to
# keep the image small. Avoid logging too much and print the dependency
# tree for debugging
RUN npm --quiet set progress=false \
    && npm install --omit=dev --omit=optional \
    && echo "Installed NPM packages:" \
    && (npm list --omit=dev --all || true) \
    && echo "Node.js version:" \
    && node --version \
    && echo "NPM version:" \
    && npm --version \
    && rm -r ~/.npm

# Next, copy the remaining files and directories with the source code.
# Since we do this after NPM install, quick build will be really fast
# for most source file changes.
COPY . ./


# Run the image.
CMD npm start --silent

.actor/INPUT_SCHEMA.json

{
    "title": "CheerioCrawler Template",
    "type": "object",
    "schemaVersion": 1,
    "properties": {
        "vatIds": {
            "title": "Vat numbers",
            "type": "array",
            "description": "UK Vat numbers to check.",
            "editor": "stringList",
            "prefill": ["GB123456789"],
            "example": ["GB123456789"]
        }
    },
    "required": ["vatIds"]
}

.actor/README.md

1# UK VAT Number Checker
2
3Authenticates and verifies one or more UK VAT (Value Added Tax) numbers using the official HMRC VAT check service.
4
5This Actor accepts a list of VAT numbers as input and returns detailed validation results, including the company name and address for each valid VAT number.
6
7---
8
9## 🧠 Features
10
11- ✅ Validates UK VAT numbers  
12- 🧾 Returns company name and address for valid entries  
13- 📊 Supports bulk validation in one run  
14- ⚡ Suitable for automation and integrations  
15
16---
17
18## 🚀 How It Works
19
20The Actor programmatically interacts with the official UK VAT check service to determine:
21
22- Whether a VAT number is valid  
23- The registered business name (if valid)  
24- The registered address (if valid)  
25
26This makes it easy to integrate VAT checks into automation workflows, compliance checks, partner onboarding flows, or data enrichment processes.
27
28---
29
30## 🧾 Input
31
32Provide an array of UK VAT numbers as strings:
33
34```json
35[
36  "GB123456789",
37  "GB987654321"
38]
39```
40
41### Input Requirements
42
43- UK VAT numbers typically start with `GB`
44- No spaces required
45- Multiple VAT numbers supported
46
47---
48
49## 📤 Output
50
51The Actor returns an array of result objects — one per VAT number checked:
52
53```json
54[
55  {
56    "vatId": "GB220430231",
57    "isValid": true,
58    "businessName": "TESCO PLC",
59    "checkedAt": "2025-03-28T13:33:56.267Z",
60    "address": "CIRRUS A SHIRE PARK KESTREL WAY WELWYN GARDEN CITY AL7 1GA GB"
61  },
62  {
63    "vatId": "GB123456789",
64    "isValid": false,
65    "businessName": null,
66    "checkedAt": "2025-03-28T13:34:12.415Z",
67    "address": null
68  }
69]
70```
71
72### Output Fields
73
74| Field | Description |
75|-------|-------------|
76| `vatId` | Input VAT number |
77| `isValid` | Boolean result of validation |
78| `businessName` | Registered business name (if valid) |
79| `address` | Registered business address (if valid) |
80| `checkedAt` | ISO timestamp when the check was performed |
81
82---
83
84## 📦 Example Use Cases
85
86- Validate supplier VAT details before invoicing  
87- Automate VAT compliance checks  
88- Enrich CRM or accounting datasets  
89- Verify business partners during onboarding
90
91## ⚠️ Notes
92
93- This Actor uses the publicly available UK VAT check service.
94- It does not use the official HMRC commercial API.
95- For high-volume or compliance-critical usage, consider using HMRC’s official API service.

.actor/actor.json

{
	"actorSpecification": 1,
	"name": "uk-vat-id-check",
	"title": "UK VAT number checker",
	"description": "",
	"version": "0.0",
	"input": "./INPUT_SCHEMA.json",
	"readme": "./README.md",
	"dockefile": "./Dockerfile",
	"minMemoryMbytes": 256,
	"maxMemoryMbytes": 4096,
	"storages": {
		"dataset": {
			"actorSpecification": 1,
			"title": "UK VAT number check result",
			"views": {
				"floridaMan": {
					"title": "UK VAT number check result",
					"transformation": {
						"fields": [
							"vatId",
							"isValid",
							"businessName",
                            "checkedAt",
                            "address"
						]
					},
					"display": {
						"component": "table",
						"properties": {
							"vatId": {
								"label": "VAT number",
								"format": "string"
							},
							"isValid": {
								"label": "Is valid",
								"format": "boolean"
							},
							"businessName": {
								"label": "Business name",
								"format": "string"
							},
                            "address": {
								"label": "Address",
								"format": "string"
							},
                            "checkedAt": {
								"label": "Checked at",
								"format": "datetime"
							}
						}
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
}

src/main.js

1/**
2 * This template is a production ready boilerplate for developing with `CheerioCrawler`.
3 * Use this to bootstrap your projects using the most up-to-date code.
4 * If you're looking for examples or want to learn more, see README.
5 */
6
7// For more information, see https://sdk.apify.com
8import { Actor } from 'apify';
9// For more information, see https://crawlee.dev
10import { BasicCrawler } from 'crawlee';
11import { gotScraping } from 'got-scraping';
12import cheerio from 'cheerio';
13import { FingerprintGenerator } from 'fingerprint-generator';
14
15// UK (Standard = 9 digits), (Branches = 12 digits), (Government = GD + 3 digits), (Health authority = HA + 3 digits), "XI" prefix is used for Northern Ireland!
16const UK_VAT_NUMBER_REGEX = /^(GB|XI)?([0-9]{9}([0-9]{3})?$|(GD|HA)[0-9]{3}$)/;
17
18// Initialize the Apify SDK
19await Actor.init();
20const input = await Actor.getInput();
21
22const vatIdsToValidate = [];
23for (const vatId of input.vatIds) {
24    // UK VAT number is 9 or 12 numbers. Could be prefixed by GB.
25    if (!vatId.match(UK_VAT_NUMBER_REGEX)) {
26        await Actor.pushData({ vatId, isValid: false, checkedAt: new Date(), address: null, businessName: null, status: 'error' });
27    } else {
28        vatIdsToValidate.push(vatId);
29    }
30}
31
32const startUrls = vatIdsToValidate.map((vatId) => ({
33    url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
34    uniqueKey: vatId,
35    userData: { vatId, label: 'start' },
36}));
37
38const fingerprintGenerator = new FingerprintGenerator();
39const proxyConfiguration = await Actor.createProxyConfiguration();
40
41const crawler = new BasicCrawler({
42    useSessionPool: true,
43    async requestHandler({ request, session, log }) {
44        const  browserFingerprintWithHeaders = fingerprintGenerator.getFingerprint({
45            devices: ['desktop'],
46            browsers: ['chrome'],
47        });
48
49        const proxyUrl = await proxyConfiguration.newUrl();
50        const response = await gotScraping({
51            url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
52            method: 'GET',
53            proxyUrl,
54            http2: true,
55            headers: {
56                ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
57            },
58        });
59    
60        let $ = cheerio.load(response.body);
61        const token = $('input[name="csrfToken"]').val();
62        const payload = {
63            csrfToken: token,
64            target: request.userData.vatId,
65            requester: '',
66        };
67        await session.setCookiesFromResponse(response);
68
69        let postResponse;
70        // We have to catch the redirect as the response contains set-cookie headers
71        // And gotScraping won't use these cookies in redirect request
72        // That's why this hack with maxRedirects: 0
73        try {
74            await gotScraping({
75                url: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details',
76                form: payload,
77                method: 'POST',
78                proxyUrl,
79                http2: true,
80                maxRedirects: 0,
81                headers: {
82                    ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
83                    Cookie: session.getCookieString('https://www.tax.service.gov.uk'),
84                    'Content-Type': 'application/x-www-form-urlencoded',
85                    Referer: 'https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check-vat-number/enter-vat-details'
86                },
87            });
88        } catch (err) {
89            if (!err.response.headers.location) throw err;
90            postResponse = err.response;
91        }
92
93        if (!postResponse) throw new Error('VAT number check failed: Post to gov.uk failed');
94        await session.setCookiesFromResponse(postResponse);
95
96        log.info('Fetching result', { location: postResponse.headers.location });
97        const checkResponse = await gotScraping({
98            url: `https://www.tax.service.gov.uk${postResponse.headers.location}`,
99            proxyUrl,
100            http2: true,
101            maxRedirects: 1,
102            headers: {
103                ...browserFingerprintWithHeaders.headers,
104                Cookie: session.getCookieString('https://www.tax.service.gov.uk'),
105            },
106        });
107        $ = cheerio.load(checkResponse.body);
108    
109        const isInvalid = $('h1.govuk-heading-xl').text().toLowerCase().includes('invalid uk vat number');
110        const isValid = $('h1.govuk-panel__title').text().toLowerCase().includes('valid uk vat number');
111        if (!isInvalid && !isValid) {
112            await Actor.setValue(`debug-${request.userData.vatId}`, checkResponse.body, { contentType: 'text/html'});
113            throw new Error('Could not check VAT number: Unknown response');
114        }
115
116        const result = {
117            isValid,
118            checkedAt: new Date(),
119            vatId: request.userData.vatId,
120            businessName: null,
121            address: null,
122            status: 'success',
123        }
124
125        const subHeaders = $('h3.govuk-heading-s');
126        subHeaders.each((i, el) => {
127            if ($(el).text().includes('Registered business name')) {
128                result.businessName = $(el).next().text().trim();
129            }
130            if ($(el).text().includes('Registered business address')) {
131                result.address = $(el).next().text().trim();
132            }
133        });
134
135        await Actor.pushData(result);
136
137    },
138    async failedRequestHandler({ request }, err) {
139        await Actor.pushData({
140            isValid: null,
141            status: 'error',
142            checkedAt: new Date(),
143            vatId: request.userData.vatId,
144            businessName: null,
145            address: null,
146            error: err.message,
147        });
148    }
149});
150
151await crawler.run(startUrls);
152
153// Exit successfully
154await Actor.exit();

src/routes.js

1import { Dataset } from 'crawlee';
2
3export const router = createCheerioRouter();
4
5router.addDefaultHandler(async ({ enqueueLinks, log }) => {
6    log.info(`enqueueing new URLs`);
7    await enqueueLinks({
8        globs: ['https://apify.com/*'],
9        label: 'detail',
10    });
11});
12
13router.addHandler('vatId', async ({ request, $, log }) => {
14    const title = $('title').text();
15    log.info(`${title}`, { url: request.loadedUrl });
16
17    await Dataset.pushData({
18        url: request.loadedUrl,
19        title,
20    });
21});

.dockerignore

# configurations
.idea

# crawlee and apify storage folders
apify_storage
crawlee_storage
storage

# installed files
node_modules

# git folder
.git

.editorconfig

root = true

[*]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 4
charset = utf-8
trim_trailing_whitespace = true
insert_final_newline = true
end_of_line = lf

.eslintrc

{
    "extends": "@apify",
    "root": true
}

.gitignore

# This file tells Git which files shouldn't be added to source control

.DS_Store
.idea
dist
node_modules
apify_storage
storage

package.json

{
    "name": "crawlee-cheerio-javascript",
    "version": "0.0.1",
    "type": "module",
    "description": "This is a boilerplate of an Apify actor.",
    "engines": {
        "node": ">=16.0.0"
    },
    "dependencies": {
        "apify": "^3.4.0",
        "crawlee": "^3.16.0",
        "got-scraping": "^3.2.0",
         "cheerio": "1.0.0-rc.12",
         "fingerprint-generator": "^2.1.10"
    },
    "devDependencies": {
        "@apify/eslint-config": "^0.3.1",
        "eslint": "^8.20.0"
    },
    "scripts": {
        "start": "node src/main.js",
        "lint": "eslint ./src --ext .js,.jsx",
        "lint:fix": "eslint ./src --ext .js,.jsx --fix",
        "test": "echo \"Error: oops, the actor has no tests yet, sad!\" && exit 1"
    },
    "author": "It's not you it's me",
    "license": "ISC"
}

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