SiteVerdict — VAT & Company Number Validator (UK, EU)

Check thousands of EU, UK and Northern Ireland VAT numbers, UK company numbers and LEIs in one run. Every number is checked locally for format and check digits first. Impossible numbers are flagged without a paid lookup. Plausible numbers then go to the public registry services: EU VIES, HMRC, Companies House and GLEIF. This Actor is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them. Each result comes back with the registered name and address, a fuzzy match score against the name you supplied, a consultation number where the registry issues one, and a timestamped audit trail.

Who it is for

• Finance and AP teams checking supplier VAT numbers before paying invoices or zero-rating intra-EU supplies.
• E-commerce and marketplace operators verifying B2B customers' VAT IDs at checkout or onboarding.
• Compliance and KYB teams who need a dated proof of every check.
• Data teams cleaning CRM or ERP master data: normalising formats, removing duplicates and flagging dead numbers.

What you get per number

Field	Meaning
input, reference	Exactly what you supplied, plus your own reference (invoice or PO number).
number_type	vat, uk_company or lei. These are auto-detected, or you can set them yourself.
normalised_number, country	A clean ID such as DE136695976. GR is mapped to EL, separators and case are fixed, and short Belgian or Greek numbers are padded.
format_valid, checksum_valid	The local check result. checksum_valid: null means the format has no check digit.
registry_status	valid, invalid, unavailable (registry down, retry later), error, or not_checked (local check only).
active	Whether the VAT registration is valid now, the company is active, or the LEI is ACTIVE and ISSUED.
registered_name, registered_address	As returned by the registry. Some countries, such as Germany and Spain, never return them.
name_match_score (0-100), name_match	A fuzzy match of your name against the registered name, ignoring Ltd, GmbH, S.A., accents and so on. Values are exact, strong, partial, weak, mismatch or name_not_returned.
vies_trader_name_match	VIES's own approximate-match verdict, where the member state supports it.
consultation_number	The VIES request identifier or HMRC consultation number. These are only issued when you give your own VAT number (see below).
source, source_url, checked_at, registry_timestamp	Where and when the result came from.
evidence, evidence_key	The request URL, HTTP status, time received and SHA-256 of the raw response. The raw response is saved in the run's key-value store under evidence_key.
company_status, company_type, lei, lei_status	Companies House and GLEIF details.
charged_event	What this row cost: vat-checked, format-checked or nothing.

Sample row (abridged; real VIES answer for the example number, recorded 11 Oct 2026):

{ "input": "IE6388047V | Google Ireland Limited | INV-1001", "reference": "INV-1001",
  "number_type": "vat", "normalised_number": "IE6388047V", "country": "IE",
  "format_valid": true, "checksum_valid": true, "registry_status": "valid", "active": true,
  "registered_name": "GOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED",
  "registered_address": "3RD FLOOR, GORDON HOUSE, BARROW STREET, DUBLIN 4",
  "name_match_score": 100, "name_match": "exact", "source": "VIES", "charged_event": "vat-checked" }

The dataset has four views: Overview, Audit trail, Invalid & needs attention and UK companies & LEIs. The OUTPUT record holds the run summary: counts, registry calls, retries and any disabled sources.

How to use it

1. Paste your numbers into Numbers, one per line. You can add a name and your own reference after |.
2. Optional: add your own HMRC credentials (GB VAT numbers) and Companies House key (UK company numbers). Without them those numbers get a local format check only.
3. Set Max cost per run in the run options. The Actor stops cleanly when it is reached.
4. Click Start, then open the Output tab or download the dataset (CSV, JSON or Excel).

The example input (the same input the console pre-fills):

{
  "numbers": [
    "IE6388047V | Google Ireland Limited | INV-1001",
    "DE143454214",
    "GB980780684",
    "03977902 | Google UK Limited"
  ]
}

These are public registry entries used only as examples. Without HMRC or Companies House keys, the two Irish and German numbers go to VIES (vat-checked, $0.004 each) and the two UK numbers get a local check (format-checked, $0.0005 each). The most it can cost is $0.009. If a member state is down, that row is unavailable and free. On 15 Oct 2026 this input took about 2 minutes, because the Actor waited for an unavailable member state to come back.

Input examples

Simple list. Put one number per line. You can add a name and a reference after |:

IE6388047V | Google Ireland Limited | INV-1001
DE 143 454 214
FR40303265045 | Example SA | PO-77
GB980780684 | Acme Ltd
SC123456
5493001KJTIIGC8Y1R12

Get consultation numbers for your audit file. Set viesRequesterVat to your own EU or XI VAT number, and hmrcRequesterVrn to your UK VRN (this needs HMRC credentials).

Clean a big list cheaply. Set checkMode: "format_only". Nothing is sent to any registry, and you only pay the small format-checked price per row.

Sources and how each one is used

Source	Used for	Access
EU VIES REST API (/check-vat-number, /check-status)	VAT numbers for all 27 EU member states and XI (Northern Ireland).	Open, no key.
HMRC "Check a UK VAT number" API v2.0	GB VAT numbers. Version 1 was switched off on 17 Feb 2025, and version 2 needs authentication.	Your own HMRC Developer Hub application (OAuth client credentials, scope read:vat).
Companies House Public Data API (/company/{number})	UK company numbers.	Your own free API key (optional).
GLEIF LEI API	LEIs, plus optional LEI lookup for UK companies.	Open (CC0 data).

How the Actor treats each registry:

• Member-state outages: VIES depends on each national database, and these go offline regularly. The Actor reads VIES's /check-status first and does not call a member state that is down. It then retries those numbers at the end of the run: 2 rounds, 60 s apart, by default (unavailableRetryRounds, up to 5; set it to 0 for the fastest run). Anything still down is returned as unavailable and never charged.
• XI fallback: if VIES XI is down and you have HMRC credentials, the Actor checks the UK VRN at HMRC instead and adds a note to the row.
• VIES politeness: the Actor runs at most 2 requests per second by default, and only one request at a time per member state. MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ answers are backed off and retried.
• Rate limits: HMRC is kept at 2.5 requests per second (HMRC's default application limit is 3). Companies House is kept below 600 requests per 5 minutes. GLEIF is kept below 60 per minute.

Getting HMRC credentials (GB numbers)

1. Register at the HMRC Developer Hub and create an application.
2. Subscribe it to Check a UK VAT number (v2.0). Test in the sandbox, then request production access. HMRC says this takes about 2 weeks.
3. Paste the client ID and secret into the Actor. They are secret inputs (stored encrypted by Apify), sent only to HMRC's token endpoint, and masked in logs, error messages and output.

Without credentials, GB numbers still get the full local format and check-digit validation (registry_status: not_checked).

Pricing (pay per event)

Event	Price	When it is charged
vat-checked	$0.004 ($4 per 1,000)	A registry gave a definitive answer (valid or invalid) on a fresh call.
format-checked	$0.0005 ($0.50 per 1,000)	A local-only result: an invalid format or check digit, format-only mode, no credentials for that registry, or a duplicate already checked in this run.
nothing	$0	The registry was unavailable or returned an error.

Examples: 1,000 EU numbers checked at VIES cost about $4.00. A 10,000-row format-only clean-up costs $5.00. You pay only these event prices; Apify platform usage for the run is included.

The Actor checks your Max cost per run before every registry call and stops cleanly when the limit is reached.

FAQ

Is a valid checksum the same as a valid VAT number? No. A valid checksum only means the number could exist. Only the registry can confirm that it is registered.

Why is there no name for German or Spanish numbers? Those member states do not publish names through VIES. Supply the name and VIES may still answer vies_trader_name_match: VALID/INVALID.

What about UK VAT numbers after Brexit? GB numbers are not in VIES any more. They are checked with HMRC. XI numbers (Northern Ireland, goods) are in VIES.

Do duplicates cost extra? No. Identical number and name pairs are merged into one row (duplicate_inputs). The same number with a different name reuses the cached registry answer and costs only format-checked.

Can I resume a run that was aborted? Yes. Delivered rows are remembered for the run and are not repeated or charged twice.

Limits

• VIES and HMRC show the registry's current state only. They give no history.
• The local check-digit rules follow the published national algorithms, cross-checked against an independent open-source implementation (stdnum) on more than 90,000 generated numbers (automated test, last passed 17 Oct 2026). Some special cases can be stricter or looser than the national authority. When in doubt, the registry decides.
• UK company numbers have no check digit, so only the format can be checked locally.
• EU OSS ("EU…") and non-EU VAT numbers (Norway, Switzerland and so on) are not supported.
• HMRC credentials take HMRC about 2 weeks to issue.

Your data, storage and retention

• Results go only to your own Apify account: the run's dataset, the OUTPUT record and, when storeEvidence is on (the default), one raw registry response per row in the run's key-value store. Raw responses can include a sole trader's name and address. Set storeEvidence: false to keep none.
• These run storages are kept for your Apify plan's data-retention period, unless you delete them sooner. The Actor keeps no state between runs.
• The Actor contacts only the registries listed above. It sends nothing to the developer, and the developer receives no copy of your input or results.

Compliance

• Not legal or tax advice. A registry answer is evidence of a check at a point in time, not a guarantee of a counterparty's status. Keep the consultation numbers and evidence records for your audit file.
• Personal data: sole traders' VAT names and addresses are personal data under UK GDPR and EU GDPR. Only check numbers you have a legitimate reason to verify, such as counterparty due diligence. Set includeRegisteredDetails: false if you only need valid/invalid and a match score. The Actor never collects emails or phone numbers. You are the controller of the numbers you submit and of the results; check them only for a lawful purpose that applies where you operate.
• Independent tool: not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for HMRC, the European Commission (VIES), Companies House or GLEIF. A registry outage or error is reported as such and never shown as "invalid".
• HMRC terms: the HMRC API is provided "for the sole purpose of allowing traders to do due diligence on VAT-registered businesses". Use it only for that purpose, under your own Developer Hub terms of use.
• Attribution: every row carries the source attribution. VIES data is reusable under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU. GLEIF data is CC0. Companies House data should be used in line with its API terms.

Sources checked 11 Oct 2026: VIES swagger contract (ec.europa.eu/assets/taxud/vow-information/swagger_publicVAT.yaml), HMRC Check a UK VAT number v2.0 OpenAPI spec (developer.service.hmrc.gov.uk), Companies House API reference and GLEIF API v1.

Built by SiteVerdict (BharatFare Travel and Technologies Ltd, UK). For questions or feature requests, use the Apify Store issues tab.