EU VAT Number Validator (VIES)

EU VAT Number Validator (VIES) bulk-checks EU and Northern Ireland (XI) VAT numbers against the European Commission's official VIES service, returning valid status, trader name and address, and retrying automatically when a member-state service is down.

Best for: B2B invoicing and reverse-charge checks, e-commerce sellers, supplier onboarding and KYB teams.

How to check EU VAT numbers in VIES

1. Add VAT numbers with their country prefix to VAT numbers (e.g. IE6388047V).
2. Optionally raise Retries when VIES is unavailable.
3. Click Start and filter on valid and status.

How it works

Calls the European Commission's public VIES REST API. UK (GB) VAT numbers are not in VIES since Brexit; Northern Ireland traders use the XI prefix. Some countries (e.g. DE) do not return the name/address.

Output

input, countryCode, vatNumber, valid, status, name, address, requestDate

Pricing (pay-per-event)

• vat-checked: $0.002 per result ($2 / 1,000). Platform usage is included; you pay only for results.
• Example: 10,000 VAT numbers cost $20.00.

Example input

{
  "vatNumbers": [
    "IE6388047V",
    "FR40303265045",
    "XI123456789"
  ]
}

Example output

Values below are illustrative.

{
  "input": "IE6388047V",
  "countryCode": "IE",
  "vatNumber": "6388047V",
  "valid": true,
  "status": "valid",
  "name": "GOOGLE IRELAND LIMITED",
  "address": "3RD FLOOR, GORDON HOUSE, BARROW STREET, DUBLIN 4",
  "requestDate": "2026-10-12"
}

Use it via API, schedules and integrations

Run it in Apify Console, or call it from your own code with the Apify API or the Python and JavaScript clients. Save an input as a task and add a schedule to run it regularly, and send results to Slack, email, webhooks, Zapier, Make or n8n with Apify integrations. AI agents can find and run it through the Apify MCP server.

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_APIFY_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("sterlingverify/eu-vat-vies-validator").call(run_input={"vatNumbers": ["IE6388047V"]})
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

FAQ

Can it check UK (GB) VAT numbers?

No. GB VAT numbers have not been in VIES since Brexit. Northern Ireland traders use the XI prefix, which is supported. For GB numbers, UK Company Check can validate VAT with an HMRC token.

Why is the name or address missing for some countries?

Some member states (e.g. Germany) do not return them through VIES.

Disclaimer

Data from the European Commission VIES service. Not affiliated with the European Commission. VIES results are informational; the EC states that the service cannot be used as a legal basis on its own. Not legal or tax advice.

Related sterlingVerify tools

Part of the sterlingVerify UK payments, KYB and data toolkit on Apify Store:

• UK Company Check: Companies House, VAT and UK sanctions KYB check in one call
• IBAN Validator: offline bulk IBAN validation and parsing
• UK Sanctions Screener: fuzzy screening against the UK Sanctions List (FCDO)
• UK Director Search: every Companies House appointment for a director