EU VAT number validation

Normalises the country code and the number (spaces, punctuation, a repeated prefix, GR → EL), checks the national structure and check digit, then asks VIES (REST first, SOAP fallback). Returns the registered name and address where the member state publishes them, and a consultation number when requester is supplied (prepaid credits or the monthly plan). When VIES or the member state is down, the last answer we hold for that number is returned with source.kind = "cache" and source.stale = true; it is never presented as live. A structurally impossible number answers valid: false without calling VIES and is not counted.

Published 2026-10-24

About the upstream

VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European Commission’s relay to the 27 national VAT registers. We call its REST endpoint first and its SOAP service when REST fails; a member state that does not answer gives MS_UNAVAILABLE, which this API turns into a cached answer (marked stale) or a 503. Some states publish no name or address ("---"): the fields are then null. Northern Ireland (XI) is in VIES for goods only; GB is not aliased to XI and answers country_unknown: check UK numbers with HMRC’s free service (gov.uk/check-uk-vat-number), Northern Ireland goods traders send XI. The national check digit is verified for all 28 formats before VIES is asked.

GET/vat/validate

Validate an EU VAT number

Tiers: anonymousfreecreditsplan
Cost: 1 call when VIES or the cache answered; 0 when the structure already fails or when a 5xx is returned

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
country	query	string	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 of the member state; Greece is `EL` (GR accepted), Northern Ireland `XI`. May be omitted when `number` carries the prefix.Example: DE
number*	query	string	The VAT number, with or without the country prefix, spaces or punctuation.Example: 136695976
requester	query	string	Your own EU VAT number (with prefix). VIES then issues a consultation number, the evidence a tax audit accepts. Prepaid credits or the monthly plan.Example: FR40303265045
record	query	boolean	`true` keeps this validation as a record on your account for 10 years (or until you delete it), and the answer gains `record`. A structure-only answer is not kept (`record` is null), since VIES was not consulted. A record is our dated copy of the answer; only the consultation number is issued by VIES. Prepaid credits or the monthly plan.

Request

curl

curl "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validate?country=DE&number=136695976"

Response 200

The validation result, live or from the dated cache.

Field	Type	Description
valid*	boolean	True when VIES (or the cached VIES answer) says the number is registered for intra-EU transactions on `requestDate`.
countryCode*	string
vatNumber*	string	The national part, normalised.
full*	string	Prefix + number.
structure*	object
structure.valid	boolean
structure.checksum	"passed" \| "failed" \| "not_checked"
structure.expected	string
name	string \| null	Registered name, when the member state publishes it (some answer "---").
address	string \| null
requestDate	string \| null (date)	The date VIES stamped the answer with.
record	object \| null	Present when `record=true` was sent: the kept record, or null for a structure-only answer.
record.id	string
record.createdAt	string (date-time)
record.digest	string
consultationNumber	string \| null	VIES request identifier, issued only when `requester` is supplied and accepted. Keep it with the invoice.
source*	object
source.kind	"live" \| "cache" \| "structure_only"
source.checkedAt	string (date-time)
source.cacheAgeSeconds	integer
source.stale	boolean	True whenever the answer did not come from VIES during this request.
upstream*	object
upstream.service	"vies"
upstream.transport	"rest" \| "soap" \| null
upstream.status	"ok" \| "member_state_unavailable" \| "service_unavailable" \| "timeout" \| "blocked" \| "not_called"
upstream.memberStateAvailable	boolean \| null
tableVersion	string \| null	Unused for validation; present for symmetry with the rates endpoints.

200 OK · application/json

{
  "valid": true,
  "countryCode": "DE",
  "vatNumber": "136695976",
  "full": "DE136695976",
  "structure": {
    "valid": true,
    "checksum": "passed",
    "expected": "9 digits"
  },
  "name": null,
  "address": null,
  "requestDate": "2026-10-24",
  "consultationNumber": null,
  "source": {
    "kind": "live",
    "checkedAt": "2026-10-24T09:14:03Z",
    "cacheAgeSeconds": 0,
    "stale": false
  },
  "upstream": {
    "service": "vies",
    "transport": "rest",
    "status": "ok",
    "memberStateAvailable": true
  },
  "tableVersion": null
}

Headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset, RateLimit-Policy, X-Quota-Remaining, X-Tier.

Errors

400invalid_parameter — A parameter is missing or malformed.
401unauthorized — The API key is missing, unknown or revoked.
402quota_exceeded — Monthly allowance and credits are used up.
403forbidden_for_tier — This option is not included in your tier.
429rate_limited — Too many requests per second.
503vies_unavailable — VIES or the member state is unavailable and no cached answer exists. vies_blocked — VIES refused the request (concurrency or blocking).

POST/vat/validate/bulk

Validate up to 100 EU VAT numbers in one request

Monthly plan only. Each item is processed as GET /vat/validate would, with a bounded concurrency towards VIES; items are answered in order. Each item counts one call. Up to 100 items.

Tiers: plan
Cost: 1 call per item

Request body

Media types: application/json.

Field	Type	Description
items*	object[]
requester	string	Applied to every item.

application/json

{
  "items": [
    {
      "country": "DE",
      "number": "136695976"
    },
    {
      "number": "FR40303265045"
    }
  ]
}

Request

curl

curl -X POST -H "Authorization: Bearer vp_live_YOUR_KEY" -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"items":[{"country":"DE","number":"136695976"},{"number":"FR40303265045"}]}' \
  "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validate/bulk"

Response 200

One result per item, in order.

Field	Type	Description
results	object[]
counted	integer

Headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset, RateLimit-Policy, X-Quota-Remaining, X-Tier.

Errors

400invalid_parameter — A parameter is missing or malformed.
401unauthorized — The API key is missing, unknown or revoked.
402quota_exceeded — Monthly allowance and credits are used up.
403forbidden_for_tier — This option is not included in your tier.
429rate_limited — Too many requests per second.

GET/vat/validations

List the validation records kept on your account

The records made with record=true, newest first, on every key of the account (a rotated key keeps them). Open to every key, a lapsed plan included, and not counted. format=csv returns the same page as CSV with the next cursor in X-Next-Cursor.

Tiers: freecreditsplan
Cost: free

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
number	query	string	Only this VAT number, with or without its prefix (`country` supplies a missing prefix).
country	query	string	Two-letter prefix when `number` has none.
from	query	string	Records made at or after this ISO 8601 date or instant.
to	query	string	Records made before this ISO 8601 date or instant.
limit	query	integer	Records per page.
cursor	query	string	The `nextCursor` of the previous page.
format	query	"json" \| "csv"	The answer format.

Request

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer vp_live_YOUR_KEY" "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validations"

Response 200

One page of records.

Media types: application/json, text/csv.

Field	Type	Description
records*	ValidationRecord[]
nextCursor*	string \| null

Headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset, RateLimit-Policy, X-Quota-Remaining, X-Tier.

Errors

400invalid_parameter — A parameter is missing or malformed.
401unauthorized — The API key is missing, unknown or revoked.
429rate_limited — Too many requests per second.

GET/vat/validations/{id}

Get one validation record

One record of your account, as it was kept. Open to every key and not counted.

Tiers: freecreditsplan
Cost: free

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
id*	path	string	The record id (`vr_…`).

Request

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer vp_live_YOUR_KEY" "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validations/id"

Response 200

The record.

Field	Type	Description
id*	string	The record id (`vr_…`).
createdAt*	string (date-time)	When the record was made.
keyPrefix	string	The prefix of the key that made it.
countryCode	string
vatNumber	string
full*	string	The normalised number with its prefix.
valid*	boolean
name	string \| null
address	string \| null
requestDate	string \| null
consultationNumber	string \| null	Issued by VIES when `requester` was supplied.
requester	string \| null
source*	object
source.kind	"live" \| "cache"
source.checkedAt	string (date-time)
source.stale	boolean
upstream*	object
upstream.service	"vies"
upstream.status	string
upstream.transport	"rest" \| "soap" \| null
digest*	string	SHA-256 (hex) of the JSON array [id, createdAt, full, valid, name, address, requestDate, consultationNumber, requester, source.kind, source.checkedAt, source.stale, upstream.status, upstream.transport]. Store it to compare the record later.

Headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset, RateLimit-Policy, X-Quota-Remaining, X-Tier.

Errors

401unauthorized — The API key is missing, unknown or revoked.
404not_found — No such resource.
429rate_limited — Too many requests per second.

DELETE/vat/validations/{id}

Delete one validation record

Deletes the record for good. Records cannot be edited, only deleted. Open to every key and not counted.

Tiers: freecreditsplan
Cost: free

Parameters

Name	In	Type	Description
id*	path	string	The record id (`vr_…`).

Request

curl

curl -H "Authorization: Bearer vp_live_YOUR_KEY" "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validations/id"

Response 200

Deleted.

Field	Type	Description
id*	string
deleted*	boolean

Headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, RateLimit-Reset, RateLimit-Policy, X-Quota-Remaining, X-Tier.

Errors

401unauthorized — The API key is missing, unknown or revoked.
404not_found — No such resource.
429rate_limited — Too many requests per second.

Sources

VIES REST API — check-vat-number, check-status (technical information) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
VIES SOAP service — checkVatService WSDL — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
VIES — help page: what the consultation number proves, member-state availability — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24
VIES — VAT Information Exchange System: FAQ and VAT number structures (Q11) — European Commission, DG TAXUD, consulted 2026-10-24