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Italy VAT number format

An Italy VAT identification number is the prefix IT followed by 11 digits; IT00743110157 is a well-formed example. The national check digit is public, so a mistyped number is caught before VIES is asked. Structure as published in the Commission’s VIES FAQ, consulted 2026-10-24.

Structure

Prefix IT, then 11 digits. The regular expression the API applies to the part after the prefix is ^[0-9]{11}$; letters are upper-cased and spaces, dots and dashes removed before the test.

Country prefixStructureExamplePublic check digit
IT11 digitsIT00743110157yes, verified before VIES

The check digit

Italy publishes the algorithm of its check digit, so an impossible number is refused before VIES is asked: the answer says structure.checksum: "failed", costs nothing and reaches no upstream. The same algorithms are implemented by the open libraries (jsvat, python-stdnum).

How to validate it

The structure says whether a string can be an Italy VAT number; only VIES says whether it is registered. The free check below asks VIES live and shows the registered name and address where Italy publishes them; the API does the same from your code.

curl — validate IT00743110157 on VIES
curl "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validate?number=IT00743110157"

What a valid answer proves

That the number was registered for intra-EU trade at the moment of the check. Keep the date and, on paid tiers, the VIES consultation number: together they are the evidence a tax audit asks for when an intra-EU supply was zero-rated.

Questions

How many digits does an Italy VAT number have?
11 digits, after the two-letter prefix IT: IT00743110157 is an example.
Is IT00743110157 a real VAT number?
It is a well-formed example used in the documentation; whether it is registered today is VIES’s answer, not this page’s. Check it with the free tool.

Free: VIES asked live, the answer dated and sourced.

Check a VAT number

Sources