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Portugal VAT number format

A Portugal VAT identification number is the prefix PT followed by 9 digits; PT501964843 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 PT, then 9 digits. The regular expression the API applies to the part after the prefix is ^[0-9]{9}$; letters are upper-cased and spaces, dots and dashes removed before the test.

Country prefixStructureExamplePublic check digit
PT9 digitsPT501964843yes, verified before VIES

The check digit

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

curl — validate PT501964843 on VIES
curl "https://veriport.io/api/v1/vat/validate?number=PT501964843"

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 a Portugal VAT number have?
9 digits, after the two-letter prefix PT: PT501964843 is an example.
Is PT501964843 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