VAT number checker

What this checks, and what it cannot

It checks that a number has the right shape for its country, and its check digit where the issuer publishes how that works. That catches most typos: a digit missing, a letter where a digit belongs, the wrong prefix. It does not say whether the number is registered for VAT, whether the registration is still active, or whose it is. A number that passes here can belong to a business that deregistered last year, or to a different business altogether.

For the EU, the shape is all anyone outside the tax authorities can check. The European Commission's own VIES FAQ says it "cannot divulge these algorithms", meaning the check-digit rules member states use. Libraries that check EU check digits are working from rules collected elsewhere, and a rule that is wrong turns a real number red. This checker would rather say nothing than say that.

Where to check registration

VIES asks the member state's own database each time, so when it says a number is invalid, the Commission's advice is that the business "should take the matter up with his fiscal administration". A supplier whose number fails there is the one to sort it out, not you.

The usual mix-ups

• Greece is EL, not GR. Greek VAT numbers use EL even though GR is the country code. The sheet accepts GR and says so.
• Austria is ATU. Every Austrian number has a U straight after AT. VIES's FAQ makes the same point.
• Belgium went from nine digits to ten by putting a 0 in front, so an old letterhead may show nine. The sheet checks it as ten.
• Norway adds MVA. The VAT number is the nine-digit organisation number with MVA after it. Without MVA it is only the organisation number, which a business has whether or not it is registered for VAT.
• Switzerland adds MWST, TVA or IVA to the business's UID, as in CHE-123.456.789 MWST. The Swiss tax administration says "VAT" is not allowed as the suffix.
• Northern Ireland can use XI. A business there that trades goods with the EU puts XI in front of its usual number, in HMRC's words "XI 123456789 instead of GB 123456789". The digits are the same, so the check digits are checked the same way. VIES checks XI numbers, and HMRC's service checks GB ones.
• Canada's GST/HST number is the business number plus RT. The nine-digit BN on its own identifies the business; RT 0001 after it is the GST/HST account. RP (payroll) or RC (corporate income tax) in that place means a different account, not a GST/HST number.
• The US has no VAT. A US business gives its EIN instead, in the form 12-3456789. Sales tax permits are issued state by state and are not checked here.
• An ABN or an NZ GST number has no prefix. Choose the country, or the checker cannot tell an 11-digit ABN from an 11-digit Italian number with its prefix left off.

Formats and check digits

In the formats, 9 is a digit, L a letter, X a letter or a digit, and S a letter, a digit, + or *, as in the Commission's VIES FAQ.

Where the rules come from

• EU member states and Northern Ireland: the structure table in the VIES FAQ, published by the European Commission.
• United Kingdom: the same table for the formats. HMRC's own manual says the last two digits of a nine-digit number can be checked with "the 'modulus 97' check", but it does not publish the weights. The weights used here are the ones open-source validation libraries use, and every real UK number we tested them on passes. If a number fails only on its check digits, check it with HMRC before you decide it is wrong.
• Switzerland: the check digit is in the eCH-0097 standard, and the Swiss tax administration sets out the MWST, TVA and IVA suffixes.
• Norway: the Brønnøysund Register Centre gives the check digit's weights, and the bookkeeping regulations (bokføringsforskriften§ 5-1-2) add MVA after the number of a VAT-registered business.
• Australia: the ABN check is the one the Australian Business Register publishes, with its worked example, 51 824 753 556.
• New Zealand: Inland Revenue says "Your GST number will be the same as your IRD number", and its payroll specification for 2026–27 gives the IRD number's check digit and the range issued so far, 10,000,000 to 200,000,000.
• Canada: the CRA's General Information for GST/HST Registrants(RC4022) describes the number as the nine-digit BN, then "RT", then a four-digit account number. The CRA does not publish a check digit method, so a pass means the shape is right.
• United States: an EIN has no check digit. The IRS publishes the prefixes it issues, so a number starting with any other two digits cannot be an EIN.

What this checker does not do

• It does not check registration. Use the register for the country, above. Nothing on this page contacts it.
• It does not check EU check digits. The Commission does not publish them, so for EU numbers a pass means the shape is right and no more.
• It covers the countries above only. No US state sales tax permits, no Quebec QST numbers, and nothing from outside Europe apart from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States.
• It is not tax advice. Whether you need a client's VAT number on your invoice, and what to do if it fails, depends on your country and theirs.
• It does not keep anything. Nothing is written to your browser's storage and nothing you type is sent to us.

Related

The IBAN checker checks the bank details on the same invoice. The VAT calculator works out the VAT on an amount, what to put on an invoice covers where the number goes, and the invoice generator has a tax number field to put it in.