VIES check for a VAT number
Checks a European VAT number directly against the European Commission service. If the service does not answer, we say so — rather than saying "invalid".
What a check proves — and what it does not
A valid result means the number was registered for intra-Community transactions in that member state at the moment of the query. That is what lets you zero-rate a supply to a business customer in another member state.
It does not confirm that the person you are dealing with is entitled to use that number, that the address you were given is the registered one, or that the registration will still exist next month. Registrations are withdrawn, and a check is evidence about one point in time — which is why the date matters and why it is worth keeping the result.
A valid result with no name is normal. Disclosure of name and address is optional in the register, so a blank there says nothing about validity. Plenty of guides read it as a warning sign; it is not.
Why this page distinguishes five outcomes, not two
The Commission's service answers a query about an unknown number and a query it could not process with the same HTTP status and the same isValid: false. A tool that reads only that field will tell you a number is invalid when in truth nobody checked anything.
So this page separates them: valid, invalid, the member state is not responding, the service is limiting requests, and your input could not be parsed. Only the first two are statements about the number. The service also publishes per-country availability, which is how the difference can be told at all.
Two country prefixes people get wrong
- Greece is EL, not GR. The VAT prefix departs from the ISO country code, and a query with GR fails before it ever reaches the Greek register.
- UK numbers are no longer valid in the EU. The Commission states that EORI and VAT identifiers issued by the United Kingdom stopped being recognised in the EU after the transition period. Northern Ireland is the exception and uses the prefix XI.