What is VIES?
VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the European Commission's service that lets anyone verify whether a VAT number issued by an EU member state is currently valid. It does not store data centrally — it forwards the query to the issuing country's database in real time.
Why validation matters
- Reverse charge eligibility — to issue a 0% VAT invoice to an EU B2B customer, you must hold a valid VAT number for the buyer at the time of supply.
- Audit defence — tax authorities can disallow zero-rating (and bill you for the VAT plus penalties) if you cannot prove you validated the number.
- Fraud prevention — VAT carousel fraud often uses fake or hijacked numbers; validation is your first line of defence.
How to validate
- Strip spaces and punctuation; keep the 2-letter country prefix.
- Use our VAT number validator or vies.europa.eu.
- Record the result: timestamp, consultation number, valid/invalid, name/address returned.
- Re-validate periodically for recurring customers — numbers can be deregistered.
VAT number formats by country
| Country | Prefix | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | AT | U + 8 digits | ATU12345678 |
| Belgium | BE | 10 digits (starts with 0 or 1) | BE0123456789 |
| Bulgaria | BG | 9 or 10 digits | BG123456789 |
| Croatia | HR | 11 digits | HR12345678901 |
| Cyprus | CY | 8 digits + 1 letter | CY12345678X |
| Czech Republic | CZ | 8, 9 or 10 digits | CZ12345678 |
| Denmark | DK | 8 digits | DK12345678 |
| Estonia | EE | 9 digits | EE123456789 |
| Finland | FI | 8 digits | FI12345678 |
| France | FR | 2 chars + 9 digits | FRXX123456789 |
| Germany | DE | 9 digits | DE123456789 |
| Greece | EL | 9 digits (prefix EL, not GR) | EL123456789 |
| Hungary | HU | 8 digits | HU12345678 |
| Ireland | IE | 8 or 9 chars | IE1234567X |
| Italy | IT | 11 digits | IT12345678901 |
| Latvia | LV | 11 digits | LV12345678901 |
| Lithuania | LT | 9 or 12 digits | LT123456789 |
| Luxembourg | LU | 8 digits | LU12345678 |
| Malta | MT | 8 digits | MT12345678 |
| Netherlands | NL | 9 digits + B + 2 digits | NL123456789B01 |
| Poland | PL | 10 digits | PL1234567890 |
| Portugal | PT | 9 digits | PT123456789 |
| Romania | RO | 2–10 digits | RO12345678 |
| Slovakia | SK | 10 digits | SK1234567890 |
| Slovenia | SI | 8 digits | SI12345678 |
| Spain | ES | letter + 7 digits + letter (or two letters) | ESX1234567X |
| Sweden | SE | 12 digits (ends 01) | SE123456789001 |
Common gotchas
- Greece uses the prefix
EL, notGR. - UK VAT numbers (prefix
GB) are no longer in VIES post-Brexit — use the HMRC checker. - Northern Ireland uses prefix
XIfor intra-EU goods trade. - A number may be syntactically valid but inactive — always check VIES, not just format.