EU VAT Validator — Batch VIES Check for 16 EU Countries

Validate EU VAT numbers in bulk using the official EU VIES system (ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies). Returns company name and address for all supported countries. No API key required.

Data source: European Commission VIES — official EU tax authority system, real-time validation.

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Why This Actor?

EU VAT validation is a legal compliance requirement for any business issuing B2B invoices across EU borders. Reverse-charging VAT incorrectly can result in penalties. This actor automates bulk validation that would otherwise require manual checks per number.

• 16 EU countries supported: BE, BG, CZ, DE, DK, EE, EL, ES, FI, FR, HR, HU, IE, IT, LT, LU, LV, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SE, SI, SK
• Real-time VIES: every check hits the official EU Commission API, not a cached database
• Batch processing: validate up to 500 numbers per run
• Structured output: valid/invalid flag + company name + address where available

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Use Cases

1. Accounts Payable / Invoice Validation

Before processing a supplier invoice, validate their VAT number. Catch fraudulent VAT numbers before payments are made.

2. CRM Enrichment

Enrich your B2B customer database with validated VAT status and official company name/address. Identify invalid entries before they cause tax issues.

3. E-commerce B2B Checkout

Validate VAT numbers provided by business customers at checkout to apply correct VAT treatment (reverse charge).

4. KYC / Onboarding

Include VAT validation as part of your business customer onboarding flow to verify company identity.

5. Compliance Audit

Run quarterly audits on your full supplier/customer database to ensure all VAT numbers remain valid (companies can be deregistered).

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Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
vatNumbers	array	required	List of VAT numbers including country prefix: ["ES12345678A", "FR12345678901", "DE123456789"]
maxResults	integer	500	Maximum results to return

Example: Validate 3 VAT numbers

{
  "vatNumbers": [
    "ES12345678A",
    "FR83404833048",
    "DE811780526"
  ]
}

Example: Bulk validation from CSV column

{
  "vatNumbers": ["IT12345678901", "NL123456789B01", "BE0123456789", "PL1234567890"]
}

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Output Format

Field	Type	Description
vat_number	string	Input VAT number as provided
country	string	2-letter ISO country code
is_valid	boolean	True if VIES confirms the number is active
name	string	Registered company name (if country provides it)
address	string	Registered address (if country provides it)
city	string	City extracted from address
checked_at	string	ISO timestamp of the VIES check

Sample Output

[
  {
    "vat_number": "ES12345678A",
    "country": "ES",
    "is_valid": true,
    "name": "TELEFONICA SA",
    "address": "GRAN VIA 28, 28013 MADRID",
    "city": "MADRID",
    "checked_at": "2026-07-23T10:15:32Z"
  },
  {
    "vat_number": "FR83404833048",
    "country": "FR",
    "is_valid": true,
    "name": "TOTAL ENERGIES SE",
    "address": "2 PL JEAN MILLIER, 92400 COURBEVOIE",
    "city": "COURBEVOIE",
    "checked_at": "2026-07-23T10:15:33Z"
  },
  {
    "vat_number": "XX99999999",
    "country": "XX",
    "is_valid": false,
    "name": null,
    "address": null,
    "city": null,
    "checked_at": "2026-07-23T10:15:34Z"
  }
]

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Country Coverage

Country	Code	Name returned	Address returned
Austria	AT	✅	✅
Belgium	BE	✅	✅
Bulgaria	BG	✅	✅
Croatia	HR	✅	✅
Czech Republic	CZ	✅	✅
Denmark	DK	✅	✅
Estonia	EE	✅	✅
Finland	FI	✅	✅
France	FR	✅	✅
Germany	DE	❌	❌ (privacy law)
Greece	EL	✅	✅
Hungary	HU	✅	✅
Ireland	IE	✅	✅
Italy	IT	✅	✅
Latvia	LV	✅	✅
Lithuania	LT	✅	✅
Luxembourg	LU	✅	✅
Malta	MT	✅	✅
Netherlands	NL	❌	❌ (privacy law)
Poland	PL	✅	✅
Portugal	PT	✅	✅
Romania	RO	✅	✅
Slovakia	SK	✅	✅
Slovenia	SI	✅	✅
Spain	ES	✅	✅
Sweden	SE	✅	✅

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Pricing

$0.01 per validated number (+ $0.00005 base start cost).

100 VAT numbers = $1.00. 1,000 numbers = $10.00.

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Integration Examples

n8n: Validate new B2B customers on signup

Webhook (new customer)
→ EU VAT Validator (vatNumbers: [customer.vatNumber])
→ IF is_valid = false → Reject / Flag for review
→ IF is_valid = true → Continue onboarding

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient
client = ApifyClient("YOUR_TOKEN")
run = client.actor("agoradelmediterraneo/eu-vat-validator").call(
    run_input={"vatNumbers": ["ES12345678A", "FR83404833048"]}
)
results = list(client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items())

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FAQ

Why does Germany/Netherlands not return company name? These countries restrict name/address lookup via VIES for privacy reasons. The valid/invalid flag is still returned.

Is VIES always available? VIES has occasional downtime per country. The actor retries automatically and marks unavailable checks clearly.

How current is the data? Real-time — each check goes directly to the EU Commission VIES system at the moment of the run.

Can I validate non-EU VAT numbers (UK, Norway)? Not with this actor. UK VAT requires HMRC API (separate actor). Norway is not EU.