The tool above sends a VAT identification number to VIES, the European Commission's VAT Information Exchange System, and shows whether the issuing member state currently confirms it. A confirmation tells you the number exists and is active; it does not by itself entitle you to invoice without VAT. The check is live, so it depends on the member state's database being reachable at that moment.
What VIES is
VIES is not a European database of VAT-registered businesses. The Commission's FAQ calls it "an electronic means of transmitting information relating to VAT-registration" and states that "there does not exist a European data base with VAT registered persons". Each request is forwarded to the member state that issued the number, and that state's register answers; only national tax administrations can change the result. The service rests on Article 31 of Regulation 904/2010.
What a valid answer means, and what it does not
"Valid" means the member state's register confirms that the number is currently allocated to a taxable person. Some states also return the registered name and address; others do not permit that, and the fields come back empty. "Invalid" means the register does not currently recognise the number, which can also mean it was issued recently, or that the business is not registered for intra-EU transactions in a state that keeps those separately.
The consultation number
If you supply your own VAT number as the requester, VIES returns a unique consultation number for that query. Keep it: the Commission advises that it lets you "prove to a tax administration of a Member State that you have checked a given VAT number at a given time, and obtained a given validation reply". A query without a requester number gets a verdict but no consultation number.
Number formats per country
The table follows the structure published by the Commission. A number that does not fit its country's pattern is rejected before VIES is asked.
| Country | Format | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | DE999999999 | 9 digits |
| France | FRXX999999999 | 2 characters (letters or digits) then 9 digits (SIREN) |
| Belgium | BE0999999999 or BE1999999999 | 10 digits; the old 9-digit form gains a leading zero |
| Poland | PL9999999999 | 10 digits (NIP) |
| Netherlands | NL999999999B99 | 12 characters; position 10 is always "B" |
| Austria | ATU99999999 | 9 characters; the first after the prefix is always "U" |
| Italy | IT99999999999 | 11 digits |
| Spain | ESX9999999X | 9 characters; first and last may be letters, not both digits |
| Northern Ireland | XI999999999 | Checked in VIES under the Protocol; GB numbers are not |
Spaces, dots and dashes are removed before checking, and lower case is accepted.
When VIES does not answer
Availability is external. The Commission's FAQ acknowledges that "some parts of the system may be unavailable at certain times" while member states back up their databases, and the service returns states such as MS_UNAVAILABLE, SERVICE_UNAVAILABLE, TIMEOUT and MS_MAX_CONCURRENT_REQ. The tool shows these as "not reachable", never as valid or invalid; a failed lookup says nothing about the number. The Commission publishes a per-country availability status.
How KRONENWERK handles this
SUPPORTED WITH LIMITATIONS When you issue an invoice to a business customer in another EU member state, KRONENWERK checks the customer's VAT ID first for form and then against VIES, and stores the outcome (valid, invalid, not reachable, or not checkable for non-EU countries) with the invoice together with the name and address VIES returned and the time of the query. The tax verdict on the invoice uses that fact: a reverse-charge or zero-rated invoice cannot be issued on a number the register reports as invalid, and a "not reachable" result is recorded on the invoice as an unconfirmed number rather than silently treated as valid. A confirmed result is remembered for 24 hours. The limitation is VIES itself: when a member state is down, KRONENWERK cannot confirm the number and does not pretend to. KRONENWERK queries VIES without a requester number, so no consultation number is stored; if your tax administration expects one, run the check on the Commission's site with your own number as requester and file the result. See also cross-border e-invoicing and EU requirements.
Frequently asked questions
My customer's number is shown as invalid but they insist it is correct. What now?
Check the prefix and length first. If it still fails, the customer must ask their own tax administration to update the national register; nobody else can.
Can I check a UK VAT number here?
No. Since 1 January 2021 VIES only covers Northern Ireland numbers with the XI prefix. GB numbers are checked with the UK authority.
Is a valid VIES result enough to invoice without VAT?
No. It is one piece of evidence. The customer's status, the movement of goods and your invoice and reporting obligations also matter; this requires professional confirmation.